Platon

Plato was the Greek philosopher who founded the Academy in Athens around 387 BC and, in a series of dialogues centered on his teacher Socrates, established the foundational questions of Western philosophy: the nature of knowledge, justice, beauty, equality, virtue, and politics. Born in Athens around 428 BC into an aristocratic family, he turned to philosophy after Socrates's execution in 399 BC and spent the rest of his long life developing and teaching the Ideas — the philosophical system that argues the visible world is a shadow of a higher realm of eternal forms. The Republic, the Symposium, the Phaedo, and the Meno are among the dialogues that have shaped philosophical thinking for two and a half millennia. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle; you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation; the madness of love is the greatest of heaven's blessings.

Common Themes