Plato

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Plato
Roman copy of a portrait bust c. 370 BC
Born428/427 or 424/423 BC
Athens, Greece
Died348 BC (aged c. 75-80)
Athens, Greece
Notable work
EraAncient Greek philosophy
SchoolPlatonic Academy
Notable studentsAristotle
Main interests
Epistemology, Metaphysics
Political philosophy
Notable ideas
Allegory of the cave

Cardinal virtues
Form of the Good
Theory of forms
Divisions of the soul
Platonic love

Platonic solids

Plato (/ˈpleɪtoʊ/ PLAY-toe;[1] Greek: Πλάτων), born Aristocles (Ἀριστοκλῆς; c. 427 – 348 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism.

Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He was decisively influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself.[a]

Along with his teacher Socrates, and Aristotle, his student, Plato is a central figure in the history of philosophy.[b] Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years—unlike that of nearly all of his contemporaries.[5] Although their popularity has fluctuated, they have consistently been read and studied through the ages.[6] Through Neoplatonism, he also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy.[c] In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."[7]

Names

Plato (

romanized: platys, lit. 'broad') is actually a nickname. Although it is a fact the philosopher called himself Platon in his maturity, the origin of this name remains mysterious. Platon was a fairly common name (31 instances are known from Athens alone),[8] but the name does not occur in Plato's known family line.[9]

The sources of Diogenes Laertius account for this by claiming 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.[10][11] 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."[12] According to Diogenes Laertius,[13] his birth name was Aristocles (Ἀριστοκλῆς), meaning 'best reputation'.[d]

Biography

Further information: Life of Plato

Plato, whose actual name was Aristocles, was born in Athens or

Potone,[22] and a half brother, Antiphon.[26]

Plato may have travelled to Italy, Sicily, Egypt, and Cyrene.[27] At 40, he founded a school of philosophy, the Academy. It was located in Athens, on a plot of land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus,[28] named after an Attic hero in Greek mythology. The Academy operated until it was destroyed by Sulla in 84 BC. Many philosophers studied at the Academy, the most prominent being Aristotle.[29][30]

According to

Cyrenaic philosopher, bought Plato's freedom for twenty minas,[32] and sent him home. After Dionysius's death, according to Plato's Seventh Letter, Dion requested Plato return to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II, who seemed to accept Plato's teachings, but eventually became suspicious of their motives, expelling Dion and holding Plato against his will. Eventually Plato left Syracuse and Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and rule Syracuse, before being usurped by Callippus
, a fellow disciple of Plato.

A variety of sources have given accounts of Plato's death. One story, based on a mutilated manuscript,

Thracian girl played the flute to him.[34] Another tradition suggests Plato died at a wedding feast. The account is based on Diogenes Laertius's reference to an account by Hermippus, a third-century Alexandrian.[35] According to Tertullian, Plato simply died in his sleep.[35]

Influences

Plato was one of the devoted young followers of Socrates, whose bust is pictured above.

Socrates

Main article: Socratic problem

Plato never speaks in his own voice in

his dialogues; every dialogue except the Laws features Socrates, although many dialogues, including the Timaeus and Statesman, feature him speaking only rarely. Leo Strauss notes that Socrates' reputation for irony casts doubt on whether Plato's Socrates is expressing sincere beliefs.[36] Xenophon's Memorabilia and Aristophanes's The Clouds seem to present a somewhat different portrait of Socrates from the one Plato paints. Aristotle attributes a different doctrine with respect to Forms to Plato and Socrates.[37] 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.[38] The Socratic problem concerns how to reconcile these various accounts. The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention among scholars.[39][page needed
]

Pythagoreanism

Main article: Pythagoreanism
The mathematical and mystical teachings of the followers of Pythagoras, pictured above, exerted a strong influence on Plato.

