Plato: biography and philosophy

A pupil of Socrates, a teacher of Aristotle is an ancient Greek thinker and philosopher Platon, whose biography is of interest to historians, stylists, writers, philosophers and politicians. This is an outstanding representative of mankind, who lived during the turbulent times of the crisis of the Greek policy, the aggravation of the class struggle, when the epoch of Alexander the Great came to replace the era of Hellenism . Fruitfully lived the life of the philosopher Plato. The biography briefly presented in the article testifies to his greatness as a scientist and the wisdom of the heart.

Life Path

Plato was born in 428/427 BC. in Athens. He was not only a full-fledged citizen of Athens, but also belonged to an ancient aristocratic family: his father, Ariston, was a descendant of the last Athenian king Kodra, and his mother, Periktiona, was a relative of Solon.

A brief biography of Plato is typical for representatives of his time and class. Having received the education corresponding to his position, Plato, at about the age of 20, became acquainted with the teachings of Socrates and became his disciple and follower. Plato was among the Athenians who offered a bail for the convict to the death of Socrates. After the execution of the teacher, he left his hometown and went on a journey without a definite purpose: he moved first to Megara, then he visited Cyrene and even in Egypt. Having taken all that he could from the Egyptian priests, he went to Italy, where he approached the philosophers of the Pythagorean school. The facts of Plato's life connected with travel ends here: he traveled a lot around the world, but his heart remained an Athenian.

When Plato was already about 40 years old (it is noteworthy that it was to this age that the Greeks referred to the highest flourishing of a person - Akme), he returned to Athens and opened his own school there, called the Academy. Until the end of his life, Plato practically did not leave Athens, he lived alone, surrounded himself with disciples. He honored the memory of the deceased teacher, but his ideas were popularized only in a narrow circle of followers and did not aspire to take them to the streets of the policy, like Socrates. Plato died at the age of eighty, without losing his clarity of mind. He was buried on Ceramics, near the Academy. Such a way of life was passed by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. His biography on closer examination is fascinatingly interesting, but many information about it is very unreliable and more like a legend.

Plato's Academy

The name "Academy" comes from the fact that the plot of land that Plato bought specifically for his school was near the gymnasium dedicated to the hero of Academ. On the territory of the Academy, the disciples not only conducted philosophical conversations and listened to Plato, they were allowed to live there permanently or briefly.

The teachings of Plato developed on the foundation of the philosophy of Socrates on the one hand and the followers of Pythagoras on the other. In his teacher, the father of idealism has borrowed a dialectical view of the world and an attentive attitude to the problems of ethics. But, as evidenced by the biography of Plato, namely the years spent in Sicily, among the Pythagoreans, he clearly sympathized with the philosophical doctrine of Pythagoras. At least the fact that the philosophers in the Academy lived and worked together, already resembles the Pythagorean school.

The idea of political education

A lot of attention in the Academy was paid to political education. But in antiquity, politics was not the lot of a small group of delegated representatives: all adult citizens, that is, free and legitimate Athenians, took part in the management of the policy. Later, Plato's pupil Aristotle will formulate the definition of politics as a person who participates in the public life of the policy, as opposed to idiocy - an antisocial person. That is, participation in politics was an integral part of the life of the ancient Greek, and political education meant the development of justice, nobility, firmness of spirit and keenness of mind.

Philosophical works

For the written presentation of his views and concepts, Plato mainly chose the form of dialogue. This is a fairly common literary device in antiquity. Plato's philosophical works of the early and late periods of his life vary greatly, and this is natural, because his wisdom accumulated, and his views changed over time. Among researchers, it is conventionally divided the evolution of Platonic philosophy into three periods:

1. Discipleship (under the influence of Socrates) - "Apology of Socrates", "Crito", "Lysias", "Protagoras", "Harmid", "Eutifron" and 1 book "States".

2. Wanderings (influenced by the ideas of Heraclitus) - "Gorgias", "Cratylus", "Menon".

3. Teaching (the predominant influence of the ideas of the Pythagorean school) - "Feast", "Fedon", "Phaedrus", "Parmenides", "Sophist", "Politician", "Timaeus", "Critias", 2-10 books "States" , "Laws".

