Plato

For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation) and Platon 1.1.1 Birth and family
(disambiguation).
The exact time and place of Platos birth are not known,
but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and inuential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern
scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina[c]
between 429 and 423 BCE.[a] His father was Ariston.
According to a disputed tradition, reported by Diogenes
Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of
Athens, Codrus, and the king of Messenia, Melanthus.[5]
Platos mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of
a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and
lyric poet Solon.[6] Perictione was sister of Charmides
and niece of Critias, both prominent gures of the Thirty
Tyrants, the brief oligarchic regime, which followed on
the collapse of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian
War (404403 BCE).[7] Besides Plato himself, Ariston
and Perictione had three other children; these were two
sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone,
the mother of Speusippus (the nephew and successor
of Plato as head of his philosophical Academy).[7] The
brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the
Republic as sons of Ariston,[8] and presumably brothers of
Plato, but some have argued they were uncles.[9] But in a
scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato.[10]

Plato (/pleto/;[1] Greek:

Pltn
broadpronounced [pl.tn] in Classical Attic; 428/427
or 424/423 348/347 BCE) was a philosopher, as well
as mathematician, in Classical Greece. He is considered
an essential gure in the development of philosophy,
especially the Western tradition, and he founded the
Academy in Athens, the rst institution of higher learning
in the Western world. Along with his teacher Socrates
and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the
foundations of Western philosophy and science.[2]
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.[3]
Platos dialogues have been used to teach a range of
subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric,
religion and mathematics. His lasting themes include
Platonic love, the theory of forms, the ve regimes, and
innate knowledge, among others. His theory of forms
launched a unique perspective on abstract objects, and
led to a school of thought called Platonism. Platos writings have been published in several fashions; this has led
to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Platos texts.[4]

1
1.1

The traditional date of Platos birth (428/427) is based

on a dubious interpretation of Diogenes Laertius, who
says, When [Socrates] was gone, [Plato] joined Cratylus
the Heracleitean and Hermogenes, who philosophized in
the manner of Parmenides. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, [Plato] went to Euclides in Megara. As
Debra Nails argues, The text itself gives no reason to
infer that Plato left immediately for Megara and implies
the very opposite.[11] In his Seventh Letter, Plato notes
that his coming of age coincided with the taking of power
by the Thirty, remarking, But a youth under the age of
twenty made himself a laughingstock if he attempted to
enter the political arena. Thus, Nails dates Platos birth
to 424/423.[12]

Biography
Early life

Main article: Early life of Plato

Little can be known about Platos early life and education, due to a lack of surviving accounts. The philosopher
came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Ancient sources describe him as
a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies.
His father contributed all which was necessary to give to
his son a good education, and, therefore, Plato must have
been instructed in grammar, music, gymnastics and philosophy by some of the most distinguished teachers of his
era.

According to some accounts, Ariston tried to force his attentions on Perictione, but failed in his purpose; then the
god Apollo appeared to him in a vision, and as a result,
Ariston left Perictione unmolested.[13] Another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his
lips while he was sleeping: an augury of the sweetness of
style in which he would discourse about philosophy.[14]
Ariston appears to have died in Platos childhood, although the precise dating of his death is dicult.[15] Per1

1 BIOGRAPHY

ictione then married Pyrilampes, her mothers brother,[16]

who had served many times as an ambassador to the
Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, the leader of
the democratic faction in Athens.[17] Pyrilampes had a
son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous
for his beauty.[18] Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes
second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in Parmenides.[19]

Plato wrestled at the Isthmian games.[28] Plato had also

attended courses of philosophy; before meeting Socrates,
he rst became acquainted with Cratylus (a disciple of
Heraclitus, a prominent pre-Socratic Greek philosopher)
and the Heraclitean doctrines.[29] W. A. Borody argues
that an Athenian openness towards a wider range of sexuality may have contributed to the Athenian philosophers openness towards a wider range of thought, a
cultural situation Borody describes as polymorphously
In contrast to reticence about himself, Plato often in[30]
troduced his distinguished relatives into his dialogues, discursive.
or referred to them with some precision: Charmides
has a dialogue named after him; Critias speaks in both
Charmides and Protagoras; and Adeimantus and Glaucon 1.2 Plato and Pythagoras
take prominent parts in the Republic.[20] These and other
references suggest a considerable amount of family pride
and enable us to reconstruct Platos family tree. According to Burnet, the opening scene of the Charmides is a
glorication of the whole [family] connection ... Platos
dialogues are not only a memorial to Socrates, but also
the happier days of his own family.[21]
1.1.2

