Plato
For Plato, the visible world is only a copy of eternal, perfect Forms that reason alone can grasp – and knowing them makes people and states just.
Placement
Founder of the Academy: the visible world is a copy of eternal Forms. Whitehead called European philosophy “a series of footnotes to Plato.”
Key ideas
- Theory of Forms
- Allegory of the cave
- Philosopher kings
- Anamnesis (learning as recollection)
Teachers: Socrates
Students: Aristotle
Influence
Influenced by 4
Pythagoras
influenced by ✓
According to Aristotle, Plato followed the Pythagoreans in most things, recasting their imitation of numbers as participation in Forms; the Timaeus builds the cosmos from mathematical proportions. Aristotle, Metaphysics I.6, 987a29–b14; Plato, Timaeus 31b–36d; SEP “Pythagoreanism”
Pythagoras › traditionally c. 570–495 BCE
Heraclitus
influenced by ✓
According to Aristotle, Plato accepted from Heraclitus, through Cratylus, that sensible things are always in flux and cannot be known, and so posited unchanging Forms (Metaphysics I.6). Aristotle, Metaphysics I.6, 987a32–b7; Plato, Cratylus 402a; SEP “Heraclitus”
Heraclitus › c. 535–475 BCE
Parmenides
influenced by ✓
Plato took over Parmenides’ contrast between unchanging being, grasped by thought, and opinion about what changes, and in the Sophist revised his ban on not-being (241d). Plato, Republic V, 476d–480a; Sophist 241d–259d; SEP “Parmenides”
Parmenides › c. 515–450 BCE
Socrates studied with
studied with ✓
Attested by Plato himself (Apology 34a, 38b; Phaedo 59b) and by Xenophon (Memorabilia 3.6.1); Socrates himself denied being anyone’s teacher (Apology 33a). Plato, Apology 33a, 34a, 38b; Phaedo 59b; Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.6.1
Socrates › 470–399 BCE
Influenced 45
Augustine
influenced ✓
Augustine knew Plato mainly through the ‘books of the Platonists’ and ranked them closest to Christianity for their incorporeal God (Confessions VII; City of God VIII). Augustine, Confessions VII.9.13–10.16; City of God VIII.4–10; SEP “Augustine”
Augustine › 354–430
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
influenced ✓
Leibniz paraphrased Plato’s Phaedo and Theaetetus (1676) and, defending innate ideas against Locke, called his own system closer to Plato’s (New Essays, written 1704). G. W. Leibniz, paraphrases of Phaedo and Theaetetus (Paris, 1676; Akademie-Ausgabe VI.3); Nouveaux essais sur l’entendement humain (written 1704, publ. 1765), preface
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
influenced ✓
Hegel read Plato’s Parmenides and Sophist as the beginning of speculative dialectic and, in the Philosophy of Right (1820), the Republic as an interpretation of Greek ethical life. G. W. F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (1820), Preface; Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie (1833); SEP “Hegel”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
John Stuart Mill
influenced
Mill translated several of Plato’s dialogues (1834–35) and called the Socratic method of the dialogues unsurpassed as a discipline for correcting errors (Autobiography, 1873). J. S. Mill, Autobiography (1873), ch. 1; translations of Platonic dialogues in the Monthly Repository (1834–35)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
John Stuart Mill › 1806–1873
Søren Kierkegaard
influenced
Kierkegaard read Plato’s dialogues for Socrates’ irony (On the Concept of Irony, 1841) and set Platonic recollection against the Christian moment (Philosophical Fragments, 1844). S. Kierkegaard, Om Begrebet Ironi (1841); Philosophiske Smuler (1844)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Søren Kierkegaard › 1813–1855
Bertrand Russell
influenced
Russell defended universals that subsist independently of minds, calling Plato’s theory of ideas one of the most successful attempts at the problem (The Problems of Philosophy, 1912). B. Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (1912), ch. 9 (“The World of Universals”)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Bertrand Russell › 1872–1970
Show all (45)Show fewer
Arcesilaus
influenced
