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Plato
Plato (/ˈpleɪtoʊ/ PLAY-toe;[2] Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn,
pronounced [plá.tɔːn] in Classical Attic; 428/427 or 424/423 –
Plato
348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical
period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought,
and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the
Western world.
He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the history of Ancient

Greek and Western philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and
his most famous student, Aristotle.[a] Plato has also often been cited
as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality.[4] The so-
called Neoplatonism of philosophers like Plotinus and Porphyry
influenced Saint Augustine and thus Christianity. Alfred North
Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the
European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of
footnotes to Plato."[5]
Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in
philosophy. Plato is also considered the founder of Western political
philosophy. His most famous contribution is the theory of Forms Roman copy of a portrait bust by
known by pure reason, in which Plato presents a solution to the
Silanion for the Academia in Athens
problem of universals known as Platonism (also ambiguously called
(c. 370 BC)
either Platonic realism or Platonic idealism). He is also the namesake
of Platonic love and the Platonic solids. Born 428/427 or 424/423
BC
His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought Athens, Greece
to have been along with Socrates, the pre-Socratics Pythagoras,
Heraclitus and Parmenides, although few of his predecessors' works Died 348/347 BC (age
remain extant and much of what we know about these figures today c. 80)
derives from Plato himself.[b] Unlike the work of nearly all of his Athens, Greece
contemporaries, Plato's entire body of work is believed to have Notable work Apology · Phaedo ·
survived intact for over 2,400 years.[7] Although their popularity has Symposium ·
fluctuated over the years, the works of Plato have never been without Republic · Timaeus
readers since the time they were written.[8]
Era Ancient Greek
philosophy
Contents Region Western philosophy

School Platonism
Biography
Early life Notable Aristotle
Birth and family students
Name Main Metaphysics · Ethics
Education interests · Politics ·
Later life and death Epistemology ·
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato 1/40
Influences Rhetoric · Art ·

Pythagoras Literature ·
Plato and mathematics Education · Society ·
Heraclitus and Parmenides Friendship · Love
Socrates Notable Platonic philosophy
ideas · Innatism · Theory
Philosophy
Metaphysics of forms · Idealism
The Forms Influences
The soul Homer · Hesiod · Tyrtaeus ·
Epistemology Archilochus · Simonides · Sappho ·
Recollection Thales · Anaximander · Anaximenes
Justified true belief · Pythagoras · Heraclitus ·
Ethics Parmenides · Aesop · Aeschylus ·
Politics Sophocles · Euripides · Anaxagoras
Art and poetry · Epicharmus · Sophron ·
Unwritten doctrines Aristophanes · Prodicus · Damon ·
Protagoras · Cratylus · Socrates ·
Themes of Plato's dialogues
Theaetetus · Archytas · Diotima[1]
Trial of Socrates
The trial in other dialogues Influenced
Allegories Virtually all subsequent Western
The Cave philosophy, especially Aristotle,
Ring of Gyges Plotinus, Proclus, Philo, Cicero,
Chariot Alfarabi, Avicenna, Maimonides,
Dialectic Augustine
Family
Narration
History of Plato's dialogues
Chronology
Writings of doubted authenticity
Spurious writings
Textual sources and history
Modern editions
Criticism
Legacy
In the arts
In philosophy
See also
Notes
References
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Biography
Early life
Birth and family
Due to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Plato's early life
and education. Plato belonged to an aristocratic and influential family.
According to a disputed tradition, reported by doxographer Diogenes
Laërtius, Plato's father Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens,
Codrus, and the king of Messenia, Melanthus.[9]
Plato's mother was Perictione, whose family

boasted of a relationship with the famous
Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon, one
of the seven sages, who repealed the laws of
Draco (except for the death penalty for
homicide).[10] Perictione was sister of
Charmides and niece of Critias, both Diogenes Laertius is a
prominent figures of the Thirty Tyrants, principal source for the
known as the Thirty, the brief oligarchic history of ancient Greek
regime (404–403 BC), which followed on the philosophy.
collapse of Athens at the end of the
Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC).[11]
According to some accounts, Ariston tried to force his attentions on
Perictione, but failed in his purpose; then the god Apollo appeared to him in
a vision, and as a result, Ariston left Perictione unmolested.[12]
Through his mother, Plato
was related to Solon. The exact time and place of Plato's birth are unknown. Based on ancient
sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or
Aegina[c] between 429 and 423 BC, not long after the start of the
Peloponnesian War.[d] The traditional date of Plato's birth during the 87th or 88th Olympiad, 428 or 427
BC, is based on a dubious interpretation of Diogenes Laërtius, who says, "When [Socrates] was gone,
[Plato] joined Cratylus the Heracleitean and Hermogenes, who philosophized in the manner of
Parmenides. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, [Plato] went to Euclides in Megara." However, as
Debra Nails argues, the text does not state that Plato left for Megara immediately after joining Cratylus
and Hermogenes.[22] In his Seventh Letter, Plato notes that his coming of age coincided with the taking
of power by the Thirty, remarking, "But a youth under the age of twenty made himself a laughingstock if
he attempted to enter the political arena." Thus, Nails dates Plato's birth to 424/423.[23]
According to Neanthes, Plato was six years younger than Isocrates, and therefore was born the same year
the prominent Athenian statesman Pericles died (429 BC).[24] Jonathan Barnes regards 428 BC as the
year of Plato's birth.[20][21] The grammarian Apollodorus of Athens in his Chronicles argues that Plato
was born in the 88th Olympiad.[17] Both the Suda and Sir Thomas Browne also claimed he was born
during the 88th Olympiad.[16][25] Another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on
his lips while he was sleeping: an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about
philosophy.[26]
Besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children; two
sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone, the mother of
Speusippus (the nephew and successor of Plato as head of the Academy).[11]
The brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the Republic as sons
of Ariston,[27] and presumably brothers of Plato, though some have argued
they were uncles.[e] In a scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused
the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato.[29]
Ariston appears to have died in Plato's childhood, although the precise dating
of his death is difficult.[30] Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mother's
brother,[31] who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian
court and was a friend of Pericles, the leader of the democratic faction in
Athens.[32] Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was
famous for his beauty.[33] Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes' second son, Speusippus was Plato's
Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in Parmenides.[34] nephew.
In contrast to his reticence about himself, Plato often introduced his

distinguished relatives into his dialogues, or referred to them with some precision. In addition to
Adeimantus and Glaucon in the Republic, Charmides has a dialogue named after him; and Critias speaks
in both Charmides and Protagoras.[35] These and other references suggest a considerable amount of
family pride and enable us to reconstruct Plato's family tree. According to Burnet, "the opening scene of
the Charmides is a glorification of the whole [family] connection ... Plato's dialogues are not only a
memorial to Socrates, but also the happier days of his own family."[36]
Name
The fact that the philosopher in his maturity called himself Platon is indisputable, but the origin of this
name remains mysterious. Platon is a nickname from the adjective platýs (πλατύς (http://www.perseus.t
ufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=platu/s)) 'broad'. Although Platon was a
fairly common name (31 instances are known from Athens alone),[37] the name does not occur in Plato's
known family line.[38] The sources of Diogenes Laërtius account for this by claiming that his wrestling
coach, Ariston of Argos, dubbed him "broad" on account of his chest and shoulders, or that Plato derived
his name from the breadth of his eloquence, or his wide forehead.[39][40] While recalling a moral lesson
about frugal living Seneca mentions the meaning of Plato's name: "His very name was given him because
of his broad chest."[41]
His true name was supposedly Aristocles (Ἀριστοκλῆς), meaning

'best reputation'.[f] According to Diogenes Laërtius, he was named
after his grandfather, as was common in Athenian society.[42] But
there is only one inscription of an Aristocles, an early archon of
Athens in 605/4 BC. There is no record of a line from Aristocles to
Plato's father, Ariston. Recently a scholar has argued that even the
name Aristocles for Plato was a much later invention.[43] However,
another scholar claims that "there is good reason for not dismissing
[the idea that Aristocles was Plato's given name] as a mere invention
of his biographers", noting how prevalent that account is in our
sources.[38]
Plato was a wrestler

Education
Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies. Apuleius
informs us that Speusippus praised Plato's quickness of mind and modesty as a boy, and the "first fruits
of his youth infused with hard work and love of study".[44] His father contributed all which was necessary
to give to his son a good education, and, therefore, Plato must have been instructed in grammar, music,
and gymnastics by the most distinguished teachers of his time.[45] Plato invokes Damon many times in
the Republic. Plato was a wrestler, and Dicaearchus went so far as to say that Plato wrestled at the
Isthmian games.[46] Plato had also attended courses of philosophy; before meeting Socrates, he first
became acquainted with Cratylus and the Heraclitean doctrines.[47]
Ambrose believed that Plato met Jeremiah in Egypt and was influenced by his ideas. Augustine initially
accepted this claim, but later rejected it, arguing in The City of God that "Plato was born a hundred years
after Jeremiah prophesied."[48]
Later life and death
Plato may have travelled in Italy, Sicily, Egypt and

