Plato

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For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation) and Platon (disambiguation).
Plato
Plato Silanion Musei Capitolini MC1377.jpg
Roman copy of a portrait bust c. 370 BC
Born 428/427 or 424/423 BC
Athens, Greece
Died 348/347 BC (age c. 80)
Athens, Greece
Notable work
ApologyCritoEuthyphroMenoParmenidesPhaedoPhaedrusRepublicSymposiumTimaeus
Era Ancient Greek philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Platonism
Notable students
AristotleEudoxus of CnidusHeraclides PonticusPhilip of OpusSpeusippusXenocrates
Main interests
MetaphysicsEthicsPoliticsEpistemologyAestheticsSoulLoveMathematicsLanguageEducationCosmology
Eschatology
Notable ideas
Platonic philosophyInnatismTheory of formsIdealism
Influences
Influenced
Part of a series on
Platonism
Platon.png
Plato from Raphael's The School of Athens (1509–1511)
Early lifeWorksEpistemologyIdealism / RealismDemiurgeTheory of formsTheory of
soulTranscendentalsForm of the GoodThird man argumentEuthyphro dilemmaFive
regimesPhilosopher kingPlato's unwritten doctrinesPolitical philosophy
Allegories and metaphors
AtlantisRing of GygesThe CaveThe Divided LineThe SunShip of StateMyth of ErThe Chariot
Related articles
CommentariesThe Academy in AthensSocratic problemAcademic skepticismMiddle
PlatonismNeoplatonism and ChristianityAllegorical interpretations of Plato
Related categories
Plato
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Plato (/ˈpleɪtoʊ/ PLAY-toe;[2] Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn, pronounced [plá.tɔːn] in Classical Attic; 428/427
or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece,
founder of the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in
the Western world.

He is widely considered a pivotal figure in the history of Ancient Greek and Western philosophy, along
with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle.[a] Plato has also often been cited
as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality.[5] The so-called neoplatonism of
philosophers such as Plotinus and Porphyry greatly influenced Christianity through Church Fathers
such as Augustine. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the
European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."[6]

Plato was an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. Plato is also
considered the founder of Western political philosophy. His most famous contribution is the theory of
Forms known by pure reason, in which Plato presents a solution to the problem of universals known
as Platonism (also ambiguously called either Platonic realism or Platonic idealism). He is also the
namesake of Platonic love and the Platonic solids.

His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been along with Socrates,
the pre-Socratics Pythagoras, Heraclitus and Parmenides, although few of his predecessors' works
remain extant and much of what we know about these figures today derives from Plato himself.[b]
Unlike the work of nearly all of his contemporaries, Plato's entire body of work is believed to have
survived intact for over 2,400 years.[8] Although their popularity has fluctuated, Plato's works have
consistently been read and studied.[9]