Name

According to Diogenes Lartius, the philosopher was

named Aristocles () after his grandfather. It
was common in Athenian society for boys to be named
after grandfathers (or fathers). But there is only one inscriptional record of an Aristocles, an early Archon of
Athens in 605/4 BCE. There no record of a line from
Aristocles to Platos father, Ariston. However, if Plato
was not named after an ancestor named Plato (there is no
record of one), then the origin of his renaming as Plato Pythagoras, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg
Chronicle
becomes a conundrum.
The sources of Diogenes account for this fact by claiming that his wrestling coach, Ariston of Argos, dubbed
him Platon, meaning broad, on account of his robust gure[22] or that Plato derived his name from the
breadth (, platyts) of his eloquence, or else
because he was very wide (, plats) across the
forehead.[23] Recently a scholar has argued that even the
name Aristocles for Plato was a much later invention.[24]
Although Platon was a fairly common name (31 instances
are known from Athens alone[25] ), the name does not occur in Platos known family line. The fact that the philosopher in his maturity called himself Platon is indisputable,
but the origin of this naming must remain moot unless
the record is made to yield more information.
1.1.3

Education

Apuleius informs us that Speusippus praised Platos

quickness of mind and modesty as a boy, and the rst
fruits of his youth infused with hard work and love of
study.[26] Plato must have been instructed in grammar,
music, and gymnastics by the most distinguished teachers of his time.[27] Dicaearchus went so far as to say that

Although Socrates inuenced Plato directly as related in

the dialogues, the inuence of Pythagoras upon Plato also
appears to have signicant discussion in the philosophical literature. Pythagoras, or in a broader sense, the
Pythagoreans, allegedly exercised an important inuence
on the work of Plato. According to R. M. Hare, this inuence consists of three points: (1) The platonic Republic
might be related to the idea of a tightly organized community of like-minded thinkers, like the one established
by Pythagoras in Croton. (2) There is evidence that Plato
possibly took from Pythagoras the idea that mathematics
and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for philosophical thinking as well as for substantial
theses in science and morals". (3) Plato and Pythagoras
shared a mystical approach to the soul and its place in the
material world. It is probable that both were inuenced
by Orphism.[31][32]
Aristotle claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely
followed the teachings of the Pythagoreans,[33] and
Cicero repeats this claim: Platonem ferunt didicisse
Pythagorea omnia (They say Plato learned all things
Pythagorean).[34] Bertrand Russell, in his A History
of Western Philosophy, contended that the inuence of

1.4

Later life

Pythagoras on Plato and others was so great that he and Aristophanes seem to present a somewhat dierent
should be considered the most inuential of all Western portrait of Socrates from the one Plato paints. Some have
philosophers.[32]
called attention to the problem of taking Platos Socrates
to be his mouthpiece, given Socrates reputation for irony
and the dramatic nature of the dialogue form.[35]

1.3

Plato and Socrates

Aristotle attributes a dierent doctrine with respect to

the Ideas to Plato and Socrates (Metaphysics 987b111).
Main article: Socratic problem
Putting it in a nutshell, Aristotle merely suggests that
The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates reSocrates idea of forms can be discovered through investigation of the natural world, unlike Platos Forms that exist
beyond and outside the ordinary range of human understanding.