Cyrene.[49] Said to have returned to Athens at the age of
forty, Plato founded one of the earliest known organized
schools in Western Civilization on a plot of land in the Grove
of Hecademus or Academus.[50] The Academy was a large
enclosure of ground about six stadia outside of Athens
proper. One story is that the name of the Academy comes
from the ancient hero, Academus; still another story is that
the name came from a supposed former owner of the plot of
land, an Athenian citizen whose name was (also) Academus;
while yet another account is that it was named after a
member of the army of Castor and Pollux, an Arcadian
named Echedemus.[51] The Academy operated until it was Plato in his academy, drawing after a painting
destroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 84 BC. Many by Swedish painter Carl Johan Wahlbom
intellectuals were schooled in the Academy, the most
prominent one being Aristotle.[52][53]
Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of Syracuse. According to
Diogenes Laërtius, Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was under the rule of Dionysius.[54] During
this first trip Dionysius's brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse, became one of Plato's disciples, but the tyrant
himself turned against Plato. Plato almost faced death, but he was sold into slavery.[g] Anniceris, a
Cyrenaic philosopher, subsequently bought Plato's freedom for twenty minas,[56] and sent him home.
After Dionysius's death, according to Plato's Seventh Letter, Dion requested Plato return to Syracuse to
tutor Dionysius II and guide him to become a philosopher king. Dionysius II seemed to accept Plato's
teachings, but he became suspicious of Dion, his uncle. Dionysius expelled Dion and kept Plato against
his will. Eventually Plato left Syracuse. Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and ruled Syracuse for
a short time before being usurped by Calippus, a fellow disciple of Plato.
According to Seneca, Plato died at the age of 81 on the same day he was born.[57] The Suda indicates that
he lived to 82 years,[16] while Neanthes claims an age of 84.[17] A variety of sources have given accounts
of his death. One story, based on a mutilated manuscript,[58] suggests Plato died in his bed, whilst a
young Thracian girl played the flute to him.[59] Another tradition suggests Plato died at a wedding feast.
The account is based on Diogenes Laërtius's reference to an account by Hermippus, a third-century
Alexandrian.[60] According to Tertullian, Plato simply died in his sleep.[60]
Plato owned an estate at Iphistiadae, which by will he left to a certain youth named Adeimantus,
presumably a younger relative, as Plato had an elder brother or uncle by this name.
Influences
Pythagoras
Although Socrates influenced Plato directly as related in the dialogues,

the influence of Pythagoras upon Plato, or in a broader sense, the
Pythagoreans, such as Archytas also appears to have been significant.
Aristotle claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely followed the
teachings of the Pythagoreans,[61] and Cicero repeats this claim: "They
say Plato learned all things Pythagorean."[62] It is probable that both
were influenced by Orphism, and both believed in metempsychosis,
transmigration of the soul.
Pythagoras held that all things are number, and the cosmos comes from
numerical principles. He introduced the concept of form as distinct
from matter, and that the physical world is an imitation of an eternal
mathematical world. These ideas were very influential on Heraclitus,
Parmenides and Plato.[63]
Bust of Pythagoras in Rome.
George Karamanolis notes that
Numenius accepted both Pythagoras and Plato as the two authorities one should follow in
philosophy, but he regarded Plato's authority as subordinate to that of Pythagoras, whom he
considered to be the source of all true philosophy—including Plato's own. For Numenius it is
just that Plato wrote so many philosophical works, whereas Pythagoras' views were originally
passed on only orally.[64]
According to R. M. Hare, this influence consists of three points:
1. The platonic Republic might be related to the idea of "a tightly organized community of like-minded
thinkers", like the one established by Pythagoras in Croton.
2. The idea that mathematics and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for
philosophical thinking as well as "for substantial theses in science and morals".
3. They shared a "mystical approach to the soul and its place in the material world".[65][66]
Plato and mathematics
Plato may have studied under the mathematician Theodorus of Cyrene, and has a dialogue named for
and whose central character is the mathematician Theaetetus. While not a mathematician, Plato was
considered an accomplished teacher of mathematics. Eudoxus of Cnidus, the greatest mathematician in
Classical Greece, who contributed much of what is found in Euclid's Elements, was taught by Archytas
and Plato. Plato helped to distinguish between pure and applied mathematics by widening the gap
between "arithmetic", now called number theory and "logistic", now called arithmetic.[h]
In the dialogue Timaeus Plato associated

each of the four classical elements (earth,
air, water, and fire) with a regular solid
(cube, octahedron, icosahedron, and
tetrahedron respectively) due to their
shape, the so-called Platonic solids. The Assignment to the elements in Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum
fifth regular solid, the dodecahedron, was
supposed to be the element which made
up the heavens.
Heraclitus and Parmenides
The two philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides, following the way initiated by pre-Socratic Greek
philosophers like Pythagoras, depart from mythology and begin the metaphysical tradition that strongly
influenced Plato and continues today.[63]
The surviving fragments written by

Heraclitus suggest the view that all things
are continuously changing, or becoming.
His image of the river, with ever-changing
waters, is well known. According to some
ancient traditions like that of Diogenes
Laërtius, Plato received these ideas through
Heraclitus' disciple Cratylus, who held the
more radical view that continuous change
warrants scepticism because we cannot
define a thing that does not have a
permanent nature.[68]
Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary

vision, arguing for the idea of changeless Heraclitus (1628) by Hendrick ter Bust of Parmenides from Velia
Being and the view that change is an Brugghen
illusion.[63] John Palmer notes
"Parmenides' distinction among the
principal modes of being and his derivation of the attributes that must belong to what must be, simply as
such, qualify him to be seen as the founder of metaphysics or ontology as a domain of inquiry distinct
from theology."[69]
These ideas about change and permanence, or becoming and Being, influenced Plato in formulating his
theory of Forms.[68]
Plato's most self-critical dialogue is called Parmenides, featuring Parmenides and his student Zeno, who
following Parmenides' denial of change argued forcefully with his paradoxes to deny the existence of
motion.
Plato's Sophist dialogue includes an Eleatic stranger, a follower of Parmenides, as a foil for his arguments
against Parmenides. In the dialogue Plato distinguishes nouns and verbs, providing some of the earliest
treatment of subject and predicate. He also argues that motion and rest both "are", against followers of
Parmenides who say rest is but motion is not.
Socrates
Plato was one of the devoted young followers of Socrates. The precise
relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention
among scholars.
Plato never speaks in his own voice in his dialogues, and speaks as
Socrates in all but the Laws. In the Second Letter, it says, "no writing of
Plato exists or ever will exist, but those now said to be his are those of a
Socrates become beautiful and new";[70] if the Letter is Plato's, the final
qualification seems to call into question the dialogues' historical
fidelity. In any case, Xenophon's Memorabilia and Aristophanes's The
Clouds seem to present a somewhat different portrait of Socrates from
the one Plato paints. The Socratic problem asks how to reconcile these
various accounts. Leo Strauss notes that Socrates' reputation for irony
casts doubt on whether Plato's Socrates is expressing sincere beliefs.[71]
Bust of Socrates at the Louvre.
Aristotle attributes a different doctrine with respect to Forms to Plato
and Socrates.[72] Aristotle suggests that Socrates' idea of forms can be
discovered through investigation of the natural world, unlike Plato's Forms that exist beyond and outside
the ordinary range of human understanding. In the dialogues of Plato though, Socrates sometimes seems
to support a mystical side, discussing reincarnation and the mystery religions, this is generally attributed
to Plato.[73] Regardless, this view of Socrates cannot be dismissed out of hand, as we cannot be sure of
the differences between the views of Plato and Socrates. In the Meno Plato refers to the Eleusinian
Mysteries, telling Meno he would understand Socrates's answers better if he could stay for the initiations
next week. It is possible that Plato and Socrates took part in the Eleusinian Mysteries.[74]
Philosophy
Metaphysics
In Plato's dialogues, Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say on many subjects,
including several aspects of metaphysics. These include religion and science, human nature, love, and
sexuality. More than one dialogue contrasts perception and reality, nature and custom, and body and
soul.
The Forms
"Platonism" and its theory of Forms (or theory of Ideas) denies the reality of the material world,
considering it only an image or copy of the real world. The theory of Forms is first introduced in the
Phaedo dialogue (also known as On the Soul), wherein Socrates refutes the pluralism of the likes of
Anaxagoras, then the most popular response to Heraclitus and Parmenides, while giving the "Opposites
Argument" in support of the Forms.
According to this theory of Forms there are at least two worlds: the apparent world of concrete objects,
grasped by the senses, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of Forms or
abstract objects, grasped by pure reason (λογική). which ground what is apparent.
It can also be said there are three worlds, with the apparent world consisting of
both the world of material objects and of mental images, with the "third realm"
consisting of the Forms. Thus, though there is the term "Platonic idealism", this
refers to Platonic Ideas or the Forms, and not to some platonic kind of idealism,
an 18th-century view which sees matter as unreal in favour of mind. For Plato,
though grasped by the mind, only the Forms are truly real.
Plato's Forms thus represent types of things, as well as properties, patterns, and
relations, to which we refer as objects. Just as individual tables, chairs, and cars The "windmill proof"
refer to objects in this world, 'tableness', 'chairness', and 'carness', as well as e. g. of the Pythagorean
justice, truth, and beauty refer to objects in another world. One of Plato's most theorem found in
cited examples for the Forms were the truths of geometry, such as the Euclid's Elements.
Pythagorean theorem.
In other words, the Forms are universals given as a solution to the problem of universals, or the problem
of "the One and the Many", e. g. how one predicate "red" can apply to many red objects. For Plato this is
because there is one abstract object or Form of red, redness itself, in which the several red things
"participate". As Plato's solution is that universals are Forms and that Forms are real if anything is,
Plato's philosophy is unambiguously called Platonic realism. According to Aristotle, Plato's best known
argument in support of the Forms was the "one over many" argument.
Aside from being immutable, timeless, changeless, and one over many,
the Forms also provide definitions and the standard against which all
instances are measured. In the dialogues Socrates regularly asks for the
meaning – in the sense of intensional definitions – of a general term (e.
g. justice, truth, beauty), and criticizes those who instead give him
particular, extensional examples, rather than the quality shared by all
examples.
There is thus a world of perfect, eternal, and changeless meanings of

predicates, the Forms, existing in the realm of Being outside of space
and time; and the imperfect sensible world of becoming, subjects
somehow in a state between being and nothing, that partakes of the
qualities of the Forms, and is its instantiation.
The soul What is justice?
Plato advocates a belief in the immortality of the soul, and several