Although Socrates influenced Plato directly, the influence of Pythagoras, or in a broader sense, the Pythagoreans, such as Archytas also appears to have been significant. Aristotle and Cicero both claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely followed the teachings of the Pythagoreans.[40][41] 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
    morals
    ".
  3. They shared a "mystical approach to the soul and its place in the material world".[42][43]

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.[44][45]

Heraclitus and Parmenides

Main articles: Heraclitus and Parmenides
Heraclitus (1628) by Hendrick ter Brugghen. Heraclitus saw a world in flux, with everything always in conflict, constantly changing.
Bust of Parmenides from Velia. Parmenides saw the world as eternal and unchanging, that all change was an illusion.

The two philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides, influenced by earlier pre-Socratic Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Xenophanes,[46] departed from mythological explanations for the universe and began the metaphysical tradition that strongly influenced Plato and continues today.[45] Heraclitus viewed all things as continuously changing, that one cannot "step into the same river twice" due to the ever-changing waters flowing through it, and all things exist as a contraposition of opposites. According to Diogenes Laertius, Plato received these ideas through Heraclitus' disciple Cratylus.[47] Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary vision, arguing for the idea of a changeless, eternal universe and the view that change is an illusion.[45] Plato's most self-critical dialogue is the Parmenides, which features Parmenides and his student Zeno, which criticizes Plato's own metaphysical theories. Plato's Sophist dialogue includes an Eleatic stranger. These ideas about change and permanence, or becoming and Being, influenced Plato in formulating his theory of Forms.[47]

Philosophy

Main article: Platonism
Part of a series on
Platonism
Plato from Raphael's The School of Athens (1509 – 1511)
The Republic
The works of Plato
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Plato

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. Francis Cornford identified the "twin pillars of Platonism" as the theory of Forms, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the doctrine of immortality of the soul.[48]

The Forms

See also: Plato's theory of Forms

In the dialogues Socrates regularly asks for the meaning of a general term (e. g. justice, truth, beauty), and criticizes those who instead give him particular examples, rather than the quality shared by all examples. "Platonism" and its theory of Forms (also known as 'theory of Ideas;) denies the reality of the material world, considering it only an image or copy of the real world. According to this theory of Forms, there are these two kinds of things: the apparent world of material objects grasped by the senses, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of Forms, grasped by reason (λογική). Plato's Forms represent

properties, patterns, and relations, which are referred to as objects. Just as individual tables, chairs, and cars refer to objects in this world, 'tableness', 'chairness', and 'carness', as well as e. g. justice, truth, and beauty refer to objects in another world. One of Plato's most cited examples for the Forms were the truths of geometry, such as the Pythagorean theorem. The theory of Forms is first introduced in the Phaedo dialogue (also known as On the Soul), wherein Socrates disputes the pluralism of Anaxagoras
, then the most popular response to Heraclitus and Parmenides.

The soul

See also: Plato's theory of soul

For Plato, as was characteristic of ancient Greek philosophy, the soul was that which gave life.[49] 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.[50][51]

Furthermore, Plato evinces a belief in the theory of reincarnation in multiple dialogues (such as the Phaedo and Timaeus). Scholars debate whether he intends the theory to be literally true, however.[52] He uses this idea of reincarnation to introduce the concept that knowledge is a matter of recollection of things acquainted with before one is born, and not of observation or study.[53] 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 of, Socrates concludes, an eternal, non-perceptible Form.

Epistemology

Main article: Platonic epistemology
A Venn diagram illustrating the classical theory of knowledge

Plato also discusses several aspects of

definition of knowledge is circular.[56][57]

In the Sophist,

infinite regression.[60]

What is justice?

Ethics

See also: Form of the Good

Several dialogues discuss ethics including virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, crime and punishment, and justice and medicine. Socrates presents the famous Euthyphro dilemma in the dialogue of the same name: "Is the pious (τὸ ὅσιον) loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" (10a) In the Protagoras dialogue it is argued through Socrates that virtue is innate and cannot be learned, that no one does bad on purpose, and to know what is good results in doing what is good; that knowledge is virtue. In the Republic, Plato poses the question, "What is justice?" and by examining both individual justice and the justice that informs societies, Plato is able not only to inform metaphysics, but also ethics and politics with the question: "What is the basis of moral and social obligation?" Plato's well-known answer rests upon the fundamental responsibility to seek wisdom, wisdom which leads to an understanding of the Form of the Good. Plato views "The Good" as the supreme Form, somehow existing even "beyond being". In this manner, justice is obtained when knowledge of how to fulfill one's moral and political function in society is put into practice.[61]

