:''For other uses, see [[Plato (disambiguation)]] and [[Platon (disambiguation)]].''

{| style="float: right;"

|-

| {{Infobox Philosopher

|region = Western Philosophy

|era = [[Ancient philosophy]]

|color = #B0C4DE

|image_name = Plato Silanion Musei Capitolini MC1377.jpg

|image_caption = Plato: copy of portrait bust by [[Silanion]]

|name = Plato(Πλάτων)

|birth_date = c. 428&ndash;427 BC<ref>http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Plato.html St. Andrews University</ref>

|birth_place = [[Athens]]

|death_date = c. 348&ndash;347 BC (age approx 84)

|death_place = Athens

|school_tradition= [[Platonism]]

|main_interests = [[Rhetoric]], [[Art]], [[Literature]], [[Epistemology]], [[Justice]], [[Virtue]], [[Politics]], [[Education]], [[Family]], [[Militarism]]

|influences = [[Socrates]], [[Homer]], [[Hesiod]], [[Aristophanes]], [[Aesop]], [[Protagoras]], [[Parmenides]], [[Pythagoras]], [[Heraclitus]], [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]]

|influenced = [[Western Philosophy|Much of subsequent western philosophy]], [[Aristotle]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], [[Neoplatonism]], [[Cicero]], [[Plutarch]], [[Stoicism]], [[Anselm of Canterbury|Anselm]], [[Machiavelli]], [[René Descartes|Descartes]], [[Thomas Hobbes|Hobbes]], [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]], [[John Stuart Mill|Mill]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]], [[Martin Heidegger|Heidegger]], [[Hannah Arendt|Arendt]], [[Hans-Georg Gadamer|Gadamer]], [[Bertrand Russell|Russell]] and countless other [[philosopher]]s and [[theologian]]s

|notable_ideas = [[Platonic realism]]

}}

|-

|}

{{Platonav}}

'''Plato''' ({{Pron-en|ˈpleɪtoʊ}}) ([[Greek language|Greek]]: ''{{polytonic|Πλάτων}}'', ''Plátōn'', "broad")<ref>[[Diogenes Laertius]] 3.4; p. 21, David Sedley, [http://assets.cambridge.org/052158/4922/sample/0521584922ws.pdf ''Plato's Cratylus''], Cambridge University Press 2003</ref> (428/427 BC{{Ref_label|A|a|none}} – 348/347 BC), was a [[Classical Greece|Classical]] [[Greeks|Greek]] [[philosopher]], [[mathematician]], writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the [[Platonic Academy|Academy]] in [[Ancient Athens|Athens]], the first institution of higher learning in the [[Western world]]. Along with his mentor, [[Socrates]], and his student, [[Aristotle]], Plato helped to lay the foundations of [[natural philosophy]], [[science]], and [[Western philosophy]].<ref name="Br">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Plato|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|year=2002}}</ref> Plato was originally a student of Socrates, and was as much influenced by his thinking as by what he saw as his teacher's unjust death.

Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his [[Socratic dialogues]]; thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters have traditionally been ascribed to him, although modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of at least some of these.<ref>For example, some were excluded from Thrasyllus' tetralogies. See ''e.g.'' the table of contents to John M. Cooper (ed.), ''Plato: Complete Works'', Hackett, 1997.</ref> Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts.

Although there is little question that Plato lectured at the Academy that he founded, the [[Pedagogy|pedagogical]] function of his dialogues, if any, is not known with certainty. The dialogues since Plato's time have been used to teach a range of subjects, mostly including [[philosophy]], [[logic]], [[rhetoric]], [[mathematics]], and other subjects about which he wrote.

==Biography==

===Early life===

{{Main|Early life of Plato}}

====Birth and family====

The definite place and time of Plato's birth are not known, but what is certain is that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or [[Aegina]]{{Ref_label|B|b|none}} between 429 and 423 BC.{{Ref_label|A|a|none}} His father was [[Ariston (Athenian)|Ariston]]. According to a disputed tradition, reported by [[Diogenes Laertius]], Ariston traced his descent from the [[king of Athens]], [[Codrus]], and the king of [[Messenia]], [[Melanthus]].<ref name="DW">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', III<br>* D. Nails, "Ariston", 53<br>* U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 46</ref> Plato's mother was [[Perictione]], whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian [[legislator|lawmaker]] and [[lyric poetry|lyric poet]] [[Solon]].<ref name="LaI">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', I</ref> Perictione was sister of [[Charmides]] and niece of [[Critias]], both prominent figures of the [[Thirty Tyrants]], the brief [[oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[regime]], which followed on the collapse of Athens at the end of the [[Peloponnesian War]] (404-403 BC).<ref name="TW1">W. K. C. Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy''', IV, 10<br>* A.E. Taylor, ''Plato'', xiv<br>* U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 47</ref> Besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children; these were two sons, [[Adeimantus of Collytus|Adeimantus]] and [[Glaucon]], and a daughter [[Potone]], the mother of [[Speusippus]] (the nephew and successor of Plato as head of his philosophical Academy).<ref name="TW1" /> According to the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', Adeimantus and Glaucon were older than Plato.<ref name="PlRep368a">Plato, ''Republic'', 2.[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168;query=section%3D%23191;layout=;loc=2.368b 368a]<br>* U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 47</ref> Nevertheless, in his [[Memorabilia (Xenophon)|Memorabilia]], [[Xenophon]] presents Glaucon as younger than Plato.<ref>Xenophon, ''Memorabilia'', 3.6.[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0208&layout=&loc=3.6.1 1]</ref>

Ariston tried to force his attentions on Perictione, but failed of his purpose; then the [[Twelve Olympians|ancient Greek god]] [[Apollo]] appeared to him in a vision, and, as a result of it, Ariston left Perictione unmolested.<ref name="Ap1">Apuleius, ''De Dogmate Platonis'', 1<br>* Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', I<br>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Plato|encyclopedia=Suda}}</ref> Another legend related that, while he was sleeping as an infant, bees had settled on the lips of Plato; an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse philosophy.<ref>Cicero, ''De Divinatione'', I, 36</ref>

Ariston appears to have died in Plato's childhood, although the precise dating of his death is difficult.<ref name="TN">D. Nails, "Ariston", 53<br>* A.E. Taylor, ''Plato'', xiv</ref> Perictione then married [[Pyrilampes]], her mother's brother,<ref name="NA229">Plato, ''Charmides'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0176&query=section%3D%23376&layout=&loc=Charm.%20157e 158a]<br>* D. Nails, "Perictione", 53</ref> who had served many times as an ambassador to the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian court]] and was a friend of [[Pericles]], the leader of the democratic faction in Athens.<ref name="P13">Plato, ''Charmides'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0176&query=section%3D%23376&layout=&loc=Charm.%20157e 158a]<br>* Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#13|IV]]</ref> Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty.<ref>Plato, ''Gorgias'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0178;query=section%3D%23620;layout=;loc=Gorg.%20481c 481d] and [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0178;query=section%3D%23778;layout=;loc=Gorg.%20513chttp://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0178;query=section%3D%23620;layout=;loc=Gorg.%20481c 513b]<br>* Aristophanes, ''Wasps'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0044;query=card%3D%233;layout=;loc=54 97]</ref> Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes' second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in ''[[Parmenides (Plato)|Parmenides]]''.<ref name="P126c">Plato, ''Parmenides'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0174;query=section%3D%233;layout=;loc=Parm.%20126b 126c]</ref>

In contrast to his reticence about himself, Plato used to introduce his distinguished relatives into his dialogues, or to mention them with some precision: Charmides has one named after him; Critias speaks in both ''[[Charmides (dialogue)|Charmides]]'' and ''[[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]]''; Adeimantus and Glaucon take prominent parts in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''.<ref name="G11">W. K. C. Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy'', IV, 11</ref> From these and other references one can reconstruct his [[family tree]], and this suggests a considerable amount of family pride. According to Burnet, "the opening scene of the ''Charmides'' is a glorification of the whole [family] connection ... Plato's dialogues are not only a memorial to Socrates, but also the happier days of his own family".<ref name="Kahn186">C.H. Kahn, ''Plato and the Socratic Dialogue'', 186</ref>

====Name====

According to [[Diogenes Laërtius]], the philosopher was named ''[[Aristocles]]'' after his grandfather, but his [[wrestling]] coach, Ariston of Argos, dubbed him "Platon", meaning "broad," on account of his robust figure.<ref name="LaIV">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', IV</ref> According to the sources mentioned by Diogenes (all dating from the [[Alexandrian period]]), Plato derived his name from the breadth (''platytês'') of his eloquence, or else because he was very wide (''platýs'') across the forehead.<ref name="LaN">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', IV<br>* A. Notopoulos, ''The Name of Plato'', 135</ref> In the 21st century some scholars disputed Diogenes, and argued that the legend about his name being ''Aristocles'' originated in the [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic age]].{{Ref_label|C|c|none}}'''