1.4 Later life

Plato may have traveled in Italy, Sicily, Egypt and
Cyrene, Libya.[36] Said to have returned to Athens at the
age of forty, Plato founded one of the earliest known
organized schools in Western Civilization on a plot of
land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus.[37] The
Academy was a large enclosure of ground about six stadia
outside of Athens proper. One story is that the name of
the Academy comes from the ancient hero, Academus.
Another story is that the name came from a supposed a
former owner, a citizen of Athens also named Academus.
Yet another account is that it was named after a member
of the army of Castor and Pollux, an Arcadian named
Echedemus.[38] The Academy operated until it was destroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 84 BCE. NeoplaPlato and Socrates in a medieval depiction
tonists revived the Academy in the early 5th century, and
it operated until AD 529, when it was closed by Justinian
mains an area of contention among scholars. Plato makes I of Byzantium, who saw it as a threat to the propagation
it clear in his Apology of Socrates, that he was a devoted of Christianity. Many intellectuals were schooled in the
young follower of Socrates. In that dialogue, Socrates is Academy, the most prominent one being Aristotle.[39][40]
presented as mentioning Plato by name as one of those Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the
youths close enough to him to have been corrupted, if he politics of the city of Syracuse. According to Diogenes
were in fact guilty of corrupting the youth, and question- Laertius, Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was uning why their fathers and brothers did not step forward der the rule of Dionysius.[41] During this rst trip Dionyto testify against him if he was indeed guilty of such a siuss brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse, became one of
crime (33d-34a). Later, Plato is mentioned along with Platos disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against
Crito, Critobolus, and Apollodorus as oering to pay a Plato. Plato almost faced death, but he was sold into slavne of 30 minas on Socrates behalf, in lieu of the death ery, then Anniceris[42] bought Platos freedom for twenty
penalty proposed by Meletus (38b). In the Phaedo, the minas,[43] and sent him home. After Dionysiuss death,
title character lists those who were in attendance at the according to Platos Seventh Letter, Dion requested Plato
prison on Socrates last day, explaining Platos absence return to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II and guide him to
by saying, Plato was ill. (Phaedo 59b)
become a philosopher king. Dionysius II seemed to acPlato never speaks in his own voice in his dialogues. In
the Second Letter, it says, no writing of Plato exists or
ever will exist, but those now said to be his are those of a
Socrates become beautiful and new (341c); if the Letter
is Platos, the nal qualication seems to call into question
the dialogues historical delity. In any case, Xenophon

cept Platos teachings, but he became suspicious of Dion,

his uncle. Dionysius expelled Dion and kept Plato against
his will. Eventually Plato left Syracuse. Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and ruled Syracuse for a short
time before being usurped by Calippus, a fellow disciple
of Plato.

1.5

Death

A variety of sources have given accounts of Platos death.

One story, based on a mutilated manuscript,[44] suggests
Plato died in his bed, whilst a young Thracian girl played
the ute to him.[45] Another tradition suggests Plato died
at a wedding feast. The account is based on Diogenes
Laertiuss reference to an account by Hermippus, a thirdcentury Alexandrian.[46] According to Tertullian, Plato
simply died in his sleep.[46]

Philosophy

PHILOSOPHY

good character is a gift from the gods. Crito reminds

Socrates that orphans are at the mercy of chance, but
Socrates is unconcerned. In the Theaetetus, he is found
recruiting as a disciple a young man whose inheritance
has been squandered. Socrates twice compares the relationship of the older man and his boy lover to the fatherson relationship (Lysis 213a, Republic 3.403b), and in the
Phaedo, Socrates disciples, towards whom he displays
more concern than his biological sons, say they will feel
fatherless when he is gone.
In several of Platos dialogues, Socrates promulgates the
idea that knowledge is a matter of recollection, and not of
learning, observation, or study.[47] He maintains this view
somewhat at his own expense, because in many dialogues,
Socrates complains of his forgetfulness. Socrates is often
found arguing that knowledge is not empirical, and that
it comes from divine insight. In many middle period dialogues, such as the Phaedo, Republic and Phaedrus Plato
advocates a belief in the immortality of the soul, and
several dialogues end with long speeches imagining the
afterlife. More than one dialogue contrasts knowledge
and opinion, perception and reality, nature and custom,
and body and soul.
Several dialogues tackle questions about art: Socrates
says that poetry is inspired by the muses, and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in
the Phaedrus (265ac), and yet in the Republic wants to
outlaw Homers great poetry, and laughter as well. In Ion,
Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that
he expresses in the Republic. The dialogue Ion suggests
that Homer's Iliad functioned in the ancient Greek world
as the Bible does today in the modern Christian world: as
divinely inspired literature that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted.