dialogues end with long speeches imagining the afterlife. In the Timaeus, Socrates locates the parts of the
soul within the human body: Reason is located in the head, spirit in the top third of the torso, and the
appetite in the middle third of the torso, down to the navel.[75][76]
Epistemology
Several aspects of epistemology are also discussed by Socrates, such as wisdom. More than one dialogue
contrasts knowledge and opinion. Plato's epistemology involves Socrates arguing that knowledge is not
empirical, and that it comes from divine insight. The Forms are also responsible for both knowledge or
certainty, and are grasped by pure reason.
In several dialogues, Socrates inverts the common man's intuition about what is knowable and what is
real. Reality is unavailable to those who use their senses. Socrates says that he who sees with his eyes is
blind. While most people take the objects of their senses to be real if anything is, Socrates is
contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the hands to be real. In the
Theaetetus, he says such people are eu amousoi (εὖ ἄµουσοι), an expression that means literally,
"happily without the muses".[77] In other words, such people are willingly ignorant, living without divine
inspiration and access to higher insights about reality.
In Plato's dialogues, Socrates always insists on his ignorance and humility, that he knows nothing, so
called Socratic irony. Several dialogues refute a series of viewpoints, but offer no positive position of its
own, ending in aporia.
Recollection
In several of Plato's dialogues, Socrates promulgates the idea that knowledge is a matter of recollection of
the state before one is born, and not of observation or study.[78] Keeping with the theme of admitting his
own ignorance, Socrates regularly complains of his forgetfulness. In the Meno, Socrates uses a
geometrical example to expound Plato's view that knowledge in this latter sense is acquired by
recollection. Socrates elicits a fact concerning a geometrical construction from a slave boy, who could not
have otherwise known the fact (due to the slave boy's lack of education). The knowledge must be present,
Socrates concludes, in an eternal, non-experiential form.
In other dialogues, the Sophist, Statesman, Republic, and the Parmenides, Plato himself associates
knowledge with the apprehension of unchanging Forms and their relationships to one another (which he
calls "expertise" in Dialectic), including through the processes of collection and division.[79] More
explicitly, Plato himself argues in the Timaeus that knowledge is always proportionate to the realm from
which it is gained. In other words, if one derives one's account of something experientially, because the
world of sense is in flux, the views therein attained will be mere opinions. And opinions are characterized
by a lack of necessity and stability. On the other hand, if one derives one's account of something by way
of the non-sensible forms, because these forms are unchanging, so too is the account derived from them.
That apprehension of forms is required for knowledge may be taken to cohere with Plato's theory in the
Theaetetus and Meno.[80] Indeed, the apprehension of Forms may be at the base of the "account"
required for justification, in that it offers foundational knowledge which itself needs no account, thereby
avoiding an infinite regression.[81]
Justified true belief
Many have interpreted Plato as stating—even having been the first to

write—that knowledge is justified true belief, an influential view that
informed future developments in epistemology.[82] This
interpretation is partly based on a reading of the Theaetetus wherein
Plato argues that knowledge is distinguished from mere true belief
by the knower having an "account" of the object of her or his true
belief.[83] And this theory may again be seen in the Meno, where it is
suggested that true belief can be raised to the level of knowledge if it
A Venn diagram illustrating the
is bound with an account as to the question of "why" the object of the
classical theory of knowledge.
true belief is so.[84][85]
Many years later, Edmund Gettier famously demonstrated the problems of the justified true belief
account of knowledge. That the modern theory of justified true belief as knowledge which Gettier
addresses is equivalent to Plato's is accepted by some scholars but rejected by others.[86] Plato himself
also identified problems with the justified true belief definition in the Theaetetus, concluding that
justification (or an "account") would require knowledge of difference, meaning that the definition of
knowledge is circular.[87][88]
Ethics
Several dialogues discuss ethics including virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, crime and punishment, and
justice and medicine. Plato views "The Good" as the supreme Form, somehow existing even "beyond
being".
Socrates propounded a moral intellectualism which claimed nobody does bad on purpose, and to know
what is good results in doing what is good; that knowledge is virtue. In the Protagoras dialogue it is
argued that virtue is innate and cannot be learned.
Socrates presents the famous Euthyphro dilemma in the dialogue of the same name.
Politics
The dialogues also discuss politics. Some of Plato's most famous

doctrines are contained in the Republic as well as in the Laws and
the Statesman. Because these doctrines are not spoken directly by
Plato and vary between dialogues, they cannot be straightforwardly
assumed as representing Plato's own views.
Socrates asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure

corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the
individual soul. The appetite/spirit/reason are analogous to the
castes of society.[89]
Productive (Workers) – the labourers, carpenters, plumbers,

masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to Oxyrhynchus Papyri, with fragment
the "appetite" part of the soul. of Plato's Republic
Protective (Warriors or Guardians) – those who are adventurous,
strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the
"spirit" part of the soul.
Governing (Rulers or Philosopher Kings) – those who are intelligent, rational, self-controlled, in love
with wisdom, well suited to make decisions for the community. These correspond to the "reason" part
of the soul and are very few.
According to this model, the principles of Athenian democracy (as it existed in his day) are rejected as
only a few are fit to rule. Instead of rhetoric and persuasion, Socrates says reason and wisdom should
govern. As Socrates puts it:
"Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and
adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the
many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so,
cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race."[90]
Socrates describes these "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight of truth"[91] and supports the
idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. According to him, sailing
and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. A large part of the Republic
then addresses how the educational system should be set up to produce these philosopher kings.
In addition, the ideal city is used as an image to illuminate the state of one's soul, or the will, reason, and
desires combined in the human body. Socrates is attempting to make an image of a rightly ordered
human, and then later goes on to describe the different kinds of humans that can be observed, from
tyrants to lovers of money in various kinds of cities. The ideal city is not promoted, but only used to
magnify the different kinds of individual humans and the state of their soul. However, the philosopher
king image was used by many after Plato to justify their personal political beliefs. The philosophic soul
according to Socrates has reason, will, and desires united in virtuous harmony. A philosopher has the
moderate love for wisdom and the courage to act according to wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge about the
Good or the right relations between all that exists.
Wherein it concerns states and rulers, Socrates asks which is better—a bad democracy or a country
reigned by a tyrant. He argues that it is better to be ruled by a bad tyrant, than by a bad democracy (since
here all the people are now responsible for such actions, rather than one individual committing many
bad deeds.) This is emphasised within the Republic as Socrates describes the event of mutiny on board a
ship.[92] Socrates suggests the ship's crew to be in line with the democratic rule of many and the captain,
although inhibited through ailments, the tyrant. Socrates' description of this event is parallel to that of
democracy within the state and the inherent problems that arise.
According to Socrates, a state made up of different kinds of souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy
(rule by the best) to a timocracy (rule by the honourable), then to an oligarchy (rule by the few), then to a
democracy (rule by the people), and finally to tyranny (rule by one person, rule by a tyrant).[93]
Aristocracy in the sense of government (politeia) is advocated in Plato's Republic. This regime is ruled by
a philosopher king, and thus is grounded on wisdom and reason.
The aristocratic state, and the man whose nature corresponds to it, are the objects of Plato's analyses
throughout much of the Republic, as opposed to the other four types of states/men, who are discussed
later in his work. In Book VIII, Socrates states in order the other four imperfect societies with a
description of the state's structure and individual character. In timocracy the ruling class is made up
primarily of those with a warrior-like character.[94] Oligarchy is made up of a society in which wealth is
the criterion of merit and the wealthy are in control.[95] In democracy, the state bears resemblance to
ancient Athens with traits such as equality of political opportunity and freedom for the individual to do
as he likes.[96] Democracy then degenerates into tyranny from the conflict of rich and poor. It is
characterized by an undisciplined society existing in chaos, where the tyrant rises as popular champion
leading to the formation of his private army and the growth of oppression.[97][93][98]
Art and poetry
Several dialogues tackle questions about art, including rhetoric and rhapsody. Socrates says that poetry is
inspired by the muses, and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine
madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the Phaedrus,[99] and yet in the Republic wants to
outlaw Homer's great poetry, and laughter as well. In Ion, Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of
Homer that he expresses in the Republic. The dialogue Ion suggests that Homer's Iliad functioned in the
ancient Greek world as the Bible does today in the modern Christian world: as divinely inspired literature
that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted.
Unwritten doctrines
For a long time, Plato's unwritten doctrines[100][101][102] had been

controversial. Many modern books on Plato seem to diminish its
importance; nevertheless, the first important witness who mentions
its existence is Aristotle, who in his Physics writes: "It is true, indeed,
that the account he gives there [i.e. in Timaeus] of the participant is
different from what he says in his so-called unwritten teachings
(ἄγραφα δόγµατα)."[103] The term "ἄγραφα δόγµατα" literally
means unwritten doctrines and it stands for the most fundamental
metaphysical teaching of Plato, which he disclosed only orally, and
some say only to his most trusted fellows, and which he may have
kept secret from the public. The importance of the unwritten
doctrines does not seem to have been seriously questioned before the
19th century.
A reason for not revealing it to everyone is partially discussed in

Phaedrus where Plato criticizes the written transmission of
knowledge as faulty, favouring instead the spoken logos: "he who has Bust excavated at the Villa of the
Papyri, possibly of Dionysus, Plato
knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in
or Poseidon.
earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words,
which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the
truth effectually."[104] The same argument is repeated in Plato's
Seventh Letter: "every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully avoids writing."[105]
In the same letter he writes: "I can certainly declare concerning all these writers who claim to know the
subjects that I seriously study ... there does not exist, nor will there ever exist, any treatise of mine
dealing therewith."[106] Such secrecy is necessary in order not "to expose them to unseemly and
degrading treatment".[107]
It is, however, said that Plato once disclosed this knowledge to the public in his lecture On the Good
(Περὶ τἀγαθοῦ), in which the Good (το ̀ ἀγαθόν) is identified with the One (the Unity, το ̀ ἕν), the
fundamental ontological principle. The content of this lecture has been transmitted by several witnesses.
Aristoxenus describes the event in the following words: "Each came expecting to learn something about
the things that are generally considered good for men, such as wealth, good health, physical strength,
and altogether a kind of wonderful happiness. But when the mathematical demonstrations came,
including numbers, geometrical figures and astronomy, and finally the statement Good is One seemed to
them, I imagine, utterly unexpected and strange; hence some belittled the matter, while others rejected
it."[108] Simplicius quotes Alexander of Aphrodisias, who states that "according to Plato, the first
principles of everything, including the Forms themselves are One and Indefinite Duality (ἡ ἀόριστος
δυάς), which he called Large and Small (τὸ µέγα καὶ το
̀ µικρόν)", and Simplicius reports as well that "one
might also learn this from Speusippus and Xenocrates and the others who were present at Plato's lecture
on the Good".[43]
Their account is in full agreement with Aristotle's description of Plato's metaphysical doctrine. In
Metaphysics he writes: "Now since the Forms are the causes of everything else, he [i.e. Plato] supposed
that their elements are the elements of all things. Accordingly the material principle is the Great and
Small [i.e. the Dyad], and the essence is the One (το ̀ ἕν), since the numbers are derived from the Great
and Small by participation in the One". [109] "From this account it is clear that he only employed two
causes: that of the essence, and the material cause; for the Forms are the cause of the essence in
everything else, and the One is the cause of it in the Forms. He also tells us what the material substrate is
of which the Forms are predicated in the case of sensible things, and the One in that of the Forms—that it
is this the duality (the Dyad, ἡ δυάς), the Great and Small (το
̀ µέγα καὶ τὸ µικρόν). Further, he assigned
to these two elements respectively the causation of good and of evil".[109]
The most important aspect of this interpretation of Plato's metaphysics is the continuity between his
teaching and the Neoplatonic interpretation of Plotinus[i] or Ficino[j] which has been considered
erroneous by many but may in fact have been directly influenced by oral transmission of Plato's doctrine.
A modern scholar who recognized the importance of the unwritten doctrine of Plato was Heinrich
Gomperz who described it in his speech during the 7th International Congress of Philosophy in 1930.[110]
All the sources related to the ἄγραφα δόγµατα have been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as
Testimonia Platonica.[111] These sources have subsequently been interpreted by scholars from the
German Tübingen School of interpretation such as Hans Joachim Krämer or Thomas A. Szlezák.[k]
Themes of Plato's dialogues
Trial of Socrates
The trial of Socrates and his death sentence is the