====Education====

[[Apuleius]] informs us that Speusippus praised Plato's quickness of mind and modesty as a boy, and the "first fruits of his youth infused with hard work and love of study".<ref name="Ap2">Apuleius, ''De Dogmate Platonis'', 2</ref> Plato must have been instructed in grammar, music, and [[gymnastics]] by the most distinguished teachers of his time.<ref name="DS">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', IV<br>* W. Smith, ''Plato'', 393</ref> [[Dicaearchus]] went so far as to say that Plato wrestled at the [[Isthmian games]].<ref name="LaV">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', V</ref> Plato had also attended courses of philosophy; before meeting Socrates, he first became acquainted with [[Cratylus]] (a disciple of [[Heraclitus]], a prominent [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic]] Greek philosopher) and the Heraclitean doctrines.<ref name="Ar987a">Aristotle, ''Metaphysics'', 1.[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0052&query=section%3D%2315&layout=&loc=1.987b 987a]</ref>

===Later life===

Plato may have traveled in [[Italy]], [[Sicily]], [[Egypt]] and [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]].<ref>{{cite journal

|last = McEvoy

|first = James

|year = 1984

|title = Plato and The Wisdom of Egypt

|journal = Irish Philosophical Journal

|volume = 1

|issue = 2

|publisher = Dept. of Scholastic Philosophy, Queen's University of Belfast

|location = Belfast

|url = http://poiesis.nlx.com/display.cfm?clientId=0&advquery=toc.sect.ipj.1.2&infobase=postoc.nfo&softpage=GetClient42&view=browse

|issn = 0266-9080

|accessdate = 2007-12-03

}}</ref> Said to have returned to Athens at the age of forty, Plato founded one of the earliest known organized schools in Western Civilization on a plot of land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus.<ref>Huntington Cairns, Introduction to ''Plato: The Collected Dialogues'', p. xiii.</ref> The [[Academy]] was "a large enclosure of ground which was once the property of a citizen at Athens named [[Academus]]... some, however, say that it received its name from an ancient hero",<ref>Robinson, ''Arch. Graec.'' I i 16.</ref> and it operated until AD 529, when it was closed by [[Justinian I]] of [[Byzantium]], who saw it as a threat to the propagation of [[Christianity]]. Many intellectuals were schooled in the Academy, the most prominent one being Aristotle.<ref>{{cite web

|url = http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/authors/about_aristotle.html

|title = Biography of Aristotle

|accessdate = 2007-12-03

|work = ClassicNote

|publisher = GradeSaver LLC

}}</ref>

===Plato and Socrates===

[[Image:Socrates and Plato.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Plato and [[Socrates]] in a medieval depiction]]

Plato makes it clear, especially in his [[Apology (Plato)|''Apology of Socrates'']], that he was one of Socrates' devoted young followers. In that dialogue, Socrates is presented as mentioning Plato by name as one of those youths close enough to him to have been corrupted, if he were in fact guilty of corrupting the youth, and questioning why their fathers and brothers did not step forward to testify against him if he was indeed guilty of such a crime (33d-34a). Later, Plato is mentioned along with Crito, Critobolus, and Apollodorus as offering to pay a fine of 30 minas on Socrates' behalf, in lieu of the death penalty proposed by Meletus (38b). In the ''[[Phaedo]]'', the title character lists those who were in attendance at the prison on Socrates' last day, explaining Plato's absence by saying, "Plato was ill" (''Phaedo'' 59b).

The relationship between Plato and Socrates is problematic, however. Aristotle, for example, attributes a different doctrine with respect to the [[Theory of forms|ideas]] to Plato and Socrates (''Metaphysics'' 987b1–11), but Plato never speaks in his own voice in his dialogues. In the [[Second Letter (Plato)|''Second Letter'']], it says, "no writing of Plato exists or ever will exist, but those now said to be his are those of a Socrates become beautiful and new" (341c); if the Letter is Plato's, the final qualification seems to call into question the dialogues' historical fidelity. In any case, [[Xenophon]] and [[Aristophanes]] seem to present a somewhat different portrait of Socrates than Plato paints. Some have called attention to the problem of taking Plato's Socrates to be his mouthpiece, given Socrates' reputation for irony.<ref>[[Leo Strauss]], ''The City and Man'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), 50–1.</ref>

The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention among scholars.

==Philosophy==

===Recurrent Themes===

[[Image:Sanzio 01 Plato Aristotle.jpg|thumb|upright|Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of ''[[The School of Athens]]''<!-- this should link to an article about the famous artwork -->, a fresco by [[Raphael]]. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'' in his hand. Plato holds his ''[[Timaeus]]'' and gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in [[The Forms]]]]

{{details|Aristotle's theory of universals}}

Plato often discusses the father-son relationship and the "question" of whether a father's interest in his sons has much to do with how well his sons turn out. A boy in ancient Athens was socially located by his family identity, and Plato often refers to his characters in terms of their paternal and fraternal relationships. Socrates was not a family man, and saw himself as the son of his mother, who was apparently a midwife. A divine fatalist, Socrates mocks men who spent exorbitant fees on tutors and trainers for their sons, and repeatedly ventures the idea that good character is a gift from the gods. Crito reminds Socrates that orphans are at the mercy of chance, but Socrates is unconcerned. In the ''Theaetetus'', he is found recruiting as a disciple a young man whose inheritance has been squandered. Socrates twice compares the relationship of the older man and his boy lover to the father-son relationship (''Lysis'' 213a, ''Republic'' 3.403b), and in the ''Phaedo'', Socrates' disciples, towards whom he displays more concern than his biological sons, say they will feel "fatherless" when he is gone. Many dialogues, like these, suggest that man-boy love (which is "spiritual") is a wise man's substitute for father-son biology (which is "bodily").

In several dialogues, Socrates floats the idea that [[Knowledge]] is a matter of recollection, and not of learning, observation, or study.<ref>{{cite book | last = Baird | first = Forrest E. | authorlink = | coauthors = Walter Kaufmann | title = From Plato to Derrida | publisher = Pearson Prentice Hall | year = 2008 | location = Upper Saddle River, New Jersey | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-13-158591-6 }}</ref> He maintains this view somewhat at his own expense, because in many dialogues, Socrates complains of his forgetfulness. Socrates is often found arguing that knowledge is not empirical, and that it comes from divine insight. He is quite consistent in believing in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues end with long speeches imagining the [[afterlife]]. More than one dialogue contrasts knowledge and opinion, perception and [[reality]], [[nature]] and custom, and body and soul. The only contrast to this is his Parmenides.

Several dialogues tackle questions about art: Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the [[muses]], and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the ''[[Phaedrus (Plato)|Phaedrus]] ''(265a&ndash;c), and yet in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|''Republic'']]'' wants to outlaw Homer's great poetry, and laughter as well. In ''[[Ion (dialogue)|Ion]]'', Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the ''Republic''. The dialogue ''Ion'' suggests that Homer's ''Iliad'' functioned in the ancient Greek world as the bible does today in the modern Christian world: as divinely inspired literature that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted.

On politics and art, religion and science, justice and medicine, virtue and vice, crime and punishment, pleasure and pain, rhetoric and rhapsody, human nature and sexuality, love and wisdom, Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say.

===Metaphysics===

{{Main|Platonic realism}}

"Platonism" is a term coined by scholars to refer to the intellectual consequences of denying, as Socrates often does, the reality of the material world. In several dialogues, most notably the Republic, Socrates inverts the common man's intuition about what is knowable and what is real. While most people take the objects of their senses to be real if anything is, Socrates is contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the hands to be real. In the ''[[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]]'', he says such people are "eu a-mousoi", an expression that means literally, "happily without the muses" (''Theaetetus'' 156a). In other words, such people live without the divine inspiration that gives him, and people like him, access to higher insights about reality.

Socrates's idea that reality is unavailable to those who use their senses is what puts him at odds with the common man, and with common sense. Socrates says that he who sees with his eyes is blind, and this idea is most famously captured in his [[allegory of the cave]], and more explicitly in his description of [[the divided line of Plato|the divided line]]. The allegory of the cave (begins ''Republic'' 7.514a) is a paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates argues that the invisible world is the most intelligible ("noeton") and that the visible world ("(h)oraton") is the least knowable, and the most obscure.

Socrates says in the ''Republic'' that people who take the sun-lit world of the senses to be good and real are living pitifully in a den of evil and ignorance. Socrates admits that few climb out of the den, or cave of ignorance, and those who do, not only have a terrible struggle to attain the heights, but when they go back down for a visit or to help other people up, they find themselves objects of scorn and ridicule.

According to Socrates, physical objects and physical events are "shadows" of their ideal or perfect forms, and exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect versions of themselves. Just as shadows are temporary, inconsequential epiphenomena produced by physical objects, physical objects are themselves fleeting phenomena caused by more substantial causes, the ideals of which they are mere instances. For example, Socrates thinks that perfect justice exists (although it is not clear where) and his own trial would be a cheap copy of it.

The allegory of the cave (often said by scholars to represent Plato's own epistemology and metaphysics) is intimately connected to his political ideology (often said to also be Plato's own), that only people who have climbed out of the cave and cast their eyes on a vision of goodness are fit to rule. Socrates claims that the enlightened men of society must be forced from their divine contemplations and compelled to run the city according to their lofty insights. Thus is born the idea of the "philosopher-king", the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. This is the main thesis of Socrates in the ''Republic'', that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the wise choice of a ruler.