Arcesilaus presented his scepticism as a return to the questioning Plato of the dialogues, arguing against every view so that equal reasons lead to suspending assent. Cicero, Academica I.44–46; De oratore III.67; SEP “Arcesilaus”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Arcesilaus › c. 316–241 BCE
Cicero
influenced
Cicero modelled On the Republic and On the Laws on Plato’s Republic and Laws, ending the first with the Dream of Scipio, and translated part of the Timaeus. Cicero, De re publica VI (Somnium Scipionis); De legibus; Timaeus (translation fragment); SEP “Cicero”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Cicero › 106–43 BCE
Philo of Alexandria
influenced
Philo read Genesis through Plato’s Timaeus: God makes the world after an intelligible model, the ideas in the divine Logos (De opificio mundi). Philo, De opificio mundi 16–25; D. T. Runia, Philo of Alexandria and the Timaeus of Plato (1986); IEP “Philo of Alexandria”
Evidence: AI draft
Philo of Alexandria › c. 20 BCE – 50 CE
Origen
influenced
Porphyry reports that Origen was always reading Plato; On First Principles takes up Platonic themes such as God’s incorporeality and the soul’s ascent (Eusebius, Church History VI.19). Eusebius, Church History VI.19 (Porphyry, Against the Christians); Origen, On First Principles I.1; IEP “Origen of Alexandria”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Origen › c. 185–253
Plotinus
influenced
Plotinus presented his doctrines not as new but as interpretation of Plato, reading the One, Intellect and Soul out of the dialogues and Plato’s letters (Enneads V.1.8). Plotinus, Enneads V.1.8; SEP “Plotinus”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Plotinus › 204–270
Porphyry
influenced
Porphyry commented on Plato’s Timaeus and other dialogues and argued for the harmony of Plato and Aristotle, shaping how later Platonists and Boethius read Plato. Porphyry, In Timaeum (fragments, ed. A. R. Sodano, 1964); SEP “Porphyry”
Evidence: AI draft
Porphyry › c. 234–305
Hypatia
influenced ✓
Hypatia taught Plato and Aristotle in Alexandria; the church historian Socrates says she headed the Platonist school descending from Plotinus (Ecclesiastical History VII.15). Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History VII.15; Synesius, Letters; E. J. Watts, Hypatia (2017)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Hypatia › c. 355–415
Proclus
influenced ✓
Proclus systematised Plato as theology in the Platonic Theology and, as head of the Athenian school, commented on the Timaeus, Republic, Parmenides and First Alcibiades. Proclus, Platonic Theology; In Timaeum; In Rempublicam; In Parmenidem; In Alcibiadem; SEP “Proclus”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Proclus › 412–485
Boethius
influenced ✓
Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524) summarises Plato’s Timaeus in the hymn ‘O qui perpetua’ and takes up recollection and the ascent to the Good. Boethius, Consolatio philosophiae III m. 9, III m. 11; SEP “Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius”
Boethius › c. 477–524
John Philoponus
influenced
In Against Proclus (529) Philoponus argued that the world has a beginning and claimed Plato’s Timaeus for this reading against the Neoplatonists’ eternal world. Philoponus, De aeternitate mundi contra Proclum (529); SEP “John Philoponus”
Evidence: AI draft
John Philoponus › c. 490–570
Abu Bakr al-Razi
influenced
Al-Razi built his doctrine of five eternal principles – Creator, Soul, matter, absolute time and absolute place – largely on Plato’s Timaeus. P. Adamson, Al-Razi (2021)
Evidence: AI draft
Abu Bakr al-Razi › c. 865–925
al-Farabi
influenced ✓
Al-Farabi modelled his virtuous city, ruled by a philosopher who is also prophet and lawgiver, on Plato’s Republic and summarised the dialogues in The Philosophy of Plato. al-Farabi, Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al-fadila, ed. R. Walzer (1985); The Philosophy of Plato, tr. M. Mahdi (1962); SEP “al-Farabi”
al-Farabi › c. 872–950
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
influenced ✓