central, unifying event of Plato's dialogues. It is
relayed in the dialogues Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.
Apology is Socrates' defence speech, and Crito and
Phaedo take place in prison after the conviction.
Apology is among the most frequently read of Plato's

works. In the Apology, Socrates tries to dismiss
rumours that he is a sophist and defends himself
against charges of disbelief in the gods and
corruption of the young. Socrates insists that long-
standing slander will be the real cause of his demise,
The Death of Socrates (1787), by Jacques-Louis David
and says the legal charges are essentially false.
Socrates famously denies being wise, and explains
how his life as a philosopher was launched by the
Oracle at Delphi. He says that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put him at odds with his fellow
man, and that this is the reason he has been mistaken for a menace to the city-state of Athens.
In Apology, Socrates is presented as mentioning Plato by name as one of those youths close enough to
him to have been corrupted, if he were in fact guilty of corrupting the youth, and questioning why their
fathers and brothers did not step forward to testify against him if he was indeed guilty of such a
crime.[112] Later, Plato is mentioned along with Crito, Critobolus, and Apollodorus as offering to pay a
fine of 30 minas on Socrates' behalf, in lieu of the death penalty proposed by Meletus.[113] In the Phaedo,
the title character lists those who were in attendance at the prison on Socrates' last day, explaining
Plato's absence by saying, "Plato was ill".[114]
The trial in other dialogues
If Plato's important dialogues do not refer to Socrates' execution explicitly, they allude to it, or use
characters or themes that play a part in it. Five dialogues foreshadow the trial: In the Theaetetus and the
Euthyphro Socrates tells people that he is about to face corruption charges.[115][116] In the Meno, one of
the men who brings legal charges against Socrates, Anytus, warns him about the trouble he may get into
if he does not stop criticizing important people.[117]In the Gorgias, Socrates says that his trial will be like
a doctor prosecuted by a cook who asks a jury of children to choose between the doctor's bitter medicine
and the cook's tasty treats.[118] In the Republic, Socrates explains why an enlightened man (presumably
himself) will stumble in a courtroom situation.[119] Plato's support of aristocracy and distrust of
democracy is also taken to be partly rooted in a democracy having killed Socrates. In the Protagoras,
Socrates is a guest at the home of Callias, son of Hipponicus, a man whom Socrates disparages in the
Apology as having wasted a great amount of money on sophists' fees.
Two other important dialogues, the Symposium and the Phaedrus, are linked to the main storyline by
characters. In the Apology, Socrates says Aristophanes slandered him in a comic play, and blames him
for causing his bad reputation, and ultimately, his death.[120] In the Symposium, the two of them are
drinking together with other friends. The character Phaedrus is linked to the main story line by character
(Phaedrus is also a participant in the Symposium and the Protagoras) and by theme (the philosopher as
divine emissary, etc.) The Protagoras is also strongly linked to the Symposium by characters: all of the
formal speakers at the Symposium (with the exception of Aristophanes) are present at the home of
Callias in that dialogue. Charmides and his guardian Critias are present for the discussion in the
Protagoras. Examples of characters crossing between dialogues can be further multiplied. The
Protagoras contains the largest gathering of Socratic associates.
In the dialogues Plato is most celebrated and admired for, Socrates is concerned with human and
political virtue, has a distinctive personality, and friends and enemies who "travel" with him from
dialogue to dialogue. This is not to say that Socrates is consistent: a man who is his friend in one dialogue
may be an adversary or subject of his mockery in another. For example, Socrates praises the wisdom of
Euthyphro many times in the Cratylus, but makes him look like a fool in the Euthyphro. He disparages
sophists generally, and Prodicus specifically in the Apology, whom he also slyly jabs in the Cratylus for
charging the hefty fee of fifty drachmas for a course on language and grammar. However, Socrates tells
Theaetetus in his namesake dialogue that he admires Prodicus and has directed many pupils to him.
Socrates' ideas are also not consistent within or between or among dialogues.
Allegories
Mythos and logos are terms that evolved along classical Greek history. In the times of Homer and Hesiod
(8th century BC) they were essentially synonyms, and contained the meaning of 'tale' or 'history'. Later
came historians like Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as philosophers like Heraclitus and Parmenides
and other Presocratics who introduced a distinction between both terms; mythos became more a
nonverifiable account, and logos a rational account.[121] It may seem that Plato, being a disciple of
Socrates and a strong partisan of philosophy based on logos, should have avoided the use of myth-telling.
Instead he made an abundant use of it. This fact has produced analytical and interpretative work, in
order to clarify the reasons and purposes for that use.
Plato, in general, distinguished between three types of myth.[l] First there were the false myths, like those
based on stories of gods subject to passions and sufferings, because reason teaches that God is perfect.
Then came the myths based on true reasoning, and therefore also true. Finally there were those non
verifiable because beyond of human reason, but containing some truth in them. Regarding the subjects of
Plato's myths they are of two types, those dealing with the origin of the universe, and those about morals
and the origin and fate of the soul.[122]
It is generally agreed that the main purpose for Plato in using myths was didactic. He considered that
only a few people were capable or interested in following a reasoned philosophical discourse, but men in
general are attracted by stories and tales. Consequently, then, he used the myth to convey the
conclusions of the philosophical reasoning. Some of Plato's myths were based in traditional ones, others
were modifications of them, and finally he also invented altogether new myths.[123] Notable examples
include the story of Atlantis, the Myth of Er, and the Allegory of the Cave.
The Cave
The theory of Forms is most famously captured in his

Allegory of the Cave, and more explicitly in his
analogy of the sun and the divided line. The Allegory
of the Cave is a paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates
argues that the invisible world is the most intelligible
('noeton') and that the visible world ((h)oraton) is
the least knowable, and the most obscure.
Socrates says in the Republic that people who take

the sun-lit world of the senses to be good and real are
living pitifully in a den of evil and ignorance.
Socrates admits that few climb out of the den, or cave
of ignorance, and those who do, not only have a
terrible struggle to attain the heights, but when they Plato's Allegory of the Cave by Jan Saenredam,
according to Cornelis van Haarlem, 1604, Albertina,
go back down for a visit or to help other people up,
Vienna
they find themselves objects of scorn and ridicule.
According to Socrates, physical objects and physical

events are "shadows" of their ideal or perfect forms, and exist only to the extent that they instantiate the
perfect versions of themselves. Just as shadows are temporary, inconsequential epiphenomena produced
by physical objects, physical objects are themselves fleeting phenomena caused by more substantial
causes, the ideals of which they are mere instances. For example, Socrates thinks that perfect justice
exists (although it is not clear where) and his own trial would be a cheap copy of it.
The Allegory of the Cave is intimately connected to his political ideology, that only people who have
climbed out of the cave and cast their eyes on a vision of goodness are fit to rule. Socrates claims that the
enlightened men of society must be forced from their divine contemplation and be compelled to run the
city according to their lofty insights. Thus is born the idea of the "philosopher-king", the wise person who
accepts the power thrust upon him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. This is
the main thesis of Socrates in the Republic, that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the wise
choice of a ruler.[124]
Ring of Gyges
A ring which could make one invisible, the Ring of Gyges is considered in the Republic for its ethical
consequences.
Chariot
He also compares the soul (Psyche) to a chariot. In this allegory he introduces a triple soul which
composed of a Charioteer and two horses. Charioteer is a symbol of intellectual and logical part of the
soul (logistikon), and two horses represents moral virtues (thymoeides) and passionate instincts
(epithymetikon), Respectively.
Dialectic
Socrates employs a dialectic method which proceeds by questioning. The role of dialectic in Plato's
thought is contested but there are two main interpretations: a type of reasoning and a method of
intuition.[125] Simon Blackburn adopts the first, saying that Plato's dialectic is "the process of eliciting the
truth by means of questions aimed at opening out what is already implicitly known, or at exposing the
contradictions and muddles of an opponent's position."[125] A similar interpretation has been put forth
by Louis Hartz, who suggests that elements of the dialectic are borrowed from Hegel.[126] According to
this view, opposing arguments improve upon each other, and prevailing opinion is shaped by the
synthesis of many conflicting ideas over time. Each new idea exposes a flaw in the accepted model, and
the epistemological substance of the debate continually approaches the truth. Hartz's is a teleological
interpretation at the core, in which philosophers will ultimately exhaust the available body of knowledge
and thus reach "the end of history." Karl Popper, on the other hand, claims that dialectic is the art of
intuition for "visualising the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas, of unveiling the Great Mystery behind
the common man's everyday world of appearances."[127]
Family
Plato often discusses the father-son relationship and the question of whether a father's interest in his
sons has much to do with how well his sons turn out. In ancient Athens, a boy was socially located by his
family identity, and Plato often refers to his characters in terms of their paternal and fraternal
relationships. Socrates was not a family man, and saw himself as the son of his mother, who was
apparently a midwife. A divine fatalist, Socrates mocks men who spent exorbitant fees on tutors and
trainers for their sons, and repeatedly ventures the idea that good character is a gift from the gods.
Plato's dialogue Crito reminds Socrates that orphans are at the mercy of chance, but Socrates is
unconcerned. In the Theaetetus, he is found recruiting as a disciple a young man whose inheritance has
been squandered. Socrates twice compares the relationship of the older man and his boy lover to the
father-son relationship,[128][129] and in the Phaedo, Socrates' disciples, towards whom he displays more
concern than his biological sons, say they will feel "fatherless" when he is gone.
Though Plato agreed with Aristotle that women were inferior to men, he thought because of this women
needed an education. Plato thought weak men who live poor lives would be reincarnated as women.
"Humans have a twofold nature, the superior kind should be such as would from then on be called
"man".'
Narration
Plato never presents himself as a participant in any of the dialogues, and with the exception of the
Apology, there is no suggestion that he heard any of the dialogues firsthand. Some dialogues have no
narrator but have a pure "dramatic" form (examples: Meno, Gorgias, Phaedrus, Crito, Euthyphro), some
dialogues are narrated by Socrates, wherein he speaks in first person (examples: Lysis, Charmides,
Republic). One dialogue, Protagoras, begins in dramatic form but quickly proceeds to Socrates'
narration of a conversation he had previously with the sophist for whom the dialogue is named; this
narration continues uninterrupted till the dialogue's end.
Two dialogues Phaedo and Symposium also begin in dramatic form but then proceed to virtually
uninterrupted narration by followers of Socrates. Phaedo, an account of Socrates' final conversation and
hemlock drinking, is narrated by Phaedo to Echecrates in a foreign city not long after the execution took
place.[m] The Symposium is narrated by Apollodorus, a Socratic disciple, apparently to Glaucon.
Apollodorus assures his listener that he is