The word metaphysics derives from the fact that Aristotle's musings about divine reality came after ("meta") his lecture notes on his treatise on nature ("physics"). The term is in fact applied to Aristotle's own teacher, and Plato's "metaphysics" is understood as Socrates' division of reality into the warring and irreconcilable domains of the material and the spiritual. The theory has been of incalculable influence in the history of Western philosophy and religion.

===Theory of Forms===

{{Main| Theory of Forms }}

The Theory of Forms typically refers to Plato's belief that the material world as it seems to us is not the real world, but only a [[Plato's allegory of the cave|shadow of the real world]]. Plato spoke of forms in formulating [[Platonic realism|his solution]] to the [[problem of universals]]. The forms, according to Plato, are roughly speaking [[archetype]]s or [[Abstraction|abstract]] representations of the many [[type (metaphysics)|types]] and [[property (metaphysics)|properties]] (that is, of [[universal (metaphysics)|universals]]) of things we see all around us.

===Epistemology===

{{Main| Platonic epistemology}}

Many have interpreted Plato as stating that [[knowledge]] is [[justified true belief]], an influential view which informed future developments in modern analytic epistemology. This interpretation is based on a reading of the ''[[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]]'' wherein Plato argues that belief is to be distinguished from knowledge on account of justification. Many years later, [[Edmund Gettier]] famously demonstrated the problems of the justified true belief account of knowledge. This interpretation, however, imports modern analytic and empiricist categories onto Plato himself and is better read on its own terms than as Plato's view.

Really, in the ''[[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]]'', ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|Statesman]]'', ''[[Republic (dialogue)|Republic]]'', and the ''[[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]]'' Plato himself associates knowledge with the apprehension of unchanging Forms and their relationships to one another (which he calls "expertise" in [[Dialectic]]). More explicitly, Plato himself argues in the ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' that knowledge is always proportionate to the realm from which it is gained. In other words, if one derives one's account of something experientially, because the world of sense is in flux, the views therein attained will be mere opinions. And opinions are characterized by a lack of necessity and stability. On the other hand, if one derives one's account of something by way of the non-sensible forms, because these forms are unchanging, so too is the account derived from them. It is only in this sense that Plato uses the term "[[knowledge]]."

In the [[Meno (Plato)#Dialogue with Meno's slave|Meno]], Socrates uses a geometrical example to expound Plato's view that knowledge in this latter sense is acquired by [[Anamnesis|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 present, Socrates concludes, in an eternal, non-experiential form.

===The State===

[[Image:POxy3679 Parts Plato Republic.jpg|thumb|''Papirus Oxyrhynchus'', with fragment of Plato's ''Republic'']]

Plato's philosophical views had many societal implications, especially on the idea of an ideal [[Sovereign state|state]] or government. There is some discrepancy between his early and later views. Some of the most famous doctrines are contained in the ''Republic'' during his middle period, as well as in the ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' and the ''Statesman''. However, because Plato wrote dialogues, it is assumed that Socrates is often speaking for Plato. This assumption may not be true in all cases.

Plato, through the words of Socrates, asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the individual soul. The appetite/spirit/reason stand for different parts of the body. The body parts symbolize the castes of society.<ref>{{cite book

| last =Gaarder

| first =Jostein

| authorlink = Jostein Gaarder

| title =Sophie's World

| publisher =Berkley

| year =1996

| location =New York City

| pages =91

}}</ref>

* ''Productive'' Which represents the abdomen. (Workers) &mdash; the labourers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the "appetite" part of the soul.

* ''Protective'' Which represents the chest. (Warriors or Guardians) &mdash; those who are adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the "spirit" part of the soul.

* ''Governing'' Which represents the head. (Rulers or Philosopher Kings) &mdash; 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 this model, the principles of [[Athenian democracy]] (as it existed in his day) are rejected as only a few are fit to rule. Instead of rhetoric and persuasion, Plato says reason and wisdom should govern. As Plato puts it:

: "Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race." (''Republic'' 473c-d)

[[Image:Plato i sin akademi, av Carl Johan Wahlbom (ur Svenska Familj-Journalen).png|thumb|260px|Plato in his academy, drawing after a painting by Swedish painter Carl Johan Wahlbom]]

Plato describes these "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight of truth" (''Republic'' 475c) and supports the idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. A large part of the ''Republic'' then addresses how the educational system should be set up to produce these philosopher kings.

However, it must be taken into account that the ideal city outlined in the ''Republic'' is qualified by Socrates as the ideal ''luxurious'' city, examined to determine how it is that injustice and justice grow in a city (''Republic'' 372e). According to Socrates, the "true" and "healthy" city is instead the one first outlined in book II of the ''Republic'', 369c&ndash;372d, containing farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and wage-earners, but lacking the guardian class of philosopher-kings as well as delicacies such as "perfumed oils, incense, prostitutes, and pastries", in addition to paintings, gold, ivory, couches, a multitude of occupations such as poets and hunters, and war.

In addition, the ideal city is used as an image to illuminate the state of one's soul, or the [[Free will|will]], [[reason]], and [[Interpersonal attraction|desire]]s combined in the human body. Socrates is attempting to make an image of a rightly ordered human, and then later goes on to describe the different kinds of humans that can be observed, from tyrants to lovers of money in various kinds of cities. The ideal city is not promoted, but only used to magnify the different kinds of individual humans and the state of their soul. However, the [[philosopher king]] image was used by many after Plato to justify their personal political beliefs. The philosophic soul according to Socrates has reason, will, and desires united in virtuous harmony. A philosopher has the [[moderate]] love for [[wisdom]] and the [[courage]] to act according to wisdom. Wisdom is [[knowledge]] about the [[Goodness and value theory|Good]] or the right relations between all that [[Existence|exist]]s.

Wherein it concerns states and rulers, Plato has made interesting arguments. For instance he asks which is better - a bad democracy or a country reigned by a tyrant. He argues that it is better to be ruled by a bad tyrant, than be a bad democracy (since here all the people are now responsible for such actions, rather than one individual committing many bad deeds.) This is emphasised within the ''Republic'' as Plato describes the event of mutiny onboard a ship.<ref>The Republic; p282</ref> Plato suggests the ships crew to be in line with the democratic rule of many and the captain, although inhibited through ailments, the tyrant. Plato's description of this event is parallel to that of democracy within the state and the inherent problems that arise.

According to Plato, a state which is made up of different kinds of souls, will overall decline from an [[aristocracy]] (rule by the best) to a [[timocracy]] (rule by the honorable), then to an [[oligarchy]] (rule by the few), then to a [[democracy]] (rule by the people), and finally to [[tyranny]] (rule by one person, rule by a tyrant){{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}<!-- More than a bare reference to the Republic is necessary here; it is disputed that Plato actually believed this -->.

===Unwritten Doctrine===

For a long time Plato's unwritten doctrine<ref>Rodriguez- Grandjean, Pablo. [http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Anci/AnciRodr.htm ''Philosophy and Dialogue: Plato's Unwritten Doctrines from a Hermeneutical Point of View''], Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, in Boston, Massachusetts from August 10-15, 1998.</ref><ref>Reale, Giovanni, and Catan, John R., ''A History of Ancient Philosophy'', SUNY Press, 1990. ISBN 0791405168. Cf. p.14 and onwards.</ref><ref>Krämer, Hans Joachim, and Catan, John R., ''Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics: A Work on the Theory of the Principles and Unwritten Doctrines of Plato with a Collection of the Fundamental Documents'', (Translated by John R. Catan), SUNY Press, 1990. ISBN 0791404331, Cf. pp.38-47</ref> had been considered unworthy of attention. Most of the books on Plato seem to diminish its importance. Nevertheless the first important witness who mentions its existence is Aristotle, who in his ''[[Physics (Aristotle)|Physics]]'' (209 b) writes: "It is true, indeed, that the account he gives there [i.e. in ''Timaeus''] of the participant is different from what he says in his so-called ''unwritten teaching'' (ἄγραφα δόγματα)." The term ''ἄγραφα δόγματα'' literally means ''unwritten doctrine'' and it stands for the most fundamental metaphysical teaching of Plato which he disclosed only to his most trusted fellows and kept secret from the public.

The reason for not revealing it to everyone is partially discussed in [[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]] (276 c) where Plato criticizes the written transmission of knowledge as faulty, favoring 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." The same argument is repeated in Plato's ''[[Seventh Letter (Plato)|Seventh Letter]]'' (344 c): "every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully avoids writing." In the same letter he writes (341 c): "I can certainly declare concerning all these writers who claim to know the subjects which I seriously study ... there does not exist, nor will there ever exist, any treatise of mine dealing therewith." Such secrecy is necessary in order not "to expose them to unseemly and degrading treatment" (344 d).