Lacking Aristotle’s Politics, Averroes commented on Plato’s Republic (c. 1194), applying its account of degenerating regimes to the states of his own time. Averroes, Commentary on Plato’s Republic, tr. R. Lerner, Averroes on Plato’s Republic (1974); SEP “Ibn Rushd [Averroes]”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) › 1126–1198
Suhrawardi
influenced
Suhrawardi called Plato the leader of wisdom and identified the Platonic Forms with the lights that govern each species (Philosophy of Illumination, 1186). Suhrawardi, Hikmat al-ishraq (1186), tr. J. Walbridge & H. Ziai (1999); SEP “Suhrawardi”
Evidence: AI draft
Suhrawardi › 1154–1191
Gersonides (Levi ben Gershom)
influenced
Gersonides argued that the world was created from a formless body rather than from nothing, a view he aligned with Plato’s Timaeus (The Wars of the Lord, 1329). Gersonides, Milhamot ha-Shem (1329); SEP “Gersonides”
Evidence: AI draft
Gersonides (Levi ben Gershom) › 1288–1344
George Gemistos Plethon
influenced
In On the Differences (1439) Plethon defended Plato’s Forms and his God as creator against Aristotle, and named his Laws after Plato’s. G. Gemistos Plethon, De differentiis (1439); Nomoi; SEP “Byzantine Philosophy”
Evidence: AI draft
George Gemistos Plethon › c. 1355–1452
Nicholas of Cusa
influenced
Cusanus read Plato largely through Proclus’ commentary on the Parmenides and took up Platonic participation for the relation of the many to the One (De non aliud, 1462). Nicholas of Cusa, De beryllo (1458); De non aliud (1462); SEP “Nicholas of Cusa”
Evidence: AI draft
Nicholas of Cusa › 1401–1464
Marsilio Ficino
influenced
Ficino made the first complete Latin translation of Plato (printed 1484) and joined Platonism with Christian doctrine in his Platonic Theology (1482). M. Ficino, Platonis opera omnia (Florence, 1484); Theologia Platonica (1482); SEP “Marsilio Ficino”
Evidence: AI draft
Marsilio Ficino › 1433–1499
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
influenced
Pico expounded Plato’s doctrine of love from the Symposium in his Commento (1486) and defended the concord of Plato and Aristotle in De ente et uno (1491). G. Pico della Mirandola, Commento sopra una canzone d’amore (1486); De ente et uno (1491); SEP “Giovanni Pico della Mirandola”
Evidence: AI draft
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola › 1463–1494
Erasmus of Rotterdam
influenced
Erasmus took up the image of Socrates as a Silenus, ugly outside and divine within, from Plato’s Symposium for his adage ‘Sileni Alcibiadis’ (1515). Erasmus, Adagia III.iii.1 ‘Sileni Alcibiadis’ (1515); Plato, Symposium 215a–b; SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Evidence: AI draft
Erasmus of Rotterdam › c. 1466–1536
Galileo Galilei
influenced
Galileo’s Dialogo (1632) alludes to Plato’s doctrine of recollection; Koyré read his mathematical physics as Platonism, a thesis many historians qualify (‘Galileo and Plato’, 1943). Galileo, Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (1632); A. Koyré, “Galileo and Plato”, Journal of the History of Ideas 4 (1943); SEP “Galileo Galilei”
Evidence: AI draft
Galileo Galilei › 1564–1642
Tommaso Campanella
influenced
Campanella drew on Plato’s Republic for The City of the Sun (written 1602), a community without private property, and defended Platonic community of goods (1623). T. Campanella, La città del Sole (written 1602); Quaestiones … de optima republica (1623); SEP “Tommaso Campanella”
Evidence: AI draft
Tommaso Campanella › 1568–1639
Anne Conway
influenced
Conway knew Plato’s legacy chiefly through Henry More and the Cambridge Platonists; her Principles (1690) take up a Platonist scale of beings through which creatures rise toward perfection. A. Conway, Principia philosophiae antiquissimae et recentissimae (1690; English 1692); S. Hutton, Anne Conway: A Woman Philosopher (2004); SEP “Anne Conway”
Evidence: AI draft
Anne Conway › 1631–1679
Giambattista Vico
influenced
Vico’s autobiography (1725–28) names Plato among his ‘four authors’: Plato contemplates man as he should be, Tacitus as he is, and Vico sought to join both. G. Vico, Vita di Giambattista Vico scritta da se medesimo (1725–28); SEP “Giambattista Vico”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Giambattista Vico › 1668–1744