recounting the story, which took place
when he himself was an infant, not from
his own memory, but as remembered by
Aristodemus, who told him the story years
ago.
The Theaetetus is a peculiar case: a

dialogue in dramatic form embedded
within another dialogue in dramatic form.
In the beginning of the Theaetetus,[131]
Euclides says that he compiled the Painting of a scene from Plato's Symposium (Anselm Feuerbach,
1873)
conversation from notes he took based on
what Socrates told him of his conversation
with the title character. The rest of the
Theaetetus is presented as a "book" written in dramatic form and read by one of Euclides' slaves.[132]
Some scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this date wearied of the narrated form.[133]
With the exception of the Theaetetus, Plato gives no explicit indication as to how these orally transmitted
conversations came to be written down.
History of Plato's dialogues

Thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters (the
Epistles) have traditionally been ascribed to Plato,
though modern scholarship doubts the
authenticity of at least some of these. Plato's
writings have been published in several fashions;
this has led to several conventions regarding the
naming and referencing of Plato's texts.
The usual system for making unique references to

sections of the text by Plato derives from a 16th-
century edition of Plato's works by Henricus
Stephanus known as Stephanus pagination.
One tradition regarding the arrangement of

Plato's texts is according to tetralogies. This
scheme is ascribed by Diogenes Laërtius to an Volume 3, pp. 32–33, of the 1578 Stephanus edition of
ancient scholar and court astrologer to Tiberius Plato, showing a passage of Timaeus with the Latin
named Thrasyllus. translation and notes of Jean de Serres
Chronology
No one knows the exact order Plato's dialogues were written in, nor the extent to which some might have
been later revised and rewritten. The works are usually grouped into Early (sometimes by some into
Transitional), Middle, and Late period.[134][135] This choice to group chronologically is thought worthy
of criticism by some (Cooper et al),[136] given that it is recognized that there is no absolute agreement as
to the true chronology, since the facts of the temporal order of writing are not confidently
ascertained.[137] Chronology was not a consideration in ancient times, in that groupings of this nature are
virtually absent (Tarrant) in the extant writings of ancient Platonists.[138]
Whereas those classified as "early dialogues" often conclude in aporia, the so-called "middle dialogues"
provide more clearly stated positive teachings that are often ascribed to Plato such as the theory of
Forms. The remaining dialogues are classified as "late" and are generally agreed to be difficult and
challenging pieces of philosophy. This grouping is the only one proven by stylometric analysis.[139]
Among those who classify the dialogues into periods of composition, Socrates figures in all of the "early
dialogues" and they are considered the most faithful representations of the historical Socrates.[140]
The following represents one relatively common division.[141] It should, however, be kept in mind that
many of the positions in the ordering are still highly disputed, and also that the very notion that Plato's
dialogues can or should be "ordered" is by no means universally accepted. Increasingly in the most recent
Plato scholarship, writers are sceptical of the notion that the order of Plato's writings can be established
with any precision,[142] though Plato's works are still often characterized as falling at least roughly into
three groups.[6]
Early: Apology, Charmides, Crito, Euthyphro, Gorgias, (Lesser) Hippias (minor), (Greater) Hippias
(major), Ion, Laches, Lysis, Protagoras
Middle: Cratylus, Euthydemus, Meno, Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic, Symposium,

Theaetetus
Late: Critias, Sophist, Statesman / Politicus, Timaeus, Philebus, Laws.[140]
A significant distinction of the early Plato and the later Plato has been offered by scholars such as E.R.
Dodds and has been summarized by Harold Bloom in his book titled Agon: "E.R. Dodds is the classical
scholar whose writings most illuminated the Hellenic descent (in) The Greeks and the Irrational ... In his
chapter on Plato and the Irrational Soul ... Dodds traces Plato's spiritual evolution from the pure
rationalist of the Protagoras to the transcendental psychologist, influenced by the Pythagoreans and
Orphics, of the later works culminating in the Laws."[143]
Lewis Campbell was the first[144] to make exhaustive use of stylometry to prove objectively that the
Critias, Timaeus, Laws, Philebus, Sophist, and Statesman were all clustered together as a group, while
the Parmenides, Phaedrus, Republic, and Theaetetus belong to a separate group, which must be earlier
(given Aristotle's statement in his Politics[145] that the Laws was written after the Republic; cf. Diogenes
Laërtius Lives 3.37). What is remarkable about Campbell's conclusions is that, in spite of all the
stylometric studies that have been conducted since his time, perhaps the only chronological fact about
Plato's works that can now be said to be proven by stylometry is the fact that Critias, Timaeus, Laws,
Philebus, Sophist, and Statesman are the latest of Plato's dialogues, the others earlier.[139]
Protagoras is often considered one of the last of the "early dialogues". Three dialogues are often
considered "transitional" or "pre-middle": Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Meno. Proponents of dividing the
dialogues into periods often consider the Parmenides and Theaetetus to come late in the middle period
and be transitional to the next, as they seem to treat the theory of Forms critically (Parmenides) or only
indirectly (Theaetetus).[146] Ritter's stylometric analysis places Phaedrus as probably after Theaetetus
and Parmenides,[147] although it does not relate to the theory of Forms in the same way. The first book of
the Republic is often thought to have been written significantly earlier than the rest of the work, although
possibly having undergone revisions when the later books were attached to it.[146]
While looked to for Plato's "mature" answers to the questions posed by his earlier works, those answers
are difficult to discern. Some scholars[140] indicate that the theory of Forms is absent from the late
dialogues, its having been refuted in the Parmenides, but there isn't total consensus that the Parmenides
actually refutes the theory of Forms.[148]
Writings of doubted authenticity
Jowett mentions in his Appendix to Menexenus, that works which bore the character of a writer were
attributed to that writer even when the actual author was unknown.[149]
For below:
(*) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether Plato is the author, and ( ‡ ) if most scholars
agree that Plato is not the author of the work.[150]
First Alcibiades (*), Second Alcibiades ( ‡ ), Clitophon (*), Epinomis ( ‡ ), Epistles (*), Hipparchus ( ‡ ),
Menexenus (*), Minos (‡), (Rival) Lovers (‡), Theages (‡)
Spurious writings
The following works were transmitted under Plato's name, most of them already considered spurious in
antiquity, and so were not included by Thrasyllus in his tetralogical arrangement. These works are
labelled as Notheuomenoi ("spurious") or Apocrypha.
Axiochus, Definitions, Demodocus, Epigrams, Eryxias, Halcyon, On Justice, On Virtue, Sisyphus.
Textual sources and history
Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive.[151] The texts of Plato

as received today apparently represent the complete written
philosophical work of Plato and are generally good by the standards
of textual criticism.[152] No modern edition of Plato in the original
Greek represents a single source, but rather it is reconstructed from
multiple sources which are compared with each other. These sources
are medieval manuscripts written on vellum (mainly from 9th to
13th century AD Byzantium), papyri (mainly from late antiquity in
Egypt), and from the independent testimonia of other authors who
quote various segments of the works (which come from a variety of
sources). The text as presented is usually not much different from
what appears in the Byzantine manuscripts, and papyri and
testimonia just confirm the manuscript tradition. In some editions
however the readings in the papyri or testimonia are favoured in
some places by the editing critic of the text. Reviewing editions of
papyri for the Republic in 1987, Slings suggests that the use of papyri
is hampered due to some poor editing practices.[153]
First page of the Euthyphro, from
In the first century AD, Thrasyllus of Mendes had compiled and the Clarke Plato (Codex Oxoniensis
published the works of Plato in the original Greek, both genuine and Clarkianus 39), 895 AD. The text is
spurious. While it has not survived to the present day, all the extant Greek minuscule.
medieval Greek manuscripts are based on his edition.[154]
The oldest surviving complete manuscript for many of the dialogues is the Clarke Plato (Codex
Oxoniensis Clarkianus 39, or Codex Boleianus MS E.D. Clarke 39), which was written in Constantinople
in 895 and acquired by Oxford University in 1809.[155] The Clarke is given the siglum B in modern
editions. B contains the first six tetralogies and is described internally as being written by "John the
Calligrapher" on behalf of Arethas of Caesarea. It appears to have undergone corrections by Arethas