Politics

Main article: Plato's political philosophy
Oxyrhynchus Papyri, with fragment of Plato's Republic

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 opinions 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.[62]

  • Productive (Workers) – the labourers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the "appetite" part of the soul.
  • 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 Socrates, a state made up of different kinds of souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy (rule by the best) to a

tyranny (rule by one person, rule by a tyrant).[63]

Rhetoric and poetry

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Several dialogues tackle questions about art, including rhetoric and rhapsody. Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the

Allegory of the Cave
.

Works

Themes

Painting of a scene from Plato's Symposium (Anselm Feuerbach, 1873)
See also: List of speakers in Plato's dialogues

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, some dialogues are narrated by Socrates himself, who speaks in the first person. 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 also a peculiar case: a dialogue in dramatic form embedded within another dialogue in dramatic form. Some scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this date wearied of the narrated form.[71] In most of the dialogues, the primary speaker is Socrates, who employs a method of questioning which proceeds by a dialogue form called dialectic. 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.[72] 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."[72] 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."[73]

Textual sources and history

Volume 3, pp. 32–33, of the 1578 Stephanus edition of Plato, showing a passage of Timaeus with the Latin translation and notes of Jean de Serres
See also: List of manuscripts of Plato's dialogues

During the early Renaissance, the Greek language and, along with it, Plato's texts were reintroduced to Western Europe by Byzantine scholars. Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive.

Filippo Valori and Francesco Berlinghieri printed 1025 copies of Ficino's translation, using the printing press at the Dominican convent S.Jacopo di Ripoli.[75] The 1578 edition[76] 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.[77] The text of Plato as received today apparently represents the complete written philosophical work of Plato, based on the first century AD arrangement of Thrasyllus of Mendes.[78][79] The modern standard complete English edition is the 1997 Hackett Plato, Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper.[80][81]

Authenticity

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. Jowett[82] 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. The works taken as genuine in antiquity but are now doubted by at least some modern scholars are: Alcibiades I (*),[h] Alcibiades II (‡), Clitophon (*), Epinomis (‡), Letters (*), Hipparchus (‡), Menexenus (*), Minos (‡), Lovers (‡), Theages (‡) The following works were transmitted under Plato's name in antiquity, but were already considered spurious by the 1st century AD: Axiochus, Definitions, Demodocus, Epigrams, Eryxias, Halcyon, On Justice, On Virtue, Sisyphus.

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; The following represents one relatively common division.[83]

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.[85] 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,[86][i] though Plato's works are still often characterized as falling at least roughly into three groups stylistically.[2]

Legacy

Plato's Academy mosaic in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii, around 100 BC to 100 CE

Unwritten doctrines

Main articles: Plato's unwritten doctrines and Allegorical interpretations of Plato

Plato's unwritten doctrines are,[88][89][90] according to some ancient sources, 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, although many modern scholars[who?] doubt these claims. 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 knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words, which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth effectually."[91] 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 (τὸ ἀγαθόν) is identified with the One (the Unity, τὸ ἕν), the fundamental ontological principle.

The first witness who mentions its existence is Aristotle, who in his

romanized: agrapha dogmata)."[92] 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 (τὸ ἕν), since the numbers are derived from the Great and Small by participation in the One".[93] "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 (τὸ μέγα καὶ τὸ μικρόν). Further, he assigned to these two elements respectively the causation of good and of evil".[93]

The most important aspect of this interpretation of Plato's metaphysics is the continuity between his teaching and the Neoplatonic interpretation of

International Congress of Philosophy in 1930.[94] All the sources related to the ἄγραφα δόγματα have been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as Testimonia Platonica.[95]

Reception

See also: Transmission of the Greek Classics

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". The only Platonic work known to western scholarship was Timaeus, until translations were made after the fall of Constantinople, which occurred during 1453.[96] However, the study of Plato continued in the Byzantine Empire, the Caliphates during the Islamic Golden Age, and Spain during Golden age of Jewish culture. Plato is also referenced by Jewish philosopher and Talmudic scholar Maimonides in his The Guide for the Perplexed.