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 content of this lecture has been transmitted by several witnesses, among others [[Aristoxenus]] who describes the event in the following words: "Each came expecting to learn something about the things which are generally considered good for men, such as wealth, good health, physical strength, and altogether a kind of wonderful happiness. But when the mathematical demonstrations came, including numbers, geometrical figures and astronomy, and finally the statement Good is One seemed to them, I imagine, utterly unexpected and strange; hence some belittled the matter, while others rejected it." [[Simplicius of Cilicia|Simplicius]] quotes [[Alexander of Aphrodisias]] who states that "according to Plato, the first principles of everything, including the Forms themselves are One and Indefinite Duality (ἡ ἀόριστος δυάς) which he called Large and Small (τὸ μέγα καὶ τὸ μικρόν) ... one might also learn this from Speusippus and Xenocrates and the others who were present at Plato's lecture on the Good"

Their account is in full agreement with Aristotle's description of Plato's metaphysical doctrine. In ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|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" (987 b). "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" (988 a).

The most important aspect of this interpretation of Plato's metaphysics is the continuity between his teaching and the neoplatonic interpretation of [[Plotinus]]<ref>[[Plotinus]] describes this in the last part of his final [[Enneads|Ennead]] (VI, 9) entitled ''On the Good, or the One'' (Περὶ τἀγαθοῦ ἢ τοῦ ἑνός). Jens Halfwassen states in [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2006/2006-08-16.html Der Aufstieg zum Einen] (2006) that "Plotinus' ontology - which should rather 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."</ref> or [[Ficino]]<ref>In one of his letters (Epistolae 1612) [[Ficino]] writes: "The main goal of the divine Plato ... is to show one principle of things which he called the One (τὸ ἕν)", cf. Marsilio Ficino, [http://books.google.com/books?id=KuYYAAAAIAAJ Briefe des Mediceerkreises], Berlin, 1926, p. 147.</ref> which has been considered erroneous by many but may in fact have been directly influenced by oral transmission of Plato's doctrine. The first scholar who recognized the importance of the unwritten doctrine of Plato was [[Heinrich Gomperz]] who described it in his speech during the 7th [[International Congress of Philosophy]] in 1930.<ref>H. Gomperz, ''Plato's System of Philosophy'', in: G. Ryle (ed.), [http://books.google.com/books?id=zN0MAAAAIAAJ ''Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Philosophy], London 1931, pp. 426-431. Reprinted in: H. Gomperz, [http://books.google.com/books?id=ox81AAAAIAAJ ''Philosophical Studies''], Boston, 1953, pp. 119-24.</ref> All the sources related to the ἄγραφα δόγματα have been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as ''Testimonia Platonica''.<ref>K. Gaiser, ''Testimonia Platonica. Le antiche testimonianze sulle dottrine non scritte di Platone'', Milan, 1998. First published as ''Testimonia Platonica. Quellentexte zur Schule und mündlichen Lehre Platons'' as an appendix to Gaiser's ''Platons Ungeschriebene Lehre'', Stuttgart, 1963.</ref> These sources have subsequently been interpreted by scholars from the German ''Tübingen School'' such as Hans Joachim Krämer or Thomas A. Szlezák.<ref>For a bried description of the problem see for example K. Gaiser, [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/phr/1980/00000025/F0020001/art00002 ''Plato's enigmatic lecture "On the Good"''], Phronesis 25 (1980), pp. 5-37. A detailed analysis is given by Krämer in his [http://books.google.com/books?id=T2k6edyBklwC ''Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics: A Work on the Theory of the Principles and Unwritten Doctrines of Plato With a Collection of the Fundamental Documents''], Albany: SUNY Press, 1990. Another good description is by Giovanni Reale: [http://books.google.com/books?id=xmsGAAAACAAJ ''Toward a New Interpretation of Plato''], Washington, D.C.: CUA Press, 1997. Reale summarizes the results of his research in [http://books.google.com/books?id=QfvRZSlJd3MC ''A History of Ancient Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle''], Albany: SUNY Press, 1990. However the most complete analysis of the consequences of such an approach is given by Thomas A. Szlezak in his fundamental [http://books.google.com/books?id=x34szlJIRIgC ''Reading Plato''], New York: Routledge, 1999. Another supporter of this interpretation is the german philosopher [[Karl Albert]], cf. [http://books.google.com/books?id=5D4NAAAAIAAJ Griechische Religion und platonische Philosophie], Hamburg, 1980 or [http://books.google.com/books?id=VFvoAAAACAAJ Einführung in die philosophische Mystik], Darmstadt, 1996. [[Hans-Georg Gadamer]] is also sympathetic towards it, cf. J. Grondin, [http://www.philo.umontreal.ca/prof/documents/GadamerandtheTubingenSchool2006.doc06.doc Gadamer and the Tübingen School] and [[Gadamer]]'s 1968 article ''Plato's Unwritten Dialectic'' reprinted in his [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=HfNUhz7T6ocC Dialogue and Dialectic]. [[Gadamer]]'s final position on the subject is stated in his introduction to [http://books.google.com/books?id=wNzXAQAACAAJ La nuova interpretazione di Platone. Un dialogo tra Hans-Georg Gadamer e la scuola di Tubinga], Milano 1998.</ref>

==Works==

{{Dialogues of Plato}}

[[File:Plato Republic 1713.jpg|thumb|180px|Plato's ''The Republic'', Latin edition cover, 1713]]

Thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, though modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of at least some of these. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts.

The usual system for making unique references to sections of the text by Plato derives from a 16th century edition of Plato's works by [[Henri Estienne|Henricus Stephanus]]. An overview of Plato's writings according to this system can be found in the [[Stephanus pagination]] article.

One tradition regarding the arrangement of Plato's texts is according to [[tetralogy|tetralogies]]. This scheme is ascribed by Diogenes Laertius to an ancient scholar and court astrologer to [[Tiberius]] named [[Thrasyllus of Mendes|Thrasyllus]].

In the list below, works by Plato are marked (1) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether Plato is the author, and (2) if scholars generally agree that Plato is ''not'' the author of the work. Unmarked works are assumed to have been written by Plato.

<div style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">

* I. ''[[Euthyphro]]'', ''[[Apology (Plato)|(The) Apology (of Socrates)]]'', ''[[Crito]]'', ''[[Phaedo]]''

* II. ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', ''[[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]]'', ''[[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]]'', ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|Statesman]]''

* III. ''[[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]]'', ''[[Philebus]]'', ''[[Symposium (Plato)|(The) Symposium]]'', ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]''

* IV. ''[[First Alcibiades]]'' (1), ''[[Second Alcibiades]]'' (2), ''[[Hipparchus (dialogue)|Hipparchus]]'' (2), ''[[Rival Lovers|(The) (Rival) Lovers]]'' (2)

* V. ''[[Theages]]'' (2), ''[[Charmides (dialogue)|Charmides]]'', ''[[Laches (dialogue)|Laches]]'', ''[[Lysis (dialogue)|Lysis]]''

* VI. ''[[Euthydemus (dialogue)|Euthydemus]]'', ''[[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]]'', ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'', ''[[Meno]]''

* VII. ''[[Hippias major|(Greater) Hippias (major)]]'' (1), ''[[Hippias minor|(Lesser) Hippias (minor)]]'', ''[[Ion (dialogue)|Ion]]'', ''[[Menexenus]]''

* VIII. ''[[Clitophon]]'' (1), ''[[Republic (dialogue)|(The) Republic]]'', ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]''

* IX. ''[[Minos (dialogue)|Minos]]'' (2), ''[[Laws (dialogue)|(The) Laws]]'', ''[[Epinomis]]'' (2), ''[[Epistles (Plato)|Epistles]]'' (1).

</div>

The remaining works were transmitted under Plato's name, most of them already considered spurious in antiquity, and so were not included by Thrasyllus in his tetralogical arrangement. These works are labelled as ''Notheuomenoi'' ("spurious") or ''Apocrypha''.

* ''[[Axiochus (dialogue)|Axiochus]]'' (2), ''[[Definitions (Plato)|Definitions]]'' (2), ''[[Demodocus (dialogue)|Demodocus]]'' (2), ''[[Epigrams (Plato)|Epigrams]]'', ''[[Eryxias (dialogue)|Eryxias]]'' (2), ''[[Halcyon (dialogue)|Halcyon]]'' (2), ''[[On Justice]]'' (2), ''[[On Virtue]]'' (2), ''[[Sisyphus (dialogue)|Sisyphus]]'' (2).

=== Plato's Dialogues ===

The exact order in which Plato's dialogues were written is not known, nor is the extent to which some might have been later revised and rewritten.