Socrates and his company of disputants had something

to say on many subjects, including politics and art, religion and science, justice and medicine, virtue and vice,
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of
crime and punishment, pleasure and pain, rhetoric and
Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, reprhapsody, human nature and sexuality, as well as love and
resenting his belief in knowledge through empirical observation
and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics wisdom.
in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens,
representing his belief in The Forms

2.1

Recurrent themes

Plato often discusses the father-son relationship and the

question of whether a fathers interest in his sons has
much to do with how well his sons turn out. In ancient
Athens, a boy was socially located by his family identity,
and Plato often refers to his characters in terms of their
paternal and fraternal relationships. Socrates was not a
family man, and saw himself as the son of his mother,
who was apparently a midwife. A divine fatalist, Socrates
mocks men who spent exorbitant fees on tutors and trainers for their sons, and repeatedly ventures the idea that

2.2 Metaphysics
Main article: Platonic realism
Platonism is a term coined by scholars to refer to the
intellectual consequences of denying, as Platos Socrates
often does, the reality of the material world. In several
dialogues, most notably the Republic, Socrates inverts the
common mans intuition about what is knowable and what
is real. While most people take the objects of their senses
to be real if anything is, Socrates is contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the
hands to be real. In the Theaetetus, he says such people
are eu amousoi ( ), an expression that means

2.4

Epistemology

literally, happily without the muses (Theaetetus 156a).

In other words, such people live without the divine inspiration that gives him, and people like him, access to
higher insights about reality.

5
by Socrates, who spoke of forms in formulating a solution to the problem of universals. The forms, according
to Socrates, are archetypes or abstract representations of
the many types of things, and properties we feel and see
around us, that can only be perceived by reason (Greek:
). (That is, they are universals.) In other words,
Socrates was able to recognize two worlds: the apparent
world, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and
unseen world of forms, which may be the cause of what
is apparent.

