Plato

518 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Plato essays

Few definite details are known of Plato's life. He was born in Athens c. 427 BC and was the youngest son of Ariston, of an old and wealthy family. It is claimed that his real name was Aristocles, with "Plato" (meaning "the broad") being a nickname given to him because of his wrestler's physique.

He served in the last years of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and after democracy was restored in Athens in 403 BC he hoped to enter politics. However, the realities of political life as well as the execution of his mentor Socrates in 399 BC drove him to abandon this goal.

After the death of Socrates, Plato left Athens and traveled in Italy, Sicily and Egypt, where he learned the function of a water clock. In Italy he came in contact with the ideas of Pythagoras, which gave him a new appreciation of mathematics.

After serving again in the military, he returned to Athens in 387 BC and founded his Academy, which he presided over until his death in 347 BC and which survived for nearly a thousand years after.

His works include discussions of mathematics, ethics, science and philosophy, usually in the form of dialogues. Some of the most famous are the Republic, Phaedo, and Symposium.

Famous quotations by Plato:
A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.
All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.
Courage is a kind of salvation.
Courage is knowing what not to fear.
Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.
Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.
Democracy passes into despotism. Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. He was a wise man who invented beer.
He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden. Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty. Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.

Show More
Related

  • Education in Colonial History

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before that can be established, I think a definition of democracy should be stated so that it may be called upon later in this essay. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, democracy is stated as "the principle of social equality and respect for the individual within a community" .

    Read More

  • Essay About Odysseus, Adonis, And Thor

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    of the Greek armies and was forced to wander for ten years until he was reunited

    Read More

  • The Delian and The Peloponnesial Leagues

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    For a short period of time, Athens was ruled by the 'Thirty Tyrants' and democracy was suspended but was restored by Thrasybulus 403 BC. Although the power of Athens was deminished, it made something of a recovery and continued to play an active role in Greek politics.

    Read More

  • Plato's The Apology

    1518 Words  | 4 Pages

    Socrates was an Athenian man who, according to Kishlansky, was a solider in the Peloponnesian War (56).The Peloponnesian war lasted for 27 years (431 B.C.E. to 404 B.C.E)and the two opposing sides were the Athenians and the Spartans (“Peloponnesian War”). For a better picture of where the Athenians and Spartans were at this time, Peloponnesus is a peninsula in southern Greece that is linked to the rest of mainland Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth (93). This is where Sparta thrived and also where Olympia was located (93). To the northeast of Peloponnesus peninsula is the Attic peninsula were the Athenians lived (93). Historians are unsure as to how long Socrates served in the war but as we can tell by the dates provided this Socrates execution was about 5 years after the war ended.

    Read More

  • Aristotle on Rhetoric

    1889 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 335 B.C., he left Macedonia and returned to Athens to found a school named Lyceum. Twelve years later, when Alexander died, the Athenians charged Aristotle with impiety because they resented his relationship with Alexander and other influential Macedonians. Aristotle said that he would not let the Athenians "sin twice against philosophy" (Soll, 663), so he fled to Chalcis. One year later, he died at the age of sixty-two. Aristotle's Writings and Philosophies.... ...

    Read More

  • Boethius and Plato's God

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    Plato was born in Athens, Greece around 427 B.C. He was always interested in politics, until he witnessed his mentor and teacher, Socrates, death. After learning of the callousness of politics, Plato changed his mind and eventually opened up The Academy, which is considered if not the first, one of the first Universities. Students at the Academy studied many different fields of science, including biological and astronomical. The students also studied many other fields, such as math. Plato developed many views that were mathematical in nature. He expressed these views through his writings. According to Dr. Calkins of Andrew University, "Timaeus is probably the most renowned of Plato's thirty-five dialogues. [In it] Plato expresses that he believes that the heavenly bodies are arranged in perfect geometric form. He said that because the heavens are perfect, the various heavenly bodies move in exact circles." (Calkins 1). Of course that is a much summarized view of what Plato discusses in Timaeus, but still a solid view on Plato's beliefs about cosmology. Cosmology can be loosely defined as everything being explained and in its place or beautiful. The cosmos is beautiful because everything is perfect. Plato understood that when he defined the most perfect geometric design as the circle. In a circle one line is always equidistance from one point. In Plato's universe there are two realms, eternity and time. The factor that creates "time" out of the chaos of "eternity" is the Demiurge. Plato's Demiurge can be defined as an architect creator theological entity. The importance of the Demiurge in this paper is to compare and contrast him with Boethius's God in The Consolation of Philosophy.