[[Lewis Campbell (classicist)|Lewis Campbell]] was the first<ref>p. 9, [[John Burnet (classicist)|John Burnet]], ''Platonism'', University of California Press 1928.</ref> to make exhaustive use of [[stylometry]] to prove objectively that the ''Critias'', ''Timaeus'', ''Laws'', ''Philebus'', ''Sophist'', and ''Statesman'' were all clustered together as a group, while the ''Parmenides'', ''Phaedrus'', ''Republic'', and ''Theaetetus'' belong to a separate group, which must be earlier (given Aristotle's statement in his ''Politics''<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058&layout=&loc=2.1264b 1264b24-27]</ref> that the ''Laws'' was written after the ''Republic''; cf. Diogenes Laertius ''Lives'' 3.37). What is remarkable about Campbell's conclusions is that, in spite of all the stylometric studies that have been conducted since his time, perhaps the only chronological fact about Plato's works that can now be said to be ''proven'' by stylometry is the fact that ''Critias'', ''Timaeus'', ''Laws'', ''Philebus'', ''Sophist'', and ''Statesman'' are the latest of Plato's dialogues, the others earlier.<ref>p. xiv, J. Cooper (ed.), ''Plato: Complete Works'', Hackett 1997.</ref>

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,<ref>Richard Kraut, [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/ "Plato"], ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', accessed 24 June 2008; Malcolm Schofield (1998, 2002), "Plato", in E. Craig (Ed.), ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/A088, accessed 24 June 2008; Christopher Rowe, "Interpreting Plato", in H. Benson (ed.), ''A Companion to Plato'', Blackwell 2006.</ref> though Plato's works are still often characterized as falling at least roughly into three groups.<ref>T. Brickhouse & N. Smith, [http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/plato.htm "Plato"], ''The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', accessed 24 June 2008.</ref> The following represents one such division which is relatively common.<ref>See W. Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy'', vol. 4, Cambridge University Press 1975; G. Vlastos, ''Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher'', Cambridge University Press 1991; T. Penner, "Socrates and the Early Dialogues", in R. Kraut (ed.), ''The Cambridge Companion to Plato'', Cambridge University Press 1992; C. Kahn, ''Plato and the Socratic Dialogue'', Cambridge University Press 1996; G. Fine, ''Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul'', Oxford University Press 1999.</ref> 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.

====Early dialogues====

Socrates figures in all of these, and they are considered the most faithful representations of the historical Socrates; hence they are also called the "Socratic dialogues." Most of them consist of Socrates discussing a subject, often an ethical one (friendship, piety) with a friend or with someone presumed to be an expert on it. Through a series of questions he will show that apparently they do not understand it at all. It is left to the reader to figure out if "he" really understands "it". This makes these dialogues "indirect" teachings.

* ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology]]''

* ''[[Charmides (dialogue)|Charmides]]''

* ''[[Crito]]''

* ''[[Euthyphro]]''

* ''[[Ion (dialogue)|Ion]]''

* ''[[Laches (dialogue)|Laches]]''

* ''[[Lesser Hippias]]''

* ''[[Lysis (dialogue)|Lysis]]''

* ''[[Menexenus (dialogue)|Menexenus]]''

* ''[[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]]'' is often considered one of the last of these "earlier" dialogues.

The following are often considered "transitional" or "pre-middle" dialogues:

* ''[[Euthydemus (dialogue)|Euthydemus]]''

* ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]''

* ''[[Meno]]''

==== Middle dialogues ====

Late in the early dialogues Plato's Socrates actually begins supplying answers to some of the questions he asks, or putting forth positive doctrines. This is generally seen as the first appearance of Plato's own views. The first of these, that goodness is wisdom and that no one does evil willingly, was perhaps Socrates' own view. What becomes most prominent in the middle dialogues is the idea that knowledge comes of grasping unchanging forms or essences, paired with the attempts to investigate such essences. The immortality of the soul, and specific doctrines about justice, truth, and beauty, begin appearing here. The [[Symposium (Plato dialogue)|Symposium]] and the [[Republic (dialogue)|Republic]] are considered the centerpieces of Plato's middle period. The [[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]] and [[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]] are often considered to come late in this period and transitional to the next, as they seem to treat the Theory of Forms critically (''Parmenides'') or not at all (''Theaetetus'').

* ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]''

* ''[[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]]''

* ''[[Phaedo]]''

* ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]''

* ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''

* ''[[Symposium (Plato dialogue)|Symposium]]''

* ''[[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]]''

====Late dialogues====

[[Image:Plato Timaeus.jpg|thumb|right|180px|[[Latin]] ''[[incunabulum]]'' of Plato's ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', 1491]]

The ''[[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]]'' presents a series of criticisms of the theory of Forms which are widely taken to indicate Plato's abandonment of the doctrine. Some recent publications (e.g., Meinwald (1991)) have challenged this characterisation. In most of the remaining dialogues the theory is either absent or at least appears under a different guise in discussions about kinds or classes of things (the ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' may be an important, and hence controversially placed, exception). Socrates is either absent or a minor figure in the discussion. An apparently new method for doing dialectic known as "collection and division" is also featured, most notably in the ''Sophist'' and ''[[Statesman]]'', explicitly for the first time in the ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'', and possibly in the ''[[Philebus]]''. A basic description of collection and division would go as follows: interlocutors attempt to discern the similarities and differences among things in order to get clear idea about what they in fact are. One understanding, suggested in some passages of the ''Sophist'', is that this is what philosophy is always in the business of doing, and is doing even in the early dialogues.

The late dialogues are also an important place to look for Plato's mature thought on most of the issues dealt with in the earlier dialogues. There is much work still to be done by scholars on the working out of what these views are. The later works are agreed to be difficult and challenging pieces of philosophy. On the whole they are more sober and logical than earlier works, but may hold out the promise of steps towards a solution to problems which were systematically laid out in prior works.

* ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]''

* ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]''

* ''[[Philebus]]''

* ''[[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]]''

* ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|Statesman]]''

* ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]''

===Narration of the dialogues===

Plato never presents himself as a participant in any of the dialogues, and with the exception of the ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology]]'', there is no suggestion that he heard any of the dialogues firsthand. Some dialogues have no narrator but have a pure "dramatic" form (examples: ''[[Meno]]'', ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'', ''[[Phaedrus (Plato)|Phaedrus]]'', ''[[Crito]]'', ''[[Euthyphro]]''), some dialogues are narrated by Socrates, wherein he speaks in first person (examples: ''[[Lysis (dialogue)|Lysis]]'', ''[[Charmides (dialogue)|Charmides]]'', ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''). One dialogue, ''[[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]]'', begins in dramatic form but quickly proceeds to Socrates' narration of a conversation he had previously with the sophist for whom the dialogue is named; this narration continues uninterrupted till the dialogue's end.

[[Image:Anselm Feuerbach 003.jpg|thumb|260px|[[Symposium (Plato)|Plato's Symposium]] ([[Anselm Feuerbach]], 1873)]]

The three dialogues, ''Phaedo'', ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', and ''[[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]]'', also begin in dramatic form but then proceed to virtually uninterrupted narration by followers of Socrates, and all, apparently, based on their distant memory or secondhand reports. ''Phaedo'', an account of Socrates' final conversation and hemlock drinking, is narrated by Phaedo to Echecrates in a foreign city many years after the execution took place. 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. In the beginning of the ''Theaetetus'' (142c-143b), [[Euclid of Megara|Euclides]] says that he compiled the conversation from notes he took based on what Socrates told him of his conversation with the title character. The rest of the ''Theaetetus'' is presented as a "book" written in dramatic form and read by one of Euclides' slaves (143c). Some scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this date wearied of the narrated form.<ref>sect. 177, [[John Burnet (classicist)|J. Burnet]], ''Greek Philosophy'', MacMillan 1950.</ref> With the exception of the ''Theaetetus'', Plato gives no explicit indication as to how these orally transmitted conversations came to be written down. Other dialogues, such as the ''Phaedo'', ''Symposium'', and ''Parmenides'', do suggest that such conversations were faithfully recalled and transmitted by Socrates' followers.<ref>pp. 23-24, [[W. K. C. Guthrie]], ''Socrates'', Cambridge 1971.</ref>

===Trial of Socrates===

{{Main|Trial of Socrates}}

The trial of Socrates is the central, unifying event of the great Platonic dialogues. Because of this, Plato's ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology]]'' is perhaps the most often read of the dialogues. In the ''Apology'', Socrates tries to dismiss rumors that he is a [[sophism|sophist]] and defends himself against charges of disbelief in the gods and corruption of the young. Socrates insists that long-standing slander will be the real cause of his demise, and says the legal charges are essentially false. Socrates famously denies being wise, and explains how his life as a philosopher was launched by the [[Oracle at Delphi]]. He says that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put him at odds with his fellow man, and that this is the reason he has been mistaken for a menace to the city-state of Athens.

===Unity and Diversity of the Dialogues===

If Plato's important dialogues do not refer to Socrates' execution explicitly, they allude to it, or use characters or themes that play a part in it. Five dialogues foreshadow the trial: In the ''[[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]]'' (210d) and the ''[[Euthyphro]]'' (2a&ndash;b) Socrates tells people that he is about to face corruption charges. In the ''[[Meno]]'' (94e&ndash;95a), one of the men who brings legal charges against Socrates, [[Anytus]], warns him about the trouble he may get into if he does not stop criticizing important people. In the ''[[Gorgias]]'', Socrates says that his trial will be like a doctor prosecuted by a cook who asks a jury of children to choose between the doctor's bitter medicine and the cook's tasty treats (521e&ndash;522a). In the ''[[Republic]]'' (7.517e), Socrates explains why an enlightened man (presumably himself) will stumble in a courtroom situation. The ''Apology'' is Socrates' defense speech, and the ''[[Crito]]'' and ''Phaedo'' take place in prison after the conviction. In the ''[[Protagoras]]'', Socrates is a guest at the home of [[Callias III|Callias]], son of [[Hipponicus]], a man whom Socrates disparages in the ''Apology'' as having wasted a great amount of money on sophists' fees.