Socratess idea that reality is unavailable to those who use

their senses is what puts him at odds with the common
man, and with common sense. Socrates says that he who
sees with his eyes is blind, and this idea is most famously
captured in his allegory of the cave, and more explicitly
in his description of the divided line. The allegory of
the cave (begins Republic 7.514a) is a paradoxical analogy wherein Socrates argues that the invisible world is
the most intelligible (noeton) and that the visible world 2.4 Epistemology
("(h)oraton) is the least knowable, and the most obscure.
Main article: Platonic epistemology
Socrates says in the Republic that people who take the
sun-lit world of the senses to be good and real are living
pitifully in a den of evil and ignorance. Socrates admits Many have interpreted Plato as statingeven having
that few climb out of the den, or cave of ignorance, and been the rst to writethat knowledge is justied true
those who do, not only have a terrible struggle to attain belief, an inuential view that informed future develop[48]
This interpretation is partly
the heights, but when they go back down for a visit or ments in epistemology.
to help other people up, they nd themselves objects of based on a reading of the Theaetetus wherein Plato argues
that knowledge is distinguished from mere true belief by
scorn and ridicule.
the knower having an account of the object of her or
According to Socrates, physical objects and physical
his true belief (Theaetetus 201cd). And this theory may
events are shadows of their ideal or perfect forms, and
again be seen in the Meno, where it is suggested that true
exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect
belief can be raised to the level of knowledge if it is bound
versions of themselves. Just as shadows are temporary,
with an account as to the question of why the object
inconsequential epiphenomena produced by physical obof the true belief is so (Meno 97d98a).[49] Many years
jects, physical objects are themselves eeting phenomena
later, Edmund Gettier famously demonstrated the probcaused by more substantial causes, the ideals of which
lems of the justied true belief account of knowledge.
they are mere instances. For example, Socrates thinks
That the modern theory of justied true belief as knowlthat perfect justice exists (although it is not clear where)
edge which Gettier addresses is equivalent to Platos is acand his own trial would be a cheap copy of it.
cepted by some scholars but rejected by others.[50] Plato
The allegory of the cave (often said by scholars to rep- himself also identied problems with the justied true beresent Platos own epistemology and metaphysics) is inti- lief denition in the Theaetetus, concluding that justimately connected to his political ideology (often said to cation (or an account) would require knowledge of difalso be Platos own), that only people who have climbed ferentness, meaning that the denition of knowledge is
out of the cave and cast their eyes on a vision of goodness circular (Theaetetus 210ab).[51]
are t to rule. Socrates claims that the enlightened men
Later in the Meno, Socrates uses a geometrical example to
of society must be forced from their divine contemplaexpound Platos view that knowledge in this latter sense
tions and be compelled to run the city according to their
is acquired by recollection. Socrates elicits a fact conlofty insights. Thus is born the idea of the "philosophercerning a geometrical construction from a slave boy, who
king", the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon
could not have otherwise known the fact (due to the slave
him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good
boys lack of education). The knowledge must be present,
master. This is the main thesis of Socrates in the RepubSocrates concludes, in an eternal, non-experiential form.
lic, that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the
In other dialogues, the Sophist, Statesman, Republic, and
wise choice of a ruler.
the Parmenides, Plato himself associates knowledge with
the apprehension of unchanging Forms and their relationships to one another (which he calls expertise in
2.3 Theory of Forms
Dialectic), including through the processes of collection
and division.[52] More explicitly, Plato himself argues in
Main article: Theory of Forms
the Timaeus that knowledge is always proportionate to the
realm from which it is gained. In other words, if one deThe theory of Forms (or theory of Ideas) typically refers rives ones account of something experientially, because
to the belief that the material world as it seems to us is the world of sense is in ux, the views therein attained
not the real world, but only an image or copy of the will be mere opinions. And opinions are characterized
real world. In some of Platos dialogues, this is expressed by a lack of necessity and stability. On the other hand,

PHILOSOPHY

if one derives ones account of something by way of the

Governing (Rulers or Philosopher Kings) those
non-sensible forms, because these forms are unchanging,
who are intelligent, rational, self-controlled, in love
so too is the account derived from them. That apprehenwith wisdom, well suited to make decisions for the
sion of forms is required for knowledge may be taken to
community. These correspond to the reason part
cohere with Platos theory in the Theaetetus and Meno.[53]
of the soul and are very few.
Indeed, the apprehension of Forms may be at the base of
the account required for justication, in that it oers In the Timaeus, Plato locates the parts of the soul within
foundational knowledge which itself needs no account, the human body: Reason is located in the head, spirit in
thereby avoiding an innite regression.[54]
the top third of the torso, and the appetite in the middle
third of the torso, down to the navel.[56][57]

2.5

The state

According to this model, the principles of Athenian

democracy (as it existed in his day) are rejected as only
Main article: The Republic (Plato)
a few are t to rule. Instead of rhetoric and persuasion,
Platos philosophical views had many societal implica- Plato says reason and wisdom should govern. As Plato
puts it:
Until philosophers rule as kings or those who
are now called kings and leading men genuinely
and adequately philosophise, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide,
while the many natures who at present pursue
either one exclusively are forcibly prevented
from doing so, cities will have no rest from
evils,... nor, I think, will the human race. (Republic 473c-d)

Papirus Oxyrhynchus, with fragment of Platos Republic

tions, especially on the idea of an ideal state or government. There is some discrepancy between his early and
later views. Some of the most famous doctrines are contained in the Republic during his middle period, as well
as in the Laws and the Statesman. However, because
Plato wrote dialogues, it is assumed that Socrates is often
speaking for Plato. This assumption may not be true in
Plato in his academy, drawing after a painting by Swedish painter
all cases.
Carl Johan Wahlbom

Plato, through the words of Socrates, asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to
the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the individual soul.
The appetite/spirit/reason are analogous to the castes of
society.[55]