Shaftesbury
influenced
Shaftesbury’s The Moralists (1709), a philosophical rhapsody in dialogue form, renewed Plato’s identification of beauty and goodness and the ascent from beautiful forms to their source. Shaftesbury, The Moralists, a Philosophical Rhapsody (1709), in Characteristicks (1711); SEP “Lord Shaftesbury”
Evidence: AI draft
Shaftesbury › 1671–1713
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
influenced
In Emile (1762) Rousseau sent readers seeking an idea of public education to Plato’s Republic, ‘not a political work’ but ‘the finest treatise on education ever written’. J.-J. Rousseau, Émile ou De l’éducation (1762), Book I; SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: AI draft
Jean-Jacques Rousseau › 1712–1778
Hryhorii Skovoroda
influenced ✓
Skovoroda wrote Socratic dialogues on self-knowledge, such as Narcissus (c. 1770), and drew on Plato for his contrast of visible and invisible nature. H. Skovoroda, Narkiss (c. 1770); D. Chyzhevsky, Narys istorii filosofii na Ukraini (1931); IEP “Hryhorii Skovoroda”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Hryhorii Skovoroda › 1722–1794
Moses Mendelssohn
influenced
Mendelssohn’s Phaedon (1767) recast Plato’s dialogue on the immortality of the soul, keeping its setting but replacing its arguments with proofs from modern metaphysics. M. Mendelssohn, Phädon oder über die Unsterblichkeit der Seele (1767); SEP “Moses Mendelssohn”
Evidence: AI draft
Moses Mendelssohn › 1729–1786
Friedrich Schleiermacher
influenced
Schleiermacher translated Plato into German (1804–28) and argued in his introductions that the dialogue form belongs to the content of Plato’s philosophy. F. Schleiermacher, Platons Werke (1804–28), General Introduction; SEP “Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher”
Evidence: AI draft
Friedrich Schleiermacher › 1768–1834
Friedrich Hölderlin
influenced
In Hyperion (1797–99) Hölderlin named the beloved after Diotima in Plato’s Symposium and, in a Platonic vein, made beauty the visible sign of the unity of all being. F. Hölderlin, Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland (1797–99); Plato, Symposium
Evidence: AI draft
Friedrich Hölderlin › 1770–1843
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling
influenced ✓
As a Tübingen student Schelling wrote a commentary on Plato’s Timaeus (1794, published 1994) that anticipates the world-soul of his philosophy of nature (On the World-Soul, 1798). F. W. J. Schelling, “Timaeus” (1794), ed. H. Buchner (1994); Von der Weltseele (1798)
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling › 1775–1854
Arthur Schopenhauer
influenced ✓
In Book Three of The World as Will and Representation (1819) Schopenhauer made Plato’s Ideas, as grades of the will’s objectification, the object of art and aesthetic contemplation. A. Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (1819), Book Three; SEP “Arthur Schopenhauer”
Arthur Schopenhauer › 1788–1860
Ralph Waldo Emerson
influenced ✓
Emerson made Plato the type of the philosopher in Representative Men (1850): ‘Out of Plato come all things that are still written and debated among men of thought.’ R. W. Emerson, Representative Men (1850), “Plato; or, the Philosopher”; SEP “Ralph Waldo Emerson”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Ralph Waldo Emerson › 1803–1882
Paul Natorp
influenced
Natorp’s Platos Ideenlehre (1903) reads Plato’s Ideas critically, as hypotheses of a scientific method, and finds in Plato an early idealism. SEP “Paul Natorp” (A. Kim), §1; SEP “Neo-Kantianism” (J. Heis), §2
Evidence: AI draft
Paul Natorp › 1854–1924
John Dewey
influenced
Dewey urged a return to the ‘dramatic, restless, cooperatively inquiring Plato’ of the dialogues, rejecting the Platonic separation of knowing from doing (From Absolutism to Experimentalism, 1930). J. Dewey, “From Absolutism to Experimentalism” (1930); The Quest for Certainty (1929)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
John Dewey › 1859–1952