Two other important dialogues, the ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'' and the ''[[Phaedrus (Plato)|Phaedrus]]'', are linked to the main storyline by characters. In the ''Apology'' (19b, c), Socrates says [[Aristophanes]] slandered him in a comic play, and blames him for causing his bad reputation, and ultimately, his death. In the ''Symposium'', the two of them are drinking together with other friends. The character Phaedrus is linked to the main story line by character (Phaedrus is also a participant in the ''Symposium'' and the ''Protagoras'') and by theme (the philosopher as divine emissary, etc.) The ''Protagoras'' is also strongly linked to the ''Symposium'' by characters: all of the formal speakers at the ''Symposium'' (with the exception of Aristophanes) are present at the home of Callias in that dialogue. [[Charmides]] and his guardian [[Critias]] are present for the discussion in the ''Protagoras''. Examples of characters crossing between dialogues can be further multiplied. The ''Protagoras'' contains the largest gathering of Socratic associates.

In the dialogues for which Plato is most celebrated and admired, Socrates is concerned with human and political virtue, has a distinctive personality, and friends and enemies who "travel" with him from dialogue to dialogue. This is not to say that Socrates is consistent: a man who is his friend in one dialogue may be an adversary or subject of his mockery in another. For example, Socrates praises the wisdom of Euthyphro many times in the ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', but makes him look like a fool in the ''[[Euthyphro]]''. He disparages sophists generally, and [[Prodicus]] specifically in the ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology]]'', yet tells Theaetetus in his namesake dialogue that he admires Prodicus and has directed many pupils to him. In [[Cratylus]] (384b-c), Socrates says that he studied with Cratylus, and took his one-[[drachma]] course because he could not afford the full fifty-drachma course. Socrates' ideas are also not consistent within or between or among dialogues.

===Platonic Scholarship===

[[File:Herma of Plato - 0042MC.jpg|thumb|"The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." ([[Alfred North Whitehead]], ''[[Process and Reality]]'', 1929).]]

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 [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] philosophers referred to Aristotle as "the Philosopher". However, in the [[Byzantine Empire]], the study of Plato continued.

The Medieval scholastic philosophers did not have access to the works of Plato, nor the knowledge of [[Greek language|Greek]] needed to read them. Plato's original writings were essentially lost to Western civilization until they were brought from [[Constantinople]] in the century of its fall, by [[George Gemistos Plethon]]. It is believed that Plethon passed a copy of the Dialogues to Cosimo de' Medici when in 1438 the Council of Ferrara, called to unify the Greek and Latin Churches, was adjourned to Florence, where Plethon then lectured on the relation and differences of Plato and Aristotle, and fired Cosimo with his enthusiasm.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}}<!-- Please source the claim these claims. --> Medieval scholars knew of Plato only through translations into [[Latin]] from the translations into [[Arabic language|Arabic]] by [[Iran|Persian]] and Arab scholars. These scholars not only translated the texts of the ancients, but expanded them by writing extensive [[Close reading|commentaries]] and [[interpretation]]s on Plato's and Aristotle's works (see [[Al-Farabi]], [[Avicenna]], [[Averroes]]).

Only in the [[Renaissance]], with the general resurgence of interest in classical civilization, did knowledge of Plato's philosophy become widespread again in the West. Many of the greatest early modern scientists and artists who broke with [[Scholasticism]] and fostered the flowering of the Renaissance, with the support of the Plato-inspired [[Lorenzo de Medici]], saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for progress in the arts and sciences. By the 19th century, Plato's reputation was restored, and at least on par with Aristotle's.

Notable Western philosophers have continued to draw upon Plato's work since that time. Plato's influence has been especially strong in mathematics and the sciences. He helped to distinguish between [[pure mathematics|pure]] and [[applied mathematics]] by widening the gap between "arithmetic", now called [[Number Theory]] and "logistic", now called [[arithmetic]]. He regarded logistic as appropriate for business men and men of war who "must learn the art of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops," while arithmetic was appropriate for philosophers "because he has to arise out of the sea of change and lay hold of true being."<ref>{{cite book|first=Carl B. |last=Boyer |authorlink=Carl Benjamin Boyer |title=A History of Mathematics |edition=Second |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |year=1991 |isbn=0471543977|chapter=The age of Plato and Aristotle|pages=86|quote=Plato is important in the history of mathematics largely for his role as inspirer and director of others, and perhaps to him is due the sharp distinction in ancient Greece between arithmetic (in the sense of the theory of numbers) and logistic (the technique of computation). Plato regarded logistic as appropriate for the businessman and for the man of war, who "must learn the art of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops." The philosopher, on the other hand, must be an arithmetician "because he has to arise out of the sea of change and lay hold of true being."}}</ref> Plato's resurgence further inspired some of the greatest advances in logic since Aristotle, primarily through [[Gottlob Frege]] and his followers [[Kurt Gödel]], [[Alonzo Church]], and [[Alfred Tarski]]; the last of these summarised his approach by reversing the customary paraphrase of Aristotle's famous declaration of sedition from the Academy (''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'' 1096a15), from ''[[Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas|Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas]]'' ("Plato is a friend, but truth is a greater friend") to ''Inimicus Plato sed magis inimica falsitas'' ("Plato is an enemy, but falsehood is a greater enemy"). [[Albert Einstein]] drew on Plato's understanding of an immutable reality that underlies the flux of appearances for his objections to the probabilistic picture of the physical universe propounded by [[Niels Bohr]] in his interpretation of [[quantum mechanics]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Conversely, thinkers that diverged from [[ontology|ontological]] models and [[moral]] ideals in their own philosophy, have tended to disparage Platonism from more or less informed perspectives. Thus [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] attacked Plato's moral and political theories, [[Martin Heidegger]] argued against Plato's alleged obfuscation of ''[[Being]]'', and [[Karl Popper]] argued in ''[[The Open Society and Its Enemies]]'' (1945) that Plato's alleged proposal for a government system in the ''Republic'' was prototypically [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]]. [[Leo Strauss]] is considered by some as the prime thinker involved in the recovery of Platonic thought in its more political, and less metaphysical, form. Deeply influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger, Strauss nonetheless rejects their condemnation of Plato and looks to the dialogues for a solution to what all three thinkers acknowledge as 'the crisis of the West.'

{{academia

|teachers=[[Socrates]]

|students=

[[Amyclus of Heraclea]]<br/>

[[Aristonymus]]</br>

[[Aristotle]]</br>

[[Axiothea of Phlius]]</br>

[[Callippus of Athens]]</br>

[[Coriscus of Scepsis]]</br>

[[Demetrius of Amphipolis]]</br>

[[Dion of Syracuse]]</br>

[[Erastus of Scepsis]]</br>

[[Euaeon of Lampsacus]]</br>

[[Eudoxus of Cnidus]]</br>

[[Heraclides of Aenus]]</br>

[[Heraclides of Pontus]]</br>

[[Hermias of Atarneus]]</br>

[[Hestiaeus of Perinthus]]</br>

[[Lastheneia of Mantinea]]</br>

[[Philippus of Opus]]</br>

[[Phormio]]</br>

[[Python of Aenus]]</br>

[[Speusippus|Speusippus of Athens]]</br>

[[Timolaus of Cyzicus]]</br>

[[Theophrastus]]</br>

[[Xenocrates|Xenocrates of Chalcedon]]

}}

===Text history===

The oldest surviving manuscript for about half of Plato's dialogues is the Clarke Plato (MS. E. D. Clarke 39), which was written in Constantinople in 895 and acquired by the [[Oxford University]] in 1809.<ref>[http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/philosophy/collections/manuscripts Manuscripts - Philosophy Faculty Library]</ref>

==See also==

* [[Plato's tripartite theory of soul]]

* [[Allan Bloom]]

* [[Alexander Nehamas]]

* [[Cambridge Platonists]]

* [[Christian Mysticism in Ancient Africa]]

* [[Eric A. Havelock]]

* [[Jacob Klein (philosopher)]]

* [[Platonic love]]

* [[Platonic Realism]]

* [[Mitchell Miller]]

* [[Seth Benardete]]

* [[Leo Strauss]]

* [[Seventh Letter (Plato)]]