The works of Plato were again revived at the times of Islamic Golden ages with other Greek contents through their translation from Greek to Arabic. Neoplatonism was revived from its founding father, Plotinus.[97] Neoplatonism, a philosophical current that permeated Islamic scholarship, accentuated one facet of the Qur’anic conception of God—the transcendent—while seemingly neglecting another—the creative. This philosophical tradition, introduced by Al-Farabi and subsequently elaborated upon by figures such as Avicenna, postulated that all phenomena emanated from the divine source.[98][99] It functioned as a conduit, bridging the transcendental nature of the divine with the tangible reality of creation. In the Islamic context, Neoplatonism facilitated the integration of Platonic philosophy with mystical Islamic thought, fostering a synthesis of ancient philosophical wisdom and religious insight.[98] Inspired by Plato's Republic, Al-Farabi extended his inquiry beyond mere political theory, proposing an ideal city governed by philosopher-kings.[100]

Many of these commentaries on Plato were translated from Arabic into Latin and as such influenced Medieval scholastic philosophers.[101]

The School of Athens fresco by Raphael features Plato (left) also as a central figure, holding his Timaeus while he gestures to the heavens. Aristotle (right) gestures to the earth while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand.

During the

George Gemistos Plethon brought Plato's original writings to Florence from Constantinople in the century of its fall. Many of the greatest early modern scientists and artists who broke with Scholasticism, 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. The 17th century Cambridge Platonists, sought to reconcile Plato's more problematic beliefs, such as metempsychosis and polyamory, with Christianity.[102] By the 19th century, Plato's reputation was restored, and at least on par with Aristotle's. 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. 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."[103] British philosopher Alfred N. Whitehead is often misquoted of uttering the famous saying of "All of Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato."[104]

Criticism

Many recent philosophers have also diverged from what some would describe as ideals characteristic of traditional Platonism.

Republic was prototypically totalitarian. Edmund Gettier famously demonstrated the Gettier problem for 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.[105]

Notes

  1. ^ "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"[2]
  2. ethical, political, metaphysical, and epistemological issues, armed with a distinctive method – can be called his invention."[3][4]
  3. ^ Two influential examples of said cultures are Augustine of Hippo, and Al-Farabi.
  4. ^ From aristos and kleos
  5. finger rings during his youth as a sign of his noble descent.[17] The extent of Plato's affinity for jewelry while young was even characterized as "decadent" by Sextus Empiricus.[18]
  6. Diogenes Laërtius
    .
  7. ^ According to a tradition, reported by Diogenes Laërtius but disputed by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Ariston himself traced his descent from these kings.
  8. ^ (*) 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. The extent to which scholars consider a dialogue to be authentic is noted in Cooper 1997, pp. v–vi.
  9. ^ Increasingly in the most recent Plato scholarship, writers are skeptical of the notion that the order of Plato's writings can be established with any precision.[87]
  10. ^ 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' (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."
  11. 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.