himself.[156] For the last two tetralogies and the apocrypha, the oldest surviving complete manuscript is
Codex Parisinus graecus 1807, designated A, which was written nearly contemporaneously to B, circa
900 AD.[157] A must be a copy of the edition edited by the patriarch, Photios, teacher of
Arethas.[158][159][160]A probably had an initial volume containing the first 7 tetralogies which is now lost,
but of which a copy was made, Codex Venetus append. class. 4, 1, which has the siglum T. The oldest
manuscript for the seventh tetralogy is Codex Vindobonensis 54. suppl. phil. Gr. 7, with siglum W, with a
supposed date in the twelfth century.[161] In total there are fifty-one such Byzantine manuscripts known,
while others may yet be found.[162]
To help establish the text, the older evidence of papyri and the independent evidence of the testimony of
commentators and other authors (i.e., those who quote and refer to an old text of Plato which is no
longer extant) are also used. Many papyri which contain fragments of Plato's texts are among the
Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The 2003 Oxford Classical Texts edition by Slings even cites the Coptic translation
of a fragment of the Republic in the Nag Hammadi library as evidence.[163] Important authors for
testimony include Olympiodorus the Younger, Plutarch, Proclus, Iamblichus, Eusebius, and Stobaeus.
During the early Renaissance, the Greek language and, along with it, Plato's texts were reintroduced to
Western Europe by Byzantine scholars. In September or October 1484 Filippo Valori and Francesco
Berlinghieri printed 1025 copies of Ficino's translation, using the printing press at the Dominican
convent S.Jacopo di Ripoli.[164][165] Cosimo had been influenced toward studying Plato by the many
Byzantine Platonists in Florence during his day, including George Gemistus Plethon.
The 1578 edition[166] of Plato's complete works published by Henricus Stephanus (Henri Estienne) in
Geneva also included parallel Latin translation and running commentary by Joannes Serranus (Jean de
Serres). It was this edition which established standard Stephanus pagination, still in use today.[167]
Modern editions
The Oxford Classical Texts offers the current standard complete Greek text of Plato's complete works. In
five volumes edited by John Burnet, its first edition was published 1900–1907, and it is still available
from the publisher, having last been printed in 1993.[168][169] The second edition is still in progress with
only the first volume, printed in 1995, and the Republic, printed in 2003, available. The Cambridge
Greek and Latin Texts and Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries series includes Greek editions
of the Protagoras, Symposium, Phaedrus, Alcibiades, and Clitophon, with English philological, literary,
and, to an extent, philosophical commentary.[170][171] One distinguished edition of the Greek text is E. R.
Dodds' of the Gorgias, which includes extensive English commentary.[172][173]
The modern standard complete English edition is the 1997 Hackett Plato, Complete Works, edited by
John M. Cooper.[174][175] For many of these translations Hackett offers separate volumes which include
more by way of commentary, notes, and introductory material. There is also the Clarendon Plato Series
by Oxford University Press which offers English translations and thorough philosophical commentary by
leading scholars on a few of Plato's works, including John McDowell's version of the Theaetetus.[176]
Cornell University Press has also begun the Agora series of English translations of classical and medieval
philosophical texts, including a few of Plato's.[177]
Criticism
The most famous criticism of Platonism is the Third Man Argument. Plato actually considered this
objection with "large" rather than man in the Parmenides dialogue.
Many recent philosophers have diverged from what some would describe as the ontological models and
moral ideals characteristic of traditional Platonism. A number of these postmodern philosophers have
thus appeared to disparage Platonism from more or less informed perspectives. Friedrich Nietzsche
notoriously attacked Plato's "idea of the good itself" along with many fundamentals of Christian morality,
which he interpreted as "Platonism for the masses" in one of his most important works, Beyond Good
and Evil (1886). Martin Heidegger argued against Plato's alleged obfuscation of Being in his incomplete
tome, Being and Time (1927), and the philosopher of science Karl Popper argued in The Open Society
and Its Enemies (1945) that Plato's alleged proposal for a utopian political regime in the Republic was
prototypically totalitarian.
The Dutch historian of science Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis criticizes Plato, stating that he was guilty of
"constructing an imaginary nature by reasoning from preconceived principles and forcing reality more or
less to adapt itself to this construction."[178] Dijksterhuis adds that one of the errors into which Plato had
"fallen in an almost grotesque manner, consisted in an over-estimation of what unaided thought, i.e.
without recourse to experience, could achieve in the field of natural science."[179]
Legacy
In the arts
Plato's Academy mosaic was created in the villa of T. Siminius

Stephanus in Pompeii, around 100 BC to 100 CE. The School of Athens
fresco by Raphael features Plato also as a central figure. The Nuremberg
Chronicle depicts Plato and other as anachronistic schoolmen.
In philosophy
Plato's thought is often compared with that of his most famous student,
Aristotle, whose reputation during the Western Middle Ages so
completely eclipsed that of Plato that the Scholastic philosophers
referred to Aristotle as "the Philosopher". However, in the Byzantine
Empire, the study of Plato continued.
The only Platonic work known to western scholarship was Timaeus, Plato (left) and Aristotle (right) a
until translations were made after the fall of Constantinople, which detail of The School of Athens, a
occurred during 1453. [180] George Gemistos Plethon brought Plato's fresco by Raphael. Aristotle
original writings from Constantinople in the century of its fall. It is gestures to the earth while
believed that Plethon passed a copy of the Dialogues to Cosimo de' holding a copy of his
Medici when in 1438 the Council of Ferrara, called to unify the Greek Nicomachean Ethics in his hand.
and Latin Churches, was adjourned to Florence, where Plethon then Plato holds his Timaeus and
gestures to the heavens.
lectured on the relation and differences of Plato and Aristotle, and fired
Cosimo with his enthusiasm;[181] Cosimo would supply Marsilio Ficino
with Plato's text for translation to Latin. During the early Islamic era,
Persian and Arab scholars translated much of Plato into Arabic and wrote commentaries and
interpretations on Plato's, Aristotle's and other Platonist philosophers' works (see Al-Farabi, Avicenna,
Averroes, Hunayn ibn Ishaq). Many of these comments on Plato were translated from Arabic into Latin
and as such influenced Medieval scholastic philosophers.[182]
During the Renaissance, with the general resurgence of interest in classical civilization, knowledge of
Plato's philosophy would become widespread again in the West. Many of the greatest early modern
scientists and artists who broke with Scholasticism and fostered the flowering of the Renaissance, with
the support of the Plato-inspired Lorenzo (grandson of Cosimo), saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for
progress in the arts and sciences. His political views, too, were well-received: the vision of wise
philosopher-kings of the Republic matched the views set out in works such as Machiavelli's The Prince.
More problematic was Plato's belief in metempsychosis as well as his ethical views (on polyamory and
euthanasia in particular), which did not match those of Christianity. It was Plethon's student Bessarion
who reconciled Plato with Christian theology, arguing that Plato's views were only ideals, unattainable
due to the fall of man.[183] The Cambridge Platonists were around in the 17th century.
By the 19th century, Plato's reputation was restored, and at least on par with Aristotle's. Notable Western
philosophers have continued to draw upon Plato's work since that time. Plato's influence has been
especially strong in mathematics and the sciences. Plato's resurgence further inspired some of the
greatest advances in logic since Aristotle, primarily through Gottlob Frege and his followers Kurt Gödel,
Alonzo Church, and Alfred Tarski. Albert Einstein suggested that the scientist who takes philosophy
seriously would have to avoid systematization and take on many different roles, and possibly appear as a
Platonist or Pythagorean, in that such a one would have "the viewpoint of logical simplicity as an
indispensable and effective tool of his research."[184]
The political philosopher and professor Leo Strauss is considered by

some as the prime thinker involved in the recovery of Platonic
thought in its more political, and less metaphysical, form. Strauss'
political approach was in part inspired by the appropriation of Plato
and Aristotle by medieval Jewish and Islamic political philosophers,
especially Maimonides and Al-Farabi, as opposed to the Christian
metaphysical tradition that developed from Neoplatonism. Deeply
influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger, Strauss nonetheless rejects
their condemnation of Plato and looks to the dialogues for a solution
to what all three latter day thinkers acknowledge as 'the crisis of the
West.
W. V. O. Quine dubbed the problem of negative existentials "Plato's

beard". Noam Chomsky dubbed the problem of knowledge Plato's
problem. One author calls the definist fallacy the Socratic fallacy.
More broadly, platonism (sometimes distinguished from Plato's