Alfred North Whitehead
influenced
Whitehead called the European philosophical tradition ‘a series of footnotes to Plato’ (Process and Reality, 1929) and drew on the Timaeus for his cosmology of creative process. A. N. Whitehead, Process and Reality (1929); Adventures of Ideas (1933); SEP “Alfred North Whitehead”
Evidence: AI draft
Alfred North Whitehead › 1861–1947
Hans-Georg Gadamer
influenced ✓
From Platos dialektische Ethik (1931) on, Gadamer took the Platonic dialogue as model of understanding, making the logic of question and answer central to Truth and Method (1960). H.-G. Gadamer, Platos dialektische Ethik (1931); Wahrheit und Methode (1960); SEP “Hans-Georg Gadamer”
Hans-Georg Gadamer › 1900–2002
Simone Weil
influenced
Weil read Plato as a mystic whose Good and ascent from the cave prefigure grace (‘Dieu dans Platon’, in La Source grecque, 1953). S. Weil, “Dieu dans Platon”, in La Source grecque (1953); Intuitions pré-chrétiennes (1951)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Simone Weil › 1909–1943
Iris Murdoch
influenced
Murdoch took Plato’s Good, pictured as the sun, as the indefinable focus of moral attention (1970) and examined his distrust of art (The Fire and the Sun, 1977). I. Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good (1970); The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists (1977); SEP “Iris Murdoch”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Iris Murdoch › 1919–1999
Criticism
Criticized by 12
Aristotle taught
taught ✓
Attested by Aristotle himself, who counts himself among the Platonists (‘we’, Metaphysics I.9, 990b9–17; ‘friends of ours’, Nicomachean Ethics I.6, 1096a11–17); his twenty years in the Academy are reported by later biographers (Diogenes Laertius 5.9). Aristotle, Metaphysics I.9, 990b9–17; Nicomachean Ethics I.6, 1096a11–17; Diogenes Laertius 5.9
criticised by
Aristotle criticised Plato’s separate Forms for explaining neither change nor knowledge – ‘empty words and poetic metaphors’ – and rejected a single Form of the Good. Aristotle, Metaphysics I.9, 990b–991b; Nicomachean Ethics I.6, 1096a11–1097a14; SEP “Aristotle’s Metaphysics”
Evidence: AI draft
Aristotle › 384–322 BCE
Friedrich Nietzsche
criticised by
Nietzsche called Plato’s invention of pure spirit and the good in itself the worst of errors, and Christianity ‘Platonism for the people’ (Beyond Good and Evil, 1886, Preface). F. Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886), Preface; Götzen-Dämmerung (1889), “How the True World Finally Became a Fable”
Evidence: AI draft
Friedrich Nietzsche › 1844–1900
Martin Heidegger
criticised by
Heidegger argued that Plato’s allegory of the cave shifts truth from unconcealment to the correctness of seeing the Idea, beginning Western metaphysics (‘Platons Lehre von der Wahrheit’, 1942). M. Heidegger, “Platons Lehre von der Wahrheit” (1942; in Wegmarken, 1967); SEP “Martin Heidegger”
Evidence: AI draft
Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976
Karl Popper
criticised by
Popper read Plato’s ideal state as a closed society and his historicism and holism as an intellectual source of modern totalitarianism (The Spell of Plato, 1945). K. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, vol. 1: The Spell of Plato (1945); critique: R. B. Levinson, In Defense of Plato (1953)
Evidence: AI draft
Karl Popper › 1902–1994
Hannah Arendt
criticised by
Arendt held that Plato’s philosopher-ruler replaced action among equals with the model of making, beginning the tradition’s escape from politics into rule (The Human Condition, 1958, § 31). H. Arendt, The Human Condition (1958), § 31 “The Traditional Substitution of Making for Acting”; “What Is Authority?”, in Between Past and Future (1961)
Evidence: AI draft
Hannah Arendt › 1906–1975
Jacques Derrida
criticised by
In ‘Plato’s Pharmacy’ (1968) Derrida read the Phaedrus’ condemnation of writing as a pharmakon, remedy and poison, arguing that the privilege of speech depends on what it excludes. J. Derrida, “La pharmacie de Platon”, Tel Quel 32–33 (1968), repr. in La dissémination (1972); Plato, Phaedrus 274b–278b