Plato describes these philosopher kings as those who

love the sight of truth (Republic 475c) and supports the
idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor
and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health
are not things that everyone is qualied to practice by na Productive (Workers) the labourers, carpenters, ture. A large part of the Republic then addresses how
plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, the educational system should be set up to produce these
etc. These correspond to the appetite part of the philosopher kings.
soul.
However, it must be taken into account that the ideal
Protective (Warriors or Guardians) those who are city outlined in the Republic is qualied by Socrates as
adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces. the ideal luxurious city, examined to determine how it
These correspond to the spirit part of the soul.
is that injustice and justice grow in a city (Republic

2.6

Unwritten doctrines

372e). According to Socrates, the true and healthy

city is instead the one rst outlined in book II of the Republic, 369c372d, containing farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and wage-earners, but lacking the guardian class
of philosopher-kings as well as delicacies such as perfumed oils, incense, prostitutes, and pastries, in addition
to paintings, gold, ivory, couches, a multitude of occupations such as poets and hunters, and war.

with traits such as equality of political opportunity and

freedom for the individual to do as he likes.[62] Democracy then degenerates into tyranny from the conict of
rich and poor. It is characterized by an undisciplined society existing in chaos, where the tyrant rises as popular
champion leading to the formation of his private army
and the growth of oppression.[63][59][64]

In addition, the ideal city is used as an image to illuminate the state of ones soul, or the will, reason, and desires
combined in the human body. Socrates is attempting to
make an image of a rightly ordered human, and then later
goes on to describe the dierent kinds of humans that can
be observed, from tyrants to lovers of money in various
kinds of cities. The ideal city is not promoted, but only
used to magnify the dierent kinds of individual humans
and the state of their soul. However, the philosopher king
image was used by many after Plato to justify their personal political beliefs. The philosophic soul according
to Socrates has reason, will, and desires united in virtuous harmony. A philosopher has the moderate love
for wisdom and the courage to act according to wisdom.
Wisdom is knowledge about the Good or the right relations between all that exists.

2.6 Unwritten doctrines

According to Plato, a state made up of dierent kinds of

souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy (rule by
the best) to a timocracy (rule by the honorable), then to
an oligarchy (rule by the few), then to a democracy (rule
by the people), and nally to tyranny (rule by one person,
rule by a tyrant).[59] Aristocracy is the form of government (politeia) advocated in Platos Republic. This regime
is ruled by a philosopher king, and thus is grounded on
wisdom and reason. The aristocratic state, and the man
whose nature corresponds to it, are the objects of Platos
analyses throughout much of the Republic, as opposed to
the other four types of states/men, who are discussed later
in his work. In Book VIII, Plato states in order the other
four imperfect societies with a description of the states
structure and individual character. In timocracy the ruling class is made up primarily of those with a warrior-like
character.[60] In his description, Plato has Sparta in mind.
Oligarchy is made up of a society in which wealth is the
criterion of merit and the wealthy are in control.[61] In
democracy, the state bears resemblance to ancient Athens

claim to know the subjects that I seriously study ... there

does not exist, nor will there ever exist, any treatise of
mine dealing therewith. Such secrecy is necessary in order not to expose them to unseemly and degrading treatment (344 d).

For a long time, Platos unwritten doctrine[65][66][67] had

been controversial. Many modern books on Plato seem to
diminish its importance; nevertheless, the rst important
witness who mentions its existence is Aristotle, who in his
Physics (209 b) writes: It is true, indeed, that the account
he gives there [i.e. in Timaeus] of the participant is different from what he says in his so-called unwritten teachings ( ). The term " "
literally means unwritten doctrines and it stands for the
most fundamental metaphysical teaching of Plato, which
he disclosed only orally, and some say only to his most
trusted fellows, and which he may have kept secret from
the public. The importance of the unwritten doctrines
does not seem to have been seriously questioned before
Wherein it concerns states and rulers, Plato has made the 19th century.
interesting arguments. For instance he asks which is A reason for not revealing it to everyone is partially disbettera bad democracy or a country reigned