particular view by the lowercase) refers to the view that there are
many abstract objects. Still to this day, platonists take number and
the truths of mathematics as the best support in favour of this view.
"The safest general characterization
Most mathematicians think, like platonists, that numbers and the
of the European philosophical
truths of mathematics are perceived by reason rather than the senses
tradition is that it consists of a series
yet exist independently of minds and people, that is to say, they are of footnotes to Plato." (Alfred North
discovered rather than invented. Whitehead, Process and Reality,
1929).
Contemporary platonism is also more open to the idea of there being
infinitely many abstract objects, as numbers or propositions might
qualify as abstract objects, while ancient Platonism seemed to resist this view, possibly because of the
need to overcome the problem of "the One and the Many". Thus e. g. in the Parmenides dialogue, Plato
denies there are Forms for more mundane things like hair and mud. However, he repeatedly does
support the idea that there are Forms of artifacts, e. g. the Form of Bed. Contemporary platonism also
tends to view abstract objects as unable to cause anything, but it is unclear whether the ancient Platonists
felt this way.
See also
James Adam, major Plato scholar
Allan Bloom, major Plato scholar and translator of Republic
Luc Brisson, translator and commentator
Myles Burnyeat, major Plato scholar
Harold F. Cherniss, major Plato scholar
Guy Cromwell Field, Plato scholar
Paul Friedländer, Plato scholar
Terence Irwin, major Plato scholar
Richard Kraut, major Plato scholar
Ellen Francis Mason, translator of Plato
Alexander Nehamas, major Plato scholar
Thomas Pangle, major Plato scholar and translator of Laws
Friedrich Schleiermacher, commentator
Paul Shorey, major Plato scholar and translator of Republic
Leo Strauss, major Plato scholar
Gregory Vlastos, major Plato scholar
Paul Woodruff, major Plato scholar
Catherine Zuckert, Plato scholar and political philosopher
Notes
a. "...the subject of philosophy, as it is often conceived—a rigorous and systematic examination of
ethical, political, metaphysical, and epistemological issues, armed with a distinctive method—can be
called his invention."[3]
b. "Though influenced primarily by Socrates, to the extent that Socrates is usually the main character in
many of Plato's writings, he was also influenced by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans"[6]
c. Diogenes Laërtius mentions that Plato "was born, according to some writers, in Aegina in the house
of Phidiades the son of Thales". Diogenes mentions as one of his sources the Universal History of
Favorinus. According to Favorinus, Ariston, Plato's family, and his family were sent by Athens to
settle as cleruchs (colonists retaining their Athenian citizenship), on the island of Aegina, from which
they were expelled by the Spartans after Plato's birth there.[13] Nails points out, however, that there is
no record of any Spartan expulsion of Athenians from Aegina between 431–411 BC.[14] On the other
hand, at the Peace of Nicias, Aegina was silently left under Athens' control, and it was not until the
summer of 411 that the Spartans overran the island.[15] Therefore, Nails concludes that "perhaps
Ariston was a cleruch, perhaps he went to Aegina in 431, and perhaps Plato was born on Aegina, but
none of this enables a precise dating of Ariston's death (or Plato's birth).[14] Aegina is regarded as
Plato's place of birth by the Suda as well.[16]
d. Apollodorus of Athens said Plato was born on the seventh day of the month Thargelion; according to
this tradition the god Apollo was born this day.[17] Renaissance Platonists celebrated Plato's birth on
November 7.[18] Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff estimates that Plato was born when Diotimos
was archon eponymous, namely between July 29, 428 BC and July 24, 427 BC.[19] Greek philologist
Ioannis Kalitsounakis believes that he was born on May 26 or 27, 427 BC.[20][21]
e. According to James Adam, some have held that "Glaucon and Adeimantus were uncles of Plato, but
Zeller decides for the usual view that they were brothers."[28]
f. From aristos and kleos
g. A scroll by Philodemus analysed in 2019 may suggest that Plato was enslaved earlier than was
previously believed.[55]
h. He regarded "logistic" as appropriate for business men and men of war who "must learn the art of
numbers or he will not know how to array his troops," while "arithmetic" was appropriate for
philosophers "because he has to arise out of the sea of change and lay hold of true being."[67]
i. Plotinus describes this in the last part of his final Ennead (VI, 9) entitled On the Good, or the One
(Περὶ τἀγαθοῦ ἢ τοῦ ἑνός). Jens Halfwassen states in Der Aufstieg zum Einen' (http://ccat.sas.upe
nn.edu/bmcr/2006/2006-08-16.html) (2006) that "Plotinus' ontology—which should be called Plotinus'
henology—is a rather accurate philosophical renewal and continuation of Plato's unwritten doctrine,
i.e. the doctrine rediscovered by Krämer and Gaiser."
j. In one of his letters (Epistolae 1612) Ficino writes: "The main goal of the divine Plato ... is to show
one principle of things, which he called the One (τὸ ἕν)", cf. Montoriola 1926, p. 147.
k. For a brief description of the problem see for example Gaiser 1980. A more detailed analysis is given
by Krämer 1990. Another description is by Reale 1997 and Reale 1990. A thorough analysis of the
consequences of such an approach is given by Szlezak 1999. Another supporter of this interpretation
is the German philosopher Karl Albert, cf. Albert 1980 or Albert 1996. Hans-Georg Gadamer is also
sympathetic towards it, cf. Grondin 2010 and Gadamer 1980. Gadamer's final position on the subject
is stated in Gadamer 1997.
l. Some use the term allegory instead of myth. This is in accordance with the practice in the specialized
literature, in which it is common to find that the terms allegory and myth are used as synonyms.
Nevertheless, there is a trend among modern scholars to use the term myth and avoid the term
allegory, as it is considered more appropriate to modern interpretation of Plato's writings. One of the
first to initiate this trend was the Oxford University professor John Alexander Stewart, in his work The
Myths of Plato.
m. "The time is not long after the death of Socrates; for the Pythagoreans [Echecrates & co.] have not
heard any details yet".[130]
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40. Dodds 2004.
41. See Guthrie 1986; Vlastos 1991; Penner 1992; Kahn 1996; Fine 1999b.
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43. Bloom 1982, p. 5.
44. Burnet 1928b, p. 9.
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(in German). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-013912-9.
Notopoulos, A. (April 1939). "The Name of Plato". Classical Philology. 34 (2): 135–145.
doi:10.1086/362227 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F362227).
Penner, Terry (1992). "Socrates and the Early Dialogues". In Kraut, Richard (ed.). The Cambridge
Companion to Plato. Cambridge University Press. pp. 121–169.
Plato (https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/464109) at the Encyclopædia Britannica
"Plato". Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios Volume XVI (in Greek). 1952.
"Plato" (http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&
page_num=1&user_list=LIST&searchstr=Plato&field=hw_eng&num_per_page=25&db=REAL). Suda.
10th century.
Popper, K. (1962). The Open Society and its Enemies. 1. London: Routledge.
Press, Gerald Alan (2000). "Introduction". In Press, Gerald Alan (ed.). Who Speaks for Plato?:
Studies in Platonic Anonymity. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 1–14.
Reale, Giovanni (1990). Catan, John R. (ed.). Plato and Aristotle. A History of Ancient Philosophy. 2.
State University of New York Press.
Reale, Giovanni (1997). Toward a New Interpretation of Plato. Washington, DC: CUA Press.
Riginos, Alice (1976). Platonica : the anecdotes concerning the life and writings of Plato. Leiden: E.J.
Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-04565-1.
Robinson, John (1827). Archæologica Græca (https://web.archive.org/web/20140701190339/http://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=P-LQzMJWs0QC&oe=UTF-8) (Second ed.). London: A. J. Valpy.
Archived from the original (https://books.google.com/books?id=P-LQzMJWs0QC) on 1 July 2014.
Retrieved 4 February 2017.
Rodriguez-Grandjean, Pablo (1998). Philosophy and Dialogue: Plato's Unwritten Doctrines from a
Hermeneutical Point of View (http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Anci/AnciRodr.htm). Twentieth World
Congress of Philosophy (http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Program.html). Boston.
Rowe, Christopher (2006). "Interpreting Plato". In Benson, Hugh H. (ed.). A Companion to Plato.
Blackwell Publishing. pp. 13–24.
Schall, James V. (Summer 1996). "On the Death of Plato" (http://www.morec.com/schall/docs/dieplat
o.htm). The American Scholar. 65.
Schofield, Malcolm (23 August 2002). Craig, Edward (ed.). "Plato" (https://web.archive.org/web/2008
1010162923/http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/A088). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Routledge. Archived from the original (http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/A088) on 10 October
2008. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
Sedley, David (2003). Plato's Cratylus. Cambridge University Press.
Slings, S.R. (1987). "Remarks on Some Recent Papyri of the Politeia". Mnemosyne. Fourth. 40 (1/2):
27–34. doi:10.1163/156852587x00030 (https://doi.org/10.1163%2F156852587x00030).
Slings, S.R. (2003). Platonis Rempublicam. Oxford University Press.
Smith, William (1870). "Plato" (http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2725.html). Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
Strauss, Leo (1964). The City and the Man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Suzanne, Bernard (8 March 2009). "The Stephanus edition" (http://plato-dialogues.org/stephanus.ht
m). Plato and his dialogues. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
Szlezak, Thomas A. (1999). Reading Plato (https://books.google.com/books?id=x34szlJIRIgC).
Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-18984-2.
Tarán, Leonardo (1981). Speusippus of Athens. Brill Publishers.
Tarán, Leonardo (2001). "Plato's Alleged Epitaph". Collected Papers 1962–1999. Brill Academic
Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-12304-5.
Taylor, Alfred Edward (2001) [1937]. Plato: The Man and His Work. Courier Dover Publications.
ISBN 978-0-486-41605-2.
Taylor, C.C.W. (2011). "Plato's Epistemology". In Fine, G. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Plato.
Oxford University Press. pp. 165–190.
Vlastos, Gregory (1991). Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher (https://archive.org/details/socratesi
ronistm00vlas_0). Cambridge University Press.
Whitehead, Alfred North (1978). Process and Reality (https://archive.org/details/processrealitygi00alf
r). New York: The Free Press.
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Ulrich von (2005) [1917]. Plato: His Life and Work (translated in Greek by
Xenophon Armyros). Kaktos. ISBN 978-960-382-664-4.
Further reading
Alican, Necip Fikri (2012). Rethinking Plato: A Cartesian Quest for the Real Plato. Amsterdam and
New York: Editions Rodopi B.V. ISBN 978-90-420-3537-9.
Allen, R.E. (1965). Studies in Plato's Metaphysics II. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7100-3626-4
Ambuel, David (2007). Image and Paradigm in Plato's Sophist. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-
930972-04-9
Anderson, Mark; Osborn, Ginger (2009). Approaching Plato: A Guide to the Early and Middle
Dialogues (http://campus.belmont.edu/philosophy/Book.pdf) (PDF). Nashville: Belmont University.
Arieti, James A. Interpreting Plato: The Dialogues as Drama, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ISBN 0-8476-7662-5
Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and
Fragments, Trafford Publishing ISBN 1-4120-4843-5
Barrow, Robin (2007). Plato: Continuum Library of Educational Thought. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-
8264-8408-6.
Cadame, Claude (1999). Indigenous and Modern Perspectives on Tribal Initiation Rites: Education
According to Plato, pp. 278–312, in Padilla, Mark William (editor), "Rites of Passage in Ancient
Greece: Literature, Religion, Society" (https://books.google.com/books?id=-0JVScga2oYC&printsec=
frontcover&dq=rites+of+passage+in+ancient+greece), Bucknell University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-
8387-5418-X
Cooper, John M.; Hutchinson, D.S., eds. (1997). Plato: Complete Works (https://archive.org/details/c
ompleteworks00plat). Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-87220-349-5.
Corlett, J. Angelo (2005). Interpreting Plato's Dialogues. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-
930972-02-5
Durant, Will (1926). The Story of Philosophy (https://archive.org/details/storyofphilosophdura00dura).
Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-69500-2.
Derrida, Jacques (1972). La dissémination, Paris: Seuil. (esp. cap.: La Pharmacie de Platon, 69–
199) ISBN 2-02-001958-2
Field, G.C. (1969). The Philosophy of Plato (2nd ed. with an appendix by Cross, R.C. ed.). London:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-888040-0.
Fine, Gail (2000). Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology Oxford University Press, US, ISBN 0-19-
875206-7
Finley, M.I. (1969). Aspects of antiquity: Discoveries and Controversies The Viking Press, Inc., US
Garvey, James (2006). Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books (https://archive.org/details/twentygreatest
ph00garv). Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-9053-7.
Guthrie, W.K.C. (1986). A History of Greek Philosophy (Plato – The Man & His Dialogues – Earlier
Period), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31101-2
Guthrie, W.K.C. (1986). A History of Greek Philosophy (Later Plato & the Academy) Cambridge
University Press, ISBN 0-521-31102-0
Havelock, Eric (2005). Preface to Plato (History of the Greek Mind), Belknap Press, ISBN 0-674-
69906-8
Hamilton, Edith; Cairns, Huntington, eds. (1961). The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the
Letters (https://archive.org/details/collecteddialogu00tred). Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-691-
09718-3.
Harvard University Press publishes the hardbound series Loeb Classical Library, containing Plato's
works in Greek, with English translations on facing pages.
Irvine, Andrew David (2008). Socrates on Trial: A play based on Aristophanes' Clouds and Plato's
Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, adapted for modern performance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
ISBN 978-0-8020-9783-5, 978-0-8020-9538-1
Hermann, Arnold (2010). Plato's Parmenides: Text, Translation & Introductory Essay, Parmenides
Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-71-1
Irwin, Terence (1995). Plato's Ethics, Oxford University Press, US, ISBN 0-19-508645-7
Jackson, Roy (2001). Plato: A Beginner's Guide. London: Hoder & Stroughton. ISBN 978-0-340-
80385-1.
Jowett, Benjamin (1892). [The Dialogues of Plato. Translated into English with analyses and
introductions by B. Jowett.], Oxford Clarendon Press, UK, UIN:BLL01002931898
Kochin, Michael S. (2002). Gender and Rhetoric in Plato's Political Thought. Cambridge Univ. Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-80852-1.
Kraut, Richard, ed. (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Plato (https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780
521436106). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43610-6.
Lilar, Suzanne (1954), Journal de l'analogiste, Paris, Éditions Julliard; Reedited 1979, Paris, Grasset.
Foreword by Julien Gracq
Lilar, Suzanne (1963), Le couple, Paris, Grasset. Translated as Aspects of Love in Western Society
in 1965, with a foreword by Jonathan Griffin London, Thames and Hudson.
Lilar, Suzanne (1967) A propos de Sartre et de l'amour , Paris, Grasset.
Lundberg, Phillip (2005). Tallyho – The Hunt for Virtue: Beauty, Truth and Goodness Nine Dialogues
by Plato: Pheadrus, Lysis, Protagoras, Charmides, Parmenides, Gorgias, Theaetetus, Meno &
Sophist. Authorhouse. ISBN 978-1-4184-4977-3.
Márquez, Xavier (2012) A Stranger's Knowledge: Statesmanship, Philosophy & Law in Plato's
Statesman, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-79-7
Melchert, Norman (2002). The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy (https://arc
hive.org/details/greatconversatio00norm). McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-19-517510-3.
Miller, Mitchell (2004). The Philosopher in Plato's Statesman. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-
930972-16-2
Mohr, Richard D. (2006). God and Forms in Plato – and other Essays in Plato's Metaphysics.
Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-01-8
Mohr, Richard D. (Ed.), Sattler, Barbara M. (Ed.) (2010) One Book, The Whole Universe: Plato's
Timaeus Today, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-32-2
Moore, Edward (2007). Plato. Philosophy Insights Series. Tirril, Humanities-Ebooks. ISBN 978-1-
84760-047-9
Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. (1995). "Genres in Dialogue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy" (htt
ps://books.google.com/books?id=n3MeQikAp00C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&ca
d=0), Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-48264-X
Oxford University Press publishes scholarly editions of Plato's Greek texts in the Oxford Classical
Texts series, and some translations in the Clarendon Plato Series.
Patterson, Richard (Ed.), Karasmanis, Vassilis (Ed.), Hermann, Arnold (Ed.) (2013) Presocratics &
Plato: Festschrift at Delphi in Honor of Charles Kahn, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-
75-9
Piechowiak, Marek (2019). Plato's Conception of Justice and the Question of Human Dignity. Peter
Lang: Berlin. ISBN 978-3-631-65970-0.
Sallis, John (1996). Being and Logos: Reading the Platonic Dialogues. Indiana University Press.
ISBN 978-0-253-21071-5.
Sallis, John (1999). Chorology: On Beginning in Plato's "Timaeus". Indiana University Press.
ISBN 978-0-253-21308-2.
Sayre, Kenneth M. (2005). Plato's Late Ontology: A Riddle Resolved. Parmenides Publishing.
ISBN 978-1-930972-09-4
Seung, T.K. (1996). Plato Rediscovered: Human Value and Social Order. Rowman and Littlefield.
ISBN 0-8476-8112-2
Smith, William. (1867). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. University of
Michigan/Online version.
Stewart, John. (2010). Kierkegaard and the Greek World – Socrates and Plato. Ashgate. ISBN 978-
0-7546-6981-4
Thesleff, Holger (2009). Platonic Patterns: A Collection of Studies by Holger Thesleff, Parmenides
Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-29-2
Thomas Taylor has translated Plato's complete works.
Thomas Taylor (1804). The Works of Plato, viz. His Fifty-Five Dialogues and Twelve Epistles (http://w
ww.universaltheosophy.com/pdf-library/1804_The-Works-of-Plato-His-Fifty-Five-Dialogues-and-Twelv
e-Epistles_vols-1-5.pdf) 5 vols
Vlastos, Gregory (1981). Platonic Studies, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-10021-7
Vlastos, Gregory (2006). Plato's Universe – with a new Introduction by Luc Brisson, Parmenides
Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-13-1
Zuckert, Catherine (2009). Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues, The University of
Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-99335-5
External links
Works available online:
Works by Plato (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Plato) at Perseus Project –
Greek & English hyperlinked text
Works by Plato (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/93) at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Plato (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Plato%2
2%20OR%20creator%3A%22Plato%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Plato%22%20OR%20titl
e%3A%22Plato%22%29%20OR%20%28%22427-347%22%20AND%20Plato%29%29%20AN
D%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at Internet Archive
Works by Plato (https://librivox.org/author/599) at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato)
Other resources:
Plato (https://inpho.cogs.indiana.edu/thinker/3724) at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project
Plato (https://philpapers.org/browse/plato) at PhilPapers
"Plato and Platonism" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Plato_and_P