    Read More

  • Comparing Aristotle and Plato

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato started his teachings in remembrance of his good friend, Socrates. After his death he traveled back to Italy and studied under Pythagoras. Some years later he began "The Academy". Much of the curriculum taught was dedicated to the teachings of Socrates. During this time he began to write down his thoughts about politics and development of a regime. Developing different aspects than Socrates'.

    Read More

  • Plato's Works

    1893 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his works, Plato writes about truth, justice, and reality in full detail. His ideas are greatly deep and persuasively argued. It is from him that all western philosophy is a footnote. He describes his view in a series of numerous dialogues. For my report, I have chosen four of his works to study, which I think were his most important.

    Read More

  • Physics of Aristotle

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    The great Greek thinker Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in Stagirus, a city in ancient Macedonia in northern Greece. At the age of eighteen Aristotle went to Athens to begin his studies at Plato's Academy. He stayed and studied at the Academy for nineteen years and in that time became both a teacher and an independent researcher. After Plato's death in 347 B.C. Aristotle spent twelve years traveling and living in various places around the Aegean Sea. It was during this time that Aristotle was asked by Philip of Macedon to be a private tutor to his son, Alexander. Aristotle privately taught Alexander for three years before he returned to Athens after Philip gained control of the Greek capital. During this period back in Athens Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, where he taught for twelve years. In 323 B.C. Alexander the Great died and the Macedonians lost control of Athens. Aristotle was forced to leave and he died one year later in Chalcis, north of Athens, at the age of 62.

    Read More

  • Jeff Varner: A Chiropractic Career

    328 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jeff first talked about chiropractic work. He explained to us the process of schooling to become a doctor of chiropractic.You first have to get a 4 year undergraduate degree, this should probably be in some field of science, either for your major or your minor. You also want to do stuff during this time to set you apart from other people, such as learn a second language, or do a lot of volunteer work. After this, you apply to a chiropractic school. Chiropractic

    Read More

  • Archimedes

    1797 Words  | 4 Pages

    Knowledge of the lives of ancient philosophers like Archimedes is not prevalent. We know from his writings that he grew up and spent much of his life in Syracuse, a Sicilian port on the Ionian Sea. His life spanned (approximately) the years 287 B.C. to 212 B.C. His father was the astronomer Phidias and he also mentioned his friend and possibly kinsman, King Hieron II (ruler of Sicily from about 270 B.C.). According to other authors, Archimedes traveled to Egypt and there invented the device known as "Archimedes’ screw," a pump that is still used widely around the world.

    Read More

  • Archimedes

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    Born 287 BC Archimedes grew up in the thriving commercial hub of the port city of Syracuse, Sicily. His father, Phidias, was an astronomer and mathematician and it is thought his family enjoyed the life of aristocracy. Very little is known about his life, what is has been reported by the Roman writer and historian Plutarch. He studied for a short time in Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria was a great place of learning, and at this time Euclid studied there and undoubtedly influenced Archimedes thinking. At the end of this study, Archimedes returned to Syracuse were he spent the rest of his life actively discovering and explaining important concepts. He is one of the few geniuses in history that enjoyed his own fame in his lifetime. Both his peers, his king, and even his enemies respected him for his work.

    Read More

  • The Lost City Of Atlantis Essay

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    Plato is one of the worlds widely known philosopher’s who was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. He began his extensive writing while traveling the Mediterranean region for about 12 years. Plato first heard about Atlantis from his grandfather Critias, who heard about it from Solon, a politician and poet. Solon heard about Atlantis from an Egyptian priest. The story Plato heard from his grandfather is what inspired two of his dialogues.

    Read More

  • Essay On Aristotle's View On The Self

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    384 B.C.E., Aristotle was born in Stagira, Greece. At the age of fourteen, Aristotle went to Athens to study Philosophy with Plato. Although he studied with Plato, he did not always agree with some of his teachings. When Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and traveled to Macedonia. While in Macedonia, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great. Later on in his life, Aristotle returned to Athens and created a school of him own, Lyceum. When Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C.E., Aristotle fled to Euboea to avoid charges and execution. He died shortly after in 322 B.C.E. (Aristotle Biography, 2015). Aristotle is seen as much more than just a great philosopher of his time. He practiced in ethics, biology, science, and much more (Chaffee, 2013, p. 250).

    Read More

  • Theory of Ideas

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato is one of the most important people in the history of Philosophy. Throughout his life, he had made many contributions to the world of philosophy, but the most important contribution that he is most known for is his theory of the Ideas or Forms. Throughout his many works such as the Phaedo and Symposium, he presented his theory of Ideas by using both mythos and logos in his argument for support.

    Read More

More about Plato

Open Document