==Notes==

<div class="references-small">

'''a.''' {{Note_label|A|a|none}} The [[grammarian]] [[Apollodorus]] argues in his ''Chronicles'' that Plato was born in the first year of the eighty-eighth Olympiad (427 BC), on the seventh day of the month [[Thargelion]]; according to this tradition the god [[Apollo]] was born this day.<ref name="LaII">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', II</ref> According to another biographer of him, [[Neanthes of Cyzicus|Neanthes]], Plato was eighty-four years of age at his death.<ref name="LaII" /> If we accept Neanthes' version, Plato was younger than [[Isocrates]] by six years, and therefore he was born in the second year of the 87th [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympiad]], the year Pericles died (429 BC).<ref>F.W. Nietzsche, ''Werke'', 32</ref> According to the ''[[Suda]],'' Plato was born in [[Aegina]] in the 88th Olympiad amid the preliminaries of the [[Peloponnesian war]], and he lived 82 years.<ref name="Suda">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Plato|encyclopedia=Suda}}</ref> [[Sir Thomas Browne]] also believes that Plato was born in the 88th Olympiad.<ref name="BrXII">T. Browne, ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'', XII</ref> [[Renaissance]] [[Platonist]]s celebrated Plato's birth on [[November 7]].<ref name="N1">D. Nails, ''The Life of Plato of Athens'', 1</ref> Wilamowitz-Moellendorff estimates that Plato was born when Diotimos was [[archon#Ancient Greece|archon eponymous]], namely between [[July 29]] 428 BC and [[July 24]] 427 BC.<ref name="W46">U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 46</ref> Greek philologist Ioannis Kalitsounakis believes that the philosopher was born on [[May 26]] or 27 427 BC, while [[Jonathan Barnes]] regards 428 BC as year of Plato's birth.<ref name="HBr">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Plato|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|year=2002}}

| birth_place = *{{cite encyclopedia|title=Plato|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios Volume V (in Greek)|year=1952}}</ref> For her part, Debra Nails asserts that the philosopher was born in 424/423 BC.<ref name="N1" />

'''b.''' {{Note_label|B|b|none}} Diogenes Laertius mentions that Plato "was born, according to some writers, in Aegina in the house of Phidiades the son of Thales". Diogenes mentions as one of his sources the ''Universal History'' of [[Favorinus]]. According to Favorinus, Ariston, Plato's family, and his family were sent by Athens to settle as [[cleruchy|cleruch]]s (colonists retaining their Athenian citizenship), on the island of Aegina, from which they were expelled by the [[Sparta]]ns after Plato's birth there.<ref name="LaIII">Diogenes Laertius, ''Life of Plato'', III</ref> Nails points out, however, that there is no record of any Spartan expulsion of Athenians from Aegina between 431-411 BC.<ref name="NA54">D. Nails, "Ariston", 54</ref> On the other hand, at the [[Peace of Nicias]], Aegina was silently left under Athens' control, and it was not until the summer of 411 that the Spartans overran the island.<ref name="Th5.18.8.92">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 5#5:18|5.18]]

| birth_place = * Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:92|8.92]]</ref> Therefore, Nails concludes that "perhaps Ariston was a cleruch, perhaps he went to Aegina in 431, and perhaps Plato was born on Aegina, but none of this enables a precise dating of Ariston's death (or Plato's birth).<ref name="NA54" /> Aegina is regarded as Plato's place of birth by Suda as well.<ref name="Suda" />

'''c.''' {{Note_label|C|c|none}} ''Plato'' was a common name, of which 31 instances are known at Athens alone.<ref name="GT">W. K. C. Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy'', IV, 10<br>* L. Tarán, ''Plato's Alleged Epitaph'', 61</ref>

</div>

==Notes==

{{reflist|2}}

==References==

===Primary sources (Greek and Roman)===

<div class="references-small">

* [[Apuleius]], ''De Dogmate Platonis'', I. ''See original text in [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/apuleius/apuleius.dog1.shtml Latin Library]''.

* [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Wasps]]''. ''See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0043:line=1 Perseus program]''.

* [[Aristotle]], ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]]. ''See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0051:book=1:section=980a Perseus program]''.

* [[Cicero]], ''De Divinatione'', I. ''See original text in [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/divinatione1.shtml Latin library]''.

* [[Diogenes Laertius]], ''Life of Plato''. ''Translated by [http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlplato.htm C.D. Yonge]''.

* {{Cite wikisource|Charmides|Plato}}. See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0175:text=Charm.:section=153a Perseus program].

* {{Cite wikisource|Gorgias|Plato}}. ''See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0177:text=Gorg.:section=447a Perseus program]''.

* Plato, ''Parmenides''. ''See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0173:text=Parm.:section=126a Perseus program]''.

* {{Cite wikisource|The Republic|Plato}}. See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168 Perseus program].

* [[Image:wikisource-logo.svg|15px]] [[Plutarch]], [[s:Lives/Pericles|Pericles]]. See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0181:text=Per.:chapter=39:section=1 Perseus program].

* {{Cite wikisource|History of the Peloponnesian War|[[Thucydides]]}}, V, VIII. ''See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0199 Perseus program]''.

* [[Xenophon]], ''[[Memorabilia (Xenophon)|Memorabilia]]''. ''See original text in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0207:book=1:chapter=1:section=1 Perseus program]''.

</div>

===Secondary sources===

<div class="references-small">

* {{cite book|last=Browne|first=Sir Thomas|title=[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo412.html#b26 Pseudodoxia Epidemica] |year=1646-1672|unused_data=|IV.xii}}

* {{cite book|last=Guthrie|first=W.K.C.|title=A History of Greek Philosophy: Volume 4, Plato: The Man and His Dialogues: Earlier Period |year=1986 | publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=0-521-31101-2}}

* {{cite book|last=Kahn|first=Charles H.|title=Plato and the socratic dialogue: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form |year=2004 | publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=0-521-64830-0| chapter=The Framework}}

* {{cite book|last=Nails|first=Debra|title=A Companion to Plato edited by Hugh H. Benson |year=2006 | publisher=Blackwell Publishing| isbn=1-405-11521-1|chapter=The Life of Plato of Athens}}

* {{cite book|last=Nails|first=Debra|title=The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics |year=2002 | publisher=Hackett Publishing| isbn=0-872-20564-9|chapter=Ariston/Perictione}}

* {{cite book|last=Nietzsche|first=Friedrich Wilhelm|title=Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (in German) |year=1967 | publisher=Walter de Gruyter| isbn=3-110-13912-X|chapter=Vorlesungsaufzeichnungen}}

* {{cite journal|last=Notopoulos|first=A.|title=The Name of Plato|journal=Classical Philology|volume=34|issue=No.2|pages=135–145|month=April | year=1939|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|doi=10.1086/362227}}

* {{cite encyclopedia|title=Plato|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|year=2002}}

* {{cite encyclopedia|title=Plato|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios Volume XVI (in Greek)|year=1952}}

* {{cite encyclopedia|title=[http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&page_num=1&user_list=LIST&searchstr=Plato&field=hw_eng&num_per_page=25&db=REAL Plato]|encyclopedia=Suda|date=10th century}}

* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=William|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |year=1870 | url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2725.html| chapter=Plato}}

* {{cite book|last=Tarán|first=Leonardo|title=Collected Papers 1962-1999 |year=2001 | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers | isbn= 9-004-12304-0. }}

* {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Alfred Edward|title=Plato: The Man and his Work |year=2001 | publisher=Courier Dover Publications| isbn=0-486-41605-4}}

* {{cite book|last=Wilamowitz-Moellendorff|first=Ulrich von|title=Plato: his Life and Work (translated in Greek by Xenophon Armyros |year=2005 (first edition 1917) | publisher=Kaktos| isbn=960-382-664-2}}

</div>

==Further reading==

* [[Ed. R.E. Allen|Allen, R.E.]] (2006). ''Studies in Plato's Metaphysics II''. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-18-6

* [[David Ambuel|Ambuel, David]] (2006). ''Image and Paradigm in Plato's Sophist''. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-004-9

* Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). ''Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments'', Trafford Publishing ISBN 1-4120-4843-5

* {{cite book| last=Barrow| first=Robin| year=2007| title=Plato: Continuum Library of Educational Thought| publisher=Continuum| isbn=0-8264-8408-5}}

* Cadame, Claude (1999). ''Indigenous and Modern Perspectives on Tribal Initiation Rites: Education According to Plato'', pp.&nbsp;278–312, in Padilla, Mark William (editor), [http://books.google.com/books?id=-0JVScga2oYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=rites+of+passage+in+ancient+greece "Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society"], [[Bucknell University]] Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8387-5418-X

* {{cite book | author=Cooper, John M. & Hutchinson, D. S. (Eds.) | title=Plato: Complete Works | publisher=[[Hackett Publishing Company]], Inc | year=1997 | isbn=0-87220-349-2}}

* [[J. Angelo Corlett|Corlett, J. Angelo]] (2005). ''Interpreting Plato's Dialogues''. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-02-5

* {{cite book | author=Durant, Will | title=The Story of Philosophy | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=1926 | isbn=0-671-69500-2}}

* [[Jacques Derrida|Derrida, Jacques]] (1972). ''La dissémination'', Paris: Seuil. (esp. cap.: ''La Pharmacie de Platon'', 69-199) ISBN 2-02-001958-2

* {{cite book|author=Field, G.C. (Guy Cromwell)|title=The Philosophy of Plato|edition=2nd ed. with an appendix by R. C. Cross.|location=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1969|isbn=0198880405}}