latonism). Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plato&oldid=972682117"
This page was last edited on 13 August 2020, at 09:48 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site,
you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a
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What were Plato's main philosophical influences?

What were Plato's main philosophical influences?

What are some of Plato's most famous works?

What are some of Plato's most famous works?

8/15/2020 Plato - Wikipedia

He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the history of Ancient

Contents Region Western philosophy

Inﬂuences Rhetoric · Art ·

Birth and family

Plato's mother was Perictione, whose family

In contrast to his reticence about himself, Plato often introduced his

His true name was supposedly Aristocles (Ἀριστοκλῆς), meaning

Plato was a wrestler

Later life and death

Plato may have travelled in Italy, Sicily, Egypt and

Although Socrates influenced Plato directly as related in the dialogues,

According to R. M. Hare, this influence consists of three points:

Plato and mathematics

In the dialogue Timaeus Plato associated

Heraclitus and Parmenides

The surviving fragments written by

Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary

There is thus a world of perfect, eternal, and changeless meanings of

The soul What is justice?

Plato advocates a belief in the immortality of the soul, and several

Justiﬁed true belief

Many have interpreted Plato as stating—even having been the first to

The dialogues also discuss politics. Some of Plato's most famous

Socrates asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure

Productive (Workers) – the labourers, carpenters, plumbers,

Art and poetry

For a long time, Plato's unwritten doctrines[100][101][102] had been

A reason for not revealing it to everyone is partially discussed in

Themes of Plato's dialogues

The trial of Socrates and his death sentence is the

Apology is among the most frequently read of Plato's

The trial in other dialogues

The theory of Forms is most famously captured in his

Socrates says in the Republic that people who take

According to Socrates, physical objects and physical

Apollodorus assures his listener that he is

The Theaetetus is a peculiar case: a

History of Plato's dialogues

The usual system for making unique references to

One tradition regarding the arrangement of

Middle: Cratylus, Euthydemus, Meno, Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic, Symposium,

Late: Critias, Sophist, Statesman / Politicus, Timaeus, Philebus, Laws.[140]

Writings of doubted authenticity

Axiochus, Deﬁnitions, Demodocus, Epigrams, Eryxias, Halcyon, On Justice, On Virtue, Sisyphus.

Textual sources and history

Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive.[151] The texts of Plato

Calligrapher" on behalf of Arethas of Caesarea. It appears to have undergone corrections by Arethas

Plato's Academy mosaic was created in the villa of T. Siminius

The political philosopher and professor Leo Strauss is considered by

W. V. O. Quine dubbed the problem of negative existentials "Plato's

More broadly, platonism (sometimes distinguished from Plato's

9. Diogenes Laërtius, Life of Plato, III

34. Plato, Parmenides 126c (http://tools.wmﬂabs.org/citeplato/?book=Parmenides&page=126c&lang=en)

64. George Karamanolis (2013). "Numenius" (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/numenius). Stanford