I | INTRODUCTION |
Plato (428?-347 bc), Greek philosopher, one of the most
creative and influential thinkers in Western philosophy.
II | LIFE |
Plato was born to an aristocratic family in
Athens. His father, Ariston, was believed to have descended from the early kings
of Athens. Perictione, his mother, was distantly related to the 6th-century
bc lawmaker Solon. When Plato was
a child, his father died, and his mother married Pyrilampes, who was an
associate of the statesman Pericles.
As a young man Plato had political ambitions,
but he became disillusioned by the political leadership in Athens. He eventually
became a disciple of Socrates, accepting his basic philosophy and dialectical
style of debate: the pursuit of truth through questions, answers, and additional
questions. Plato witnessed the death of Socrates at the hands of the Athenian
democracy in 399 bc. Perhaps
fearing for his own safety, he left Athens temporarily and traveled to Italy,
Sicily, and Egypt.
In 387 Plato founded the Academy in Athens,
the institution often described as the first European university. It provided a
comprehensive curriculum, including such subjects as astronomy, biology,
mathematics, political theory, and philosophy. Aristotle was the Academy’s most
prominent student.
Pursuing an opportunity to combine philosophy
and practical politics, Plato went to Sicily in 367 to tutor the new ruler of
Syracuse, Dionysius the Younger, in the art of philosophical rule. The
experiment failed. Plato made another trip to Syracuse in 361, but again his
engagement in Sicilian affairs met with little success. The concluding years of
his life were spent lecturing at the Academy and writing. He died at about the
age of 80 in Athens in 348 or 347 bc.
III | WORKS |
Plato’s writings were in dialogue form;
philosophical ideas were advanced, discussed, and criticized in the context of a
conversation or debate involving two or more persons. The earliest collection of
Plato’s work includes 35 dialogues and 13 letters. The authenticity of a few of
the dialogues and most of the letters has been disputed.
A | Early Dialogues |
The dialogues may be divided into early,
middle, and later periods of composition. The earliest represent Plato’s attempt
to communicate the philosophy and dialectical style of Socrates. Several of
these dialogues take the same form. Socrates, encountering someone who claims to
know much, professes to be ignorant and seeks assistance from the one who knows.
As Socrates begins to raise questions, however, it becomes clear that the one
reputed to be wise really does not know what he claims to know, and Socrates
emerges as the wiser one because he at least knows that he does not know. Such
knowledge, of course, is the beginning of wisdom. Included in this group of
dialogues are Charmides (an attempt to define temperance), Lysis
(a discussion of friendship), Laches (a pursuit of the meaning of
courage), Protagoras (a defense of the thesis that virtue is knowledge
and can be taught), Euthyphro (a consideration of the nature of piety),
Crito (Socrates’ defense of obedience to the laws of the state), and the
Apology (Socrates’ defense of himself at his trial against the charges of
atheism and corrupting Athenian youth).
B | Middle and Late Dialogues |
The dialogues of the middle and later
periods of Plato’s life reflect his own philosophical development. The ideas in
these works are attributed by most scholars to Plato himself, although Socrates
continues to be the main character in many of the dialogues. Two dialogues are
considered to belong to a transitional time between Plato’s early and middle
periods. They are Gorgias (a consideration of several ethical questions)
and Meno (a discussion of the nature of knowledge). The writings of the
middle period include Phaedo (the death scene of Socrates, in which he
discusses the theory of Forms, the nature of the soul, and the question of
immortality), the Symposium (Plato’s outstanding dramatic achievement,
which contains several speeches on beauty and love), the Republic
(Plato’s supreme philosophical achievement, which is a detailed discussion of
the nature of justice).
The works of the later period include the
Theaetetus (a denial that knowledge is to be identified with sense
perception), Parmenides (a critical evaluation of the theory of Forms),
Sophist (further consideration of the theory of Ideas, or Forms),
Philebus (a discussion of the relationship between pleasure and the
good), Timaeus (Plato’s views on natural science and cosmology), and the
Laws (a more practical analysis of political and social issues).
IV | THEORY OF FORMS |
At the heart of Plato’s philosophy is his
theory of Forms, or Ideas. Ultimately, his view of knowledge, his ethical
theory, his psychology, his concept of the state, and his perspective on art
must be understood in terms of this theory.