* Fine, Gail (2000). ''Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology'' Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19-875206-7

* {{cite book|author=Garvey, James |title=Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books |publisher=Continuum |year=2006, |isbn=0826490530}}

* [[W. K. C. Guthrie|Guthrie, W. K. C.]] (1986). ''A History of Greek Philosophy (Plato - The Man & His Dialogues - Earlier Period)'', Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31101-2

* [[W. K. C. Guthrie|Guthrie, W. K. C.]] (1986). ''A History of Greek Philosophy (Later Plato & the Academy)'' Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31102-0

* Havelock, Eric (2005). ''Preface to Plato (History of the Greek Mind)'', Belknap Press, ISBN 0-674-69906-8

* {{cite book | author=Hamilton, Edith & Cairns, Huntington (Eds.) | title=The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the Letters | publisher=Princeton Univ. Press | year=1961 | isbn=0-691-09718-6}}

*Irwin, Terence (1995). ''Plato's Ethics'', Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19-508645-7

* {{cite book | author=Jackson, Roy | title=Plato: A Beginner's Guide | location=London | publisher=Hoder & Stroughton | year=2001 | isbn=0-340-80385-1}}

* {{cite book | author=Kochin, Michael S. | title=Gender and Rhetoric in Plato’s Political Thought | publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press | year=2002 | isbn=0-521-80852-9}}

* {{cite book | author=Kraut, Richard (Ed.) | title=The Cambridge Companion to Plato | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1993 | isbn=0-521-43610-9}}

* {{cite book | author=Krämer, Hans Joachim | title=[http://books.google.com/books?id=T2k6edyBklwC Plato and the Foundations of Metaphysics] | publisher=SUNY Press | year=1990 | isbn=0-791-40433-1}}

* [[Suzanne Lilar|Lilar, Suzanne]] (1954), Journal de l'analogiste, Paris, Éditions Julliard; Reedited 1979, Paris, Grasset. Foreword by [[Julien Gracq]]

* [[Suzanne Lilar|Lilar, Suzanne]] (1963), ''Le couple'', Paris, Grasset. Translated as ''Aspects of Love in Western Society'' in 1965, with a foreword by Jonathan Griffin London, Thames and Hudson.

* [[Suzanne Lilar|Lilar, Suzanne]] (1967) ''A propos de Sartre et de l'amour '', Paris, Grasset.

* {{cite book | author=Lundberg, Phillip | title=Tallyho - The Hunt for Virtue: Beauty,Truth and Goodness Nine Dialogues by Plato: Pheadrus, Lysis, Protagoras, Charmides, Parmenides, Gorgias, Theaetetus, Meno & Sophist | publisher=Authorhouse | year=2005 | isbn=1-4184-4977-6}}

* {{cite book | author=Melchert, Norman | title=The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy | publisher=McGraw Hill | year=2002 | isbn=0-19-517510-7}}

* {{cite book | author=Meinwald, Constance Chu | title=Plato's Parmenides | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1991 | isbn=0-19-506445-3 }}

* [[Mitchell Miller|Miller, Mitchell]] (2004). ''The Philosopher in Plato's Statesman''. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-16-2

* [[Richard D. Mohr|Mohr, Richard D.]] (2006). ''God and Forms in Plato - and other Essays in Plato's Metaphysics''. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-01-8

* Moore, Edward (2007). ''Plato''. Philosophy Insights Series. Tirril, Humanities-Ebooks. ISBN 978-1-84760-047-9

* Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. (1995). [http://books.google.com/books?id=n3MeQikAp00C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 "Genres in Dialogue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy"], Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052148264X

* {{cite book | author=Reale, Giovanni | title=[http://books.google.com/books?id=QfvRZSlJd3MC A History of Ancient Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle] | publisher=SUNY Press | year=1990 | isbn=0-791-40516-8 }}

* {{cite book | author=Reale, Giovanni | title=[http://books.google.com/books?id=xmsGAAAACAAJ Toward a New Interpretation of Plato] | publisher=CUA Press | year=1997 | isbn=0-813-20847-5 }}

* {{cite book | author=[[John Sallis|Sallis, John]] | title=Being and Logos: Reading the Platonic Dialogues | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=1996 | isbn=0-253-21071-2 }}

* {{cite book | author=[[John Sallis|Sallis, John]] | title=Chorology: On Beginning in Plato's "Timaeus" | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=1999 | isbn=0-253-21308-8 }}

* [[Kenneth M. Sayre|Sayre, Kenneth M.]] (2006). ''Plato's Late Ontology: A Riddle Resolved''. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-09-4

* [[T. K. Seung|Seung, T. K.]] (1996). ''Plato Rediscovered: Human Value and Social Order''. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 0847681122

* {{cite book | author=Szlezak, Thomas A. | title=[http://books.google.com/books?id=x34szlJIRIgC Reading Plato] | publisher=Routledge | year=1999 | isbn=0-415-18984-5 }}

* Taylor, A. E. (2001). ''Plato: The Man and His Work'', Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-41605-4

* [[Gregory Vlastos|Vlastos, Gregory]] (1981). ''Platonic Studies'', Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-10021-7

* [[Gregory Vlastos|Vlastos, Gregory]] (2006). ''Plato's Universe - with a new Introducution by Luc Brisson'', Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-13-1

* Zuckert, Catherine (2009). ''Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues'', The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 9780226993355

* [[Oxford University Press]] publishes scholarly editions of Plato's Greek texts in the ''[[Oxford Classical Texts]]'' series, and some translations in the ''Clarendon Plato Series''.

* [[Harvard University Press]] publishes the hardbound series ''[[Loeb Classical Library#Plato|Loeb Classical Library]]'', containing Plato's works in [[Greek language|Greek]], with English translations on facing pages.

* [[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Thomas Taylor]] has translated Plato's complete works.

* {{cite book | author=Smith, William. | title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | publisher=University of Michigan/Online version | year=1867 &mdash; original }}

*''Aspects of antiquity: Discoveries and Controversies'' by M.I. Finley, issued 1969 by The Viking Press, Inc.

*''Interpreting Plato: The Dialogues as Drama'' by James A. Arieti, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-8476-7662-5

==External links==

{{Wikisourcelang|en|Author:Plato|Plato}}

{{wikisourcelang|el|Πλάτων|Platon}}

{{wikiquote}}

{{Commons category|Plato}}

* Works available on-line:

** {{PerseusAuthor|Plato}} - Greek & English hyperlinked text

** [http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=166&Itemid=99999999 Works of Plato (Jowett, 1892)]

** {{gutenberg author | id=Plato | name=Plato}}

*** [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=688 Spurious and doubtful works] at [[Project Gutenberg]]

** [http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/plato/default.asp Plato complete works, annotated and searchable, at ELPENOR]

** [http://librivox.org/euthyphro-by-plato/ Euthyphro] [[LibriVox]] recording

** [http://librivox.org/ion-by-plato/ Ion] [[LibriVox]] recording

** [http://librivox.org/apology-of-socrates-by-plato/ The Apology of Socrates] {{gr icon}}, [[LibriVox]] recording

**[http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/tetral.htm Quick Links to Plato's Dialogues (English, Greek, French, Spanish)]

* Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

** [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/ Plato]

** [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics/ Plato's Ethics]

** [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-friendship/ Friendship and Eros]

** [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-metaphysics/ Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology]

** [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-utopia/ Plato on Utopia]

** [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-rhetoric/ Rhetoric and Poetry]

* Other Articles:

** [http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/guthrie-plato.asp Excerpt from W.K.C. Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. IV, Plato: the man and his dialogues, earlier period'', Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 8-38]

** [http://plato-dialogues.org/plato.htm Website on Plato and his works: Plato and his dialogues by Bernard Suzanne]

** [http://journal.ilovephilosophy.com/Article/Are-there-really-Platonic-forms-/53 Are there really Platonic forms?]

** [http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Quotes/plato.htm "Plato and Totalitarianism: A Documentary Study"]

** [http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/academy_index.htm The New Academy]

** {{CathEncy|wstitle=Plato and Platonism}}

* [http://platogeek.com/ Plato Bibliography at PlatoGeek]

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080126175146/http://www.filozofie.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=34 Online library "Vox Philosophiae"]

* Comprehensive Research Materials:

** [http://campus.belmont.edu/philosophy/Book.pdf Approaching Plato: A Guide to the Early and Middle Dialogues]

{{Template group

|list=

{{Platonists}}

{{Ancient Greece topics}}

{{metaphysics}}

{{epistemology}}

{{Social and political philosophy}}

{{Ethics}}

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{{philosophy of science}}

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{{Persondata

|NAME=Plato

|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Aristocles, Plátōn, Πλάτων (Greek)

|SHORT DESCRIPTION=[[Greeks|Greek]] [[philosopher]], a student of [[Socrates]], writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the [[Academy]]

|DATE OF BIRTH=ca. 428 BC/427 BC

|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Athens]]

|DATE OF DEATH=ca. 348 BC/347 BC

|PLACE OF DEATH=

}}

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[[Category:Ancient Syracuse]]

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