Plato

Plato, Greek philosopher (c.427–347 B.C.). A pupil of Socrates, he founded (c.385 B.C.) the Academy, where Aristotle studied. His early dialogues present a portrait of Socrates as critical arguer, but in the great middle dialogues he develops his own doctrines—such as the theory of Forms (Republic), the immortality of the soul (Phaedo), knowledge as recollection of the Forms by the soul (Meno), virtue as knowledge (Protagoras)—and attacks hedonism and the idea that “might is right” (Gorgias). The Symposium and Phaedrus sublimate love into a beatific vision of the Forms of the Good and the Beautiful. The late dialogues (Sophist, Theaetetus, Politicus, Philebus, Parmenides) deal with problems of epistemology, ontology, and logic; the Timaeus contains cosmological speculation. In the Republic Plato posits abstract Forms as the supreme reality. The highest function of the human soul is to achieve the vision of the Form of the Good. Drawing an analogy between the soul and the state, he presents his ideal state ruled by philosophers, who correspond to the rational part of the soul. In the late Laws Plato develops in detail his ideas of the state. His idealist philosophy, his insistence on order and harmony, his moral fervor and asceticism, and his literary genius have made Plato a dominant figure in Western thought.

See also: Philosophy.