A | Theory of Knowledge |
Plato’s theory of Forms and his theory of
knowledge are so interrelated that they must be discussed together. Influenced
by Socrates, Plato was convinced that knowledge is attainable. He was also
convinced of two essential characteristics of knowledge. First, knowledge must
be certain and infallible. Second, knowledge must have as its object that which
is genuinely real as contrasted with that which is an appearance only. Because
that which is fully real must, for Plato, be fixed, permanent, and unchanging,
he identified the real with the ideal realm of being as opposed to the physical
world of becoming. One consequence of this view was Plato’s rejection of
empiricism, the claim that knowledge is derived from sense experience. He
thought that propositions derived from sense experience have, at most, a degree
of probability. They are not certain. Furthermore, the objects of sense
experience are changeable phenomena of the physical world. Hence, objects of
sense experience are not proper objects of knowledge.
Plato’s own theory of knowledge is found in
the Republic, particularly in his discussion of the image of the divided
line and the myth of the cave. In the former, Plato distinguishes between two
levels of awareness: opinion and knowledge. Claims or assertions about the
physical or visible world, including both commonsense observations and the
propositions of science, are opinions only. Some of these opinions are well
founded and some are not; but none of them counts as genuine knowledge. The
higher level of awareness is knowledge, because there reason, rather than sense
experience, is involved. Reason, properly used, results in intellectual insights
that are certain, and the objects of these rational insights are the abiding
universals, the eternal Forms or substances that constitute the real world.
The myth of the cave describes individuals
chained deep within the recesses of a cave. Bound so that vision is restricted,
they cannot see one another. The only thing visible is the wall of the cave upon
which appear shadows cast by models or statues of animals and objects that are
passed before a brightly burning fire. Breaking free, one of the individuals
escapes from the cave into the light of day. With the aid of the sun, that
person sees for the first time the real world and returns to the cave with the
message that the only things they have seen heretofore are shadows and
appearances and that the real world awaits them if they are willing to struggle
free of their bonds. The shadowy environment of the cave symbolizes for Plato
the physical world of appearances. Escape into the sun-filled setting outside
the cave symbolizes the transition to the real world, the world of full and
perfect being, the world of Forms, which is the proper object of knowledge.
B | Nature of Forms |
The theory of Forms may best be understood
in terms of mathematical entities. A circle, for instance, is defined as a plane
figure composed of a series of points, all of which are equidistant from a given
point. No one has ever actually seen such a figure, however.
What people have actually seen are drawn
figures that are more or less close approximations of the ideal circle. In fact,
when mathematicians define a circle, the points referred to are not spatial
points at all; they are logical points. They do not occupy space. Nevertheless,
although the Form of a circle has never been seen—indeed, could never be
seen—mathematicians and others do in fact know what a circle is. That they can
define a circle is evidence that they know what it is. For Plato, therefore, the
Form “circularity” exists, but not in the physical world of space and time. It
exists as a changeless object in the world of Forms or Ideas, which can be known
only by reason.
Forms have greater reality than objects in
the physical world both because of their perfection and stability and because
they are models, resemblance to which gives ordinary physical objects whatever
reality they have. Circularity, squareness, and triangularity are excellent
examples, then, of what Plato meant by Forms. An object existing in the physical
world may be called a circle or a square or a triangle only to the extent that
it resembles (“participates in” is Plato’s phrase) the Form “circularity” or
“squareness” or “triangularity.”
Plato extended his theory beyond the realm
of mathematics. Indeed, he was most interested in its application in the field
of social ethics. The theory was his way of explaining how the same universal
term can refer to so many particular things or events. The word justice,
for example, can be applied to hundreds of particular acts because these acts
have something in common, namely, their resemblance to, or participation in, the
Form “justice.” An individual is human to the extent that he or she resembles or
participates in the Form “humanness.” If “humanness” is defined in terms of
being a rational animal, then an individual is human to the extent that he or
she is rational. A particular act is courageous or cowardly to the extent that
it participates in its Form. An object is beautiful to the extent that it
participates in the Idea, or Form, of beauty. Everything in the world of space
and time is what it is by virtue of its resemblance to, or participation in, its
universal Form. The ability to define the universal term is evidence that one
has grasped the Form to which that universal refers.