Evidence: AI draft
Jacques Derrida › 1930–2004
Show all (12)Show fewer
Antisthenes
criticised by
Antisthenes rejected Plato’s Forms – he saw a horse but not ‘horseness’ – and mocked Plato in a dialogue called Sathon. Simplicius, In Categorias 208.28–32; Diogenes Laertius 3.35
Evidence: AI draft
Antisthenes › c. 445–365 BCE
Diogenes of Sinope
criticised by
Diogenes mocked Plato’s definitions and Forms, presenting a plucked chicken as ‘Plato’s human being’ and seeing a table but no ‘tableness’ (Diogenes Laertius 6.40, 6.53). Diogenes Laertius, Lives VI.40, VI.53; IEP “Diogenes of Sinope”
Evidence: AI draft
Diogenes of Sinope › c. 412–323 BCE
Gilles Deleuze
criticised by
Deleuze called for ‘reversing Platonism’: instead of ranking copies by their likeness to the Ideas, he affirmed the simulacrum and difference (The Logic of Sense, 1969, appendix). G. Deleuze, Logique du sens (1969), appendix I.1 “Platon et le simulacre”; Différence et répétition (1968)
Evidence: AI draft
Gilles Deleuze › 1925–1995
Luce Irigaray
criticised by
In Speculum (1974), ‘Plato’s Hystera’, Irigaray read the cave allegory as a womb, arguing that Platonic metaphysics turns the maternal origin into a realm of mere copies. L. Irigaray, Speculum de l’autre femme (1974), part III “L’hystéra de Platon”
Evidence: AI draft
Luce Irigaray › b. 1930
Adriana Cavarero
criticised by
Cavarero reclaimed female figures like Diotima from Plato’s patriarchal order, against a philosophy oriented to death and the abstract soul rather than birth (In Spite of Plato, 1990). A. Cavarero, Nonostante Platone (1990); Engl. In Spite of Plato (1995)
Evidence: AI draft
Adriana Cavarero › b. 1947
Luciano Floridi
criticised by
Floridi argued that the ‘user’s knowledge’ tradition inherited from Plato should be complemented, if not replaced, by constructionism: knowing as making and modelling (‘A Defence of Constructionism’, 2011). L. Floridi, “A Defence of Constructionism: Philosophy as Conceptual Engineering”, Metaphilosophy 42 (2011), 282–304; The Logic of Information (2019); Plato, Republic X, 601c–602a
Evidence: AI draft
Luciano Floridi › b. 1964
Criticizes 1
Protagoras
criticised
In the Theaetetus Plato argued that Protagoras’ ‘the human being is the measure of all things’ refutes itself, since it must concede that its opponents are right. Plato, Theaetetus 152a, 170e–171c; IEP “Protagoras”
Evidence: AI draft
Protagoras › c. 490–420 BCE
Works
- c. 399 BCEApology
Socrates' defense speech: the unexamined life is not worth living.
- c. 385 BCESymposium
Speeches on Eros – the ascent from a beautiful body to the Form of Beauty.
- c. 380 BCEPhaedo
Socrates' last day: proofs of the immortality of the soul and the theory of Forms.
- c. 375 BCERepublic
What is justice? The allegory of the cave, philosopher-kings and the banishment of the poets.
- c. 370 BCEParmenides
The young Socrates is drawn by Parmenides into the difficulties of the theory of Forms.
- c. 370 BCEPhaedrus
On love, rhetoric – and writing as a dubious remedy (pharmakon).
- c. 360 BCETimaeus
A demiurge shapes the cosmos after eternal models.
Position
Plato asked how stable knowledge and genuine goodness are possible in a world of change and mere opinion. His answer was the theory of Forms: beyond visible things stand eternal, unchanging Forms – the Just, the Beautiful, the Good itself – which the mind can grasp through reason. The allegory of the cave shows the soul’s ascent from shadows to the light of the Good. Learning is recollection of what the immortal soul once saw; the well-ordered soul mirrors the just state, in which philosophers rule.
Life & context
Plato came from an aristocratic Athenian family and was a devoted follower of Socrates, whose execution shook him deeply. After travels that took him to southern Italy and Sicily, he founded the Academy in Athens around 387 BCE, the model for all later schools. He wrote some thirty dialogues, most of them with Socrates as the main speaker.
Appears in
- Journey ‘From Mythos to Logos’ · Stop 7 of 8
- Journey ‘What Is Just?’ · Stop 1 of 10
As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made