Again, Plato is addressing the idea that a person's inner virtues are worth more than the circumstances that attempt to govern him. In The Republic, Plato moves to have Socrates debate the multitude of traits that can lead to a “just” man who can really live the good life. “The happiest man is he who is first in goodness and justice, namely the true king who is also king over himself.” (Plato) In view of this quote, Plato is making the affirmation the ideal life of prosperity is only achieved through holding true to one’s self. All of these writings come from the logic of what is judged, not by
Socrates was an Athenian philosopher; he was known to be the founder of Western philosophy. He is known from the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon. We have come to know through Plato’s writing about the contributions of Socrates in the field of ethics. He became famous because of his work related to ethics. Socrates has also worked in the field of epistemology.
The two men are regarded as being responsible for the founding of western philosophy. Socrates did not leave any of his own writings and was noted as saying that living was more important than recording for posterity. However, Plato and others wrote enough of his teachings that it is not difficult to reconstruct most of his life. Plato refers to Socrates in a lot of his own writings and sometimes wrote down entire debates between Socrates and his students. Due to the fact that most of Socrates teaching came through Plato’s teachings many modern philosophers are unsure if Plato may have used Socrates as a representative of his own views.
Aristotle countered Plato’s ideas by saying that forms without matter could not be “something definite;” they could not actually, physically exist. Plato never claimed that forms were anything “definite,” though. In fact, he specifically said that forms reside in the “intelligible realm.” If we take Plato’s intelligible realm to be not some parallel universe that the perfect forms of everything reside in, but rather the realm of our own thoughts and ideas, then in a way both philosophers are correct. As Aristotle said, form cannot really exist without matter. There is no “house apart from bricks.” However, the ideas of things can be thought of and talked about because we have a mutual understanding of the forms of objects and ideas.
Within the greater work, The Trial and Death of Socrates, Plato identifies fault in the current definition and implementation of Justice when his teacher faces punishment for helping Athens. Silencing Socrates will only make Athens suffer, and Justice must derive from reason. The outcome represents the juror’s lack of understanding, or simple overlooking, of absolute Justice as a direct product of the democratic structure. If not a democracy, the Athenian people would fall more in order with their role in the Whole and would ultimately be more successful. Plato argues Socrates prodes at Athenians to help them, and their conviction against him was due to a personal choice, and thus they fail to work together as a perfect society.
Plato was an Athenian philosopher, who founded the first academic institution in the western world, the academy and is well-known for paving the path for philosophy in western traditions. He was a student of Socrates’ and often used Socrates in the discussions of his dialogues, the myth of the cave being one of them. Plato was a believer of idealism. He believed that immaterial qualities are more real than empirical objects, which we can feel, see, and touch. In the myth of the cave, Plato paints us a picture of how we can be easily fooled by our senses, and of our original perceptions of the world.
Features Plato’s most sustained discussion on the concept of knowledge, it fails to yield an adequate definition of knowledge, thus ending inconclusively. Protagoras dialogue begins when Socrates starts to question Protagoras about what he teaches his students. This is also a strangely disjointed text. The Sophist were itinerant teachers and intellectuals who frequented Athens and other Greek cities in the second half of the fifth century B.C.E. Timaeus has nevertheless had the greatest influence over the ancient and medieval world.
Plato is one of the most popular philosophers in history due to his significant contribution to philosophy. Amongst his main theories that shaped the world of philosophy is the great Theory of Ideas. His opinions about music, religion and several other things that exist in this world relate to this Theory of Ideas. According to Plato, reality always comes in two distinct realms. The first reality is the one involving the physical world.
Due to Phaedo arguably being Plato’s most famous dialogue (Dorter, 1920: 3) there is much discussion to whether or not his arguments for life after death are at all convincing. Consequently, I will analyse each argument individually by discussing different scholarly critiques and views on Plato’s work, however I will
Plato is believed to have been born into a wealthy and influenced family in 428 BC in Athens. Plato while still a boy was familiar with Athenian politics and was expected to be a politician, but things turned around after his teacher Socrates was executed. He turned instead to philosophy with the idea of bringing true justice to mankind and also put an end to civil war. Plato set up the philosophy academy, a place for research and teaching for both theoretical and practical aspects. According to Plato, "just which type of desire rules individual soul depends on the relative strengths of his desires and the kind of education and socialization he receives".