Plato conceived the Forms as arranged
hierarchically; the supreme Form is the Form of the Good, which, like the sun in
the myth of the cave, illuminates all the other Ideas. There is a sense in which
the Form of the Good represents Plato’s movement in the direction of an ultimate
principle of explanation. Ultimately, the theory of Forms is intended to explain
how one comes to know and also how things have come to be as they are. In
philosophical language, Plato’s theory of Forms is both an epistemological
(theory of knowledge) and an ontological (theory of being) thesis (see
Metaphysics).
V | POLITICAL THEORY |
The Republic, Plato’s major political
work, is concerned with the question of justice and therefore with the questions
“what is a just state” and “who is a just individual?”
The ideal state, according to Plato, is
composed of three classes. The economic structure of the state is maintained by
the merchant class. Security needs are met by the military class, and political
leadership is provided by the philosopher-kings. A particular person’s class is
determined by an educational process that begins at birth and proceeds until
that person has reached the maximum level of education compatible with interest
and ability. Those who complete the entire educational process become
philosopher-kings. They are the ones whose minds have been so developed that
they are able to grasp the Forms and, therefore, to make the wisest decisions.
Indeed, Plato’s ideal educational system is primarily structured so as to
produce philosopher-kings.
Plato associates the traditional Greek virtues
with the class structure of the ideal state. Temperance is the unique virtue of
the artisan class; courage is the virtue peculiar to the military class; and
wisdom characterizes the rulers. Justice, the fourth virtue, characterizes
society as a whole. The just state is one in which each class performs its own
function well without infringing on the activities of the other classes.
Plato divides the human soul into three parts:
the rational part, the will, and the appetites. The just person is the one in
whom the rational element, supported by the will, controls the appetites. An
obvious analogy exists here with the threefold class structure of the state, in
which the enlightened philosopher-kings, supported by the soldiers, govern the
rest of society.
VI | ETHICS |
Plato’s ethical theory rests on the
assumption that virtue is knowledge and can be taught, which has to be
understood in terms of his theory of Forms. As indicated previously, the
ultimate Form for Plato is the Form of the Good, and knowledge of this Form is
the source of guidance in moral decision making. Plato also argued that to know
the good is to do the good. The corollary of this is that anyone who behaves
immorally does so out of ignorance. This conclusion follows from Plato’s
conviction that the moral person is the truly happy person, and because
individuals always desire their own happiness, they always desire to do that
which is moral.
VII | ART |
Plato had an essentially antagonistic view
of art and the artist, although he approved of certain religious and moralistic
kinds of art. Again, his approach is related to his theory of Forms. A beautiful
flower, for example, is a copy or imitation of the universal Forms “flowerness”
and “beauty.” The physical flower is one step removed from reality, that is, the
Forms. A picture of the flower is, therefore, two steps removed from reality.
This also meant that the artist is two steps removed from knowledge, and,
indeed, Plato’s frequent criticism of the artists is that they lack genuine
knowledge of what they are doing. Artistic creation, Plato observed, seems to be
rooted in a kind of inspired madness.
VIII | INFLUENCE |
Plato’s influence throughout the history
of Western philosophy has been monumental. When he died, Speusippus became head
of the Academy. The school continued in existence until ad 529, when it was closed by the
Byzantine emperor Justinian I, who objected to its pagan teachings. Plato’s
impact on Jewish thought is apparent in the work of the 1st-century Alexandrian
philosopher Philo Judaeus. Neoplatonism, founded by the 3rd-century philosopher
Plotinus, was an important later development of Platonism. The theologians
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Saint Augustine were early Christian
exponents of a Platonic perspective. Platonic ideas have had a crucial role in
the development of Christian theology and also in medieval Islamic thought
(see Islam).
During the Renaissance, the primary focus
of Platonic influence was the Florentine Academy, founded in the 15th century
near Florence. Under the leadership of Marsilio Ficino, members of the Academy
studied Plato in the original Greek. In England, Platonism was revived in the
17th century by Ralph Cudworth and others who became known as the Cambridge
Platonists. Plato’s influence extended into the 20th century. The British
philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once paid tribute to him by describing the
history of philosophy as simply “a series of footnotes to Plato.”
See also
Greek Philosophy; Idealism; Metaphysics; Philosophy.
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