References

  1. ^ Jones 2006.
  2. ^ a b Brickhouse & Smith.
  3. ^ Kraut 2013
  4. ^ Duignan, Brian. "Plato and Aristotle: How Do They Differ?". Britannica. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Plato (c. 428–c. 348 BCE) and Aristotle (384–322 BCE) are generally regarded as the two greatest figures of Western philosophy
  5. ^ Cooper, John M.; Hutchinson, D.S., eds. (1997): "Introduction."
  6. ^ Cooper 1997, p. vii.
  7. ^ Whitehead 1978, p. 39.
  8. ^ Guthrie 1986, p. 12 (footnote).
  9. ^ Sedley, David, Plato's Cratylus, Cambridge University Press 2003, pp. 21–22 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ^ Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV
  11. ^ Notopoulos 1939, p. 135
  12. ^ Seneca, Epistulae, VI 58:29–30; translation by Robert Mott Gummere
  13. ^ Laërtius 1925, § 4.
  14. ^ Wilamowitz-Moellendorff 2005, p. 46.
  15. ^ Nails 2002, p. 246.
  16. ^ Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, III
    Nails 2002, p. 53
    Wilamowitz-Moellendorff 2005, p. 46
  17. S2CID 161160877. Archived
    from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  18. ^ Veres, Máté (1 January 2019). "Sextus Empiricus, Against Those in the Disciplines. Translated with an introduction and notes by Richard Bett (Oxford University Press, 2018)". International Journal for the Study of Skepticism. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  19. ^ a b "Plato FAQ: Plato's real name". www.plato-dialogues.org. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  20. ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iii. 1
    • U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Plato, 46
  21. Diogenes Laërtius
    , iii.1
  22. ^ a b Diogenes Laërtius, iii. 4
  23. ^ Stanton, G. R. Athenian Politics c. 800–500 BC: A Sourcebook, Routledge, London (1990), p. 76.
  24. ^ Andrews, A. Greek Society (Penguin 1967) 197
  25. ^ E. Harris, A New Solution to the Riddle of the Seisachtheia, in The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, eds. L. Mitchell and P. Rhodes (Routledge 1997) 103
  26. ISBN 0-87220-137-6
    .
  27. ^ McEvoy 1984.
  28. ^ Cairns 1961, p. xiii.
  29. ^ Dillon 2003, pp. 1–3.
  30. ^ Press 2000, p. 1.
  31. ^ Riginos 1976, p. 73.
  32. ^ Diogenes Laertius, Book iii, 20 Archived 28 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ Riginos 1976, p. 194.
  34. ^ Schall 1996.
  35. ^ a b Riginos 1976, p. 195.
  36. ^ Strauss 1964, pp. 50–51.
  37. ^ Metaphysics 987b1–11
  38. ^ McPherran, M.L. (1998). The Religion of Socrates. Penn State Press. p. 268.
  39. ^ Vlastos 1991.
  40. ^ Metaphysics, 1.6.1 (987a)
  41. ^ Tusc. Disput. 1.17.39.
  42. ^ R.M. Hare, Plato in C.C.W. Taylor, R.M. Hare and Jonathan Barnes, Greek Philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999 (1982), 103–189, here 117–119.
  43. ISBN 978-0-415-07854-2
    .
  44. ISBN 978-90-04-46722-4. Archived
    from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  45. ^ a b c McFarlane, Thomas J. "Plato's Parmenides". Integralscience. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  46. ^ John Palmer (2019). "Parmenides". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  47. ^ a b Large, William. "Heraclitus". Arasite. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  48. ^ Francis Cornford, 1941. The Republic of Plato. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. xxv.
  49. ^ See this brief exchange from the Phaedo: "What is it that, when present in a body, makes it living? – A soul." Phaedo 105c.
  50. ^ Plato, Timaeus 44d Archived 11 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine & 70 Archived 11 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  51. ^ Dorter 2006, p. 360.
  52. ^ Jorgensen 2018 is perhaps the strongest opponent to interpretations on which Plato intends the theory literally. See Jorgensen, The Embodied Soul in Plato's Later Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
  53. ^ Baird & Kaufmann 2008.
  54. ^ Theaetetus 156a
  55. ^ Fine 2003, p. 5.
  56. ^ Theaetetus 210a–b Archived 11 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  57. ^ McDowell 1973, p. 256.
  58. ^ Taylor 2011, pp. 176–187.
  59. ^ Lee 2011, p. 432.
  60. ^ Taylor 2011, p. 189.
  61. ^ Republic, Book IV.
  62. ^ Blössner 2007, pp. 345–349.
  63. ^ Blössner 2007, p. 350.
  64. ^ Phaedrus (265a–c)
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Works cited

Primary sources (Greek and Roman)

Secondary sources

Further reading

External links

Library resources about
Plato
By Plato
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