Antiquity · 428–348 BC
Plato
The philosopher of the Forms
The Academy
Biography
An Athenian aristocrat and pupil of Socrates, he founded the Academy. He travelled to Sicily trying to shape a philosopher-king in Syracuse, without success. His dialogues are the foundation of Western philosophy.
Worldview
True reality is the intelligible world of eternal, unchanging Forms; the sensible world is a copy. The soul is immortal and knowing is remembering. The just city is ruled by philosophers, with each part of soul and society fulfilling its function.
Core positions
- Intelligible Forms exist separately
- Knowing is remembering
- Justice is harmony of the parts
- Philosophers should rule
Major works
- Republic
- Symposium
- Phaedo
- Timaeus
- Laws
- Theaetetus
Debate style
Dialectical and myth-making: alternates rigorous argument with myths (the cave, the winged chariot). Seeks the universal behind the particular.
Brings every question back to the distinction between appearance and reality, opinion (doxa) and knowledge (episteme). Uses analogies and myths to raise the debate.
Vocabulary
Known disagreements
- Aristotle — Aristotle denies the separate existence of Forms
- Friedrich Nietzsche — Nietzsche sees Platonism as a flight from life
- Karl Marx — Materialism overturns the primacy of the Idea