Who is Plato?
Plato is a philosopher and scholar who lived between 427 and 347 BC. Plato was a student of Socrates. He later formed the first known “university” called the Academy. Plato’s best known work is The Republic and his best known concept is the Theory of Forms. Plato’s Theory of Forms states that while experience is changing and illusory, ideal forms are unchanging and real. Plato advanced Parmenides’ theory that both experience and forms are real. Aristotle and Socrates also began their philosophical thought from Parmenides, who was known as Parmenides of Elea. Parmenides lived between 510 and 440 BC. Although his reasoning was shown by Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and other philosophers to be mostly unsound, Parmenides, rather ironically, began the entire concept of logical deduction that was to make these scholars well-known. Plato’s Theory of Forms holds that some stable, unchanging aspects of something must be a part of our sense experience for that thing to be considered real. For exa
Plato was born in Athens in 427 BC to a well established aristocratic family. His father, Ariston, could trace his lineage back to the old kings of Athens; his mother, Perictione, was a sister of Charmides and the cousin of Critas, two prominent figures in the Athenian oligarchy of 404-403 BC. Plato also had two brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, who are portrayed in his masterpiece, The Republic. Given this illustrious background it is almost certain that Plato, as a young man, was groomed for a life of public service. Only a few years before Plato was born, Athens entered into a drawn-out war with Sparta (the Peloponnesian War), that eventually led to the decline of Athens’ power in the Mediterranean world. Although he grew up during Athens’ great experiment with democracy during the Fifth Century, it was certainly evident at this time that democracy was failing, and that some other type of political system was needed. Around the age of twenty, he became a disciple of Socrates, the fa
