c. 428/427–348/347 BCE
Plato
Plato was an Athenian philosopher, a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. He founded the Academy. His dialogues do not speak in a single doctrinal voice, and Socrates is not always a mask for a settled system. Across the dialogues, a recurring question is whether the things we perceive are the most real things, and whether a life can be oriented by a good that is not just a preference.
Also in the atlas
- Forms
- Knowledge and inquiry
- The examined life
Reading, not a syllabus ranking
- Apology — Socrates’ defense, and a picture of a life under examination.
- Phaedo — Death, the soul, and arguments that the body is not the whole of the person.
- Republic — Justice in the city and the soul, and the image of forms that outrank appearances.
Questions for reflection
- Can a just person be harmed by the loss of reputation alone?
- If appearances change, what would it mean for knowledge to stay put?
Plato is a reference for the right pole of reality only with a warning: the forms are not “idealism” in the modern textbook sense, and the dialogues disagree among themselves.