Father of Idealism

Plato is considered the founder of idealism, the very term derives from the central concept in his teachings - eidos. The bottom line is that Plato represented the world divided into two spheres: the world of ideas (eidos) and the world of forms (material things). The Eidos are the prototypes, the source of the material world. Matter itself is formless and incorporeal, the world acquires meaningful outlines only thanks to the presence of ideas.

The idea of the Good occupies the leading place in the eidos world, and all the others flow from it. This Bless represents the Beginning of the beginnings, the Absolute Beauty, the Creator of the Universe. Eidos of every thing is its essence, the most important thing, the innermost part of a person is the soul. Ideas are absolute and unchanging, their being flows outside of space-time boundaries, and objects are impermanent, repeatable and distorted, their existence is finite.

As for the human soul, the philosophical teaching of Plato allegorically treats it as a chariot with two horses, driven by the driver. He represents a reasonable beginning, in harness he has a white horse that symbolizes nobility and high moral qualities, and black - instincts, low desires. In the afterlife, the soul (the driver), along with the gods, is involved in eternal truths and learns the world of eidos. After a new birth, the notion of eternal truths remains in the soul as a memory.

Cosmos is the entire existing world, there is a completely reproduced antecedent. The doctrine of Plato about cosmic proportions also stems from the theory of eidos.

Beauty and Love are eternal concepts

From all this it follows that the cognition of the world is an attempt to discern in things the reflection of ideas through love, fair deeds and beauty. The doctrine of Beauty occupies a central place in Plato's philosophy: the search for beauty in man and the world around him, the creation of beauty through harmonious laws and art is the ultimate destiny of man. So, evolving, the soul goes from the contemplation of the beauty of material things to the understanding of beauty in art and sciences, to the highest point - the comprehension of moral beauty. It happens as an insight and brings the soul closer to the world of the gods.

Together with the Beauty to raise a person to the world of eidos, Love is called. In this respect, the figure of the philosopher is identical with the image of Eros - he seeks a good, representing an intermediary, a vehicle from ignorance to wisdom. Love is a creative power, beautiful things and harmonic laws of human relationships are born from it. That is, Love is a key concept in the theory of knowledge, it consistently develops from the corporeal (material) form to the spiritual, and then the spiritual, which is involved in the realm of pure ideas. This last love is the memory of the ideal being, preserved by the soul.

It should be emphasized that the division of the world of ideas and things does not mean a dualism (which so often was later attributed to Plato by his ideological opponents, beginning with Aristotle), they are bound by primordial ties. Genuine being - the level of eidos - exists forever, it is self-sufficient. But matter appears already as an imitation of an idea, it is only "present" in an ideal being.

Political Views of Plato

Biography and philosophy of Plato are inseparably linked with the understanding of a reasonable and correct state system. The doctrine of the father of idealism about management and mutual relations of people is stated in the treatise "The State". Everything is built on the parallel between the individual sides of the human soul and the types of people (according to their social role).

So, the three parts of the soul are responsible for wisdom, moderation and courage. In general, these qualities represent justice. It follows that a fair (ideal) state is possible when every person in it is in its place and performs once and for all established functions (according to their abilities). According to the scheme outlined in the "State", where a brief biography of Plato, the outcome of his life and the main ideas have found a final embodiment, all must be managed by philosophers, carriers of wisdom. All citizens are subject to their reasonable start. The important role in the state is played by soldiers (in other translations of guards), these people are given increased attention. Warriors should be educated in the spirit of the primacy of a rational beginning and will over instincts and spiritual impulses. But this is not the coldness of the machine that is presented to the modern person, and not the mistaken understanding of the higher harmony of the world. The third category of citizens are the creators of material goods. The just state was described by the philosopher Plato in a schematic and concise manner. The biography of one of the greatest thinkers in the history of mankind indicates that his teaching has found a wide response in the minds of contemporaries - it is known that he received many requests from the rulers of ancient polices and some eastern states to compile codes of laws for them.

Later Plato's biography, teaching in the Academy and a clear sympathy for the ideas of the Pythagoreans are connected with the theory of "ideal numbers", which later developed the Neoplatonists.

Myths and beliefs

His position on the myth is interesting: as a philosopher, Plato, whose biography and the works that have survived to this day clearly point to the greatest intellect, did not reject traditional mythology. But he proposed to interpret the myth as a symbol, an allegory, and not perceive it as an axiom. Myth, according to Plato's idea, was not a historical fact. He perceived mythical images and events as a kind of philosophical doctrine that does not expound events, but only provides food for thought and reevaluation of events. In addition, many of the ancient Greek myths were written by simple people without any stylistics or literary processing. For these reasons, Plato considered it expedient to protect the child's mind from most of the mythological subjects, full of fiction, often rudeness and immorality.

The first proof of Plato in favor of the immortality of the human soul

Plato - the first ancient philosopher, whose works have reached the present not in fragmentary, but with full preservation of the text. In his dialogues "The State", "Phaedrus" he cites 4 proofs of the immortality of the human soul. The first of them was called "cyclical". Its essence boils down to the fact that opposites can exist only in the presence of mutual conditioning. Those. The greater implies the existence of the lesser, if there is death, then there is immortality. This fact led Plato as the main argument in favor of the idea of reincarnation of souls.

The second proof

Due to the idea that knowledge is a memory. Plato taught that in the human mind there are such concepts as justice, beauty, faith. These concepts exist "on their own". They are not trained, they are felt and understood on the level of consciousness. They are absolute essences, eternal and immortal. If the soul, born in the light, already knows about them, it means that she knew about them even before life on Earth. Once the soul knows about eternal essences, then it itself is eternal.

The third argument

Built on the opposition of a mortal body and an immortal soul. Plato taught that everything in the world is dual. The body and soul in life are inextricably linked. But the body is part of nature, whereas the soul is part of the divine principle. The body tends to satisfy the baser feelings and instincts, the soul tends to cognition and development. The body is guided by the soul. By the power of thought and will, man can prevail over the lowliness of instincts. Therefore, if the body is mortal and perishable, then in opposition to it the soul is eternal and incorruptible. If the body can not exist without a soul, then the soul can exist separately.

Fourth, the last proof

The most difficult teaching. Most clearly it is characterized by the dialogue of Socrates and Cebet in the "Phaedo". The proof proceeds from the assertion that every thing has its unchanging nature. So, the even will always be even, white can not be called black and anything fair will never be evil. On this basis death causes corruption, and life never knows death. If the body is capable of dying and decaying, then its essence is death. Life is the opposite of death, the soul is opposite to the body. Hence, if the body is perishable, the soul is immortal.

The meaning of Plato's ideas

Such are the general outlines of the ideas that the ancient Greek philosopher Plato left to mankind. Biography of this extraordinary man for two and a half millennia turned into a legend, and his teaching, in one or other of its aspects, served as the foundation for a significant part of the currently existing philosophical concepts. His disciple Aristotle criticized the views of his teacher and built the philosophical system of materialism opposite his teachings. But this fact is another evidence of Plato's greatness: far from every teacher is given to educate a follower, but a worthy opponent, perhaps, only to units.

The philosophy of Plato found many followers in the era of antiquity, knowledge of the works and the main postulates of his teaching was a natural and integral part of the education of a worthy citizen of the Greek polis. Such a significant figure in the history of philosophical thought was not completely forgotten even in the Middle Ages, when the scholastics emphatically rejected the ancient heritage. Plato inspired the philosophers of the Renaissance, gave endless food for thought to European thinkers of the next centuries. The reflection of his teaching can be seen in many existing philosophical and ideological concepts, Plato's quotations can be found in all branches of humanitarian knowledge.

What the philosopher looked like, his character

Archaeologists have found many busts of Plato, well preserved from ancient times and from the Middle Ages. A lot of sketches and photos of Plato were created on them. In addition, the exterior of the philosopher can be judged from chronicles.

According to all the data collected in bitches, Plato was tall, athletic, complex in the bones and shoulders. At the same time, the character was very compliant, deprived of pride, swaggering and self-esteem. He was very modest and always courteous not only with his peers, but also with representatives of the lower class.

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, whose biography and philosophy did not contradict each other, personally confirmed the truth of his worldviews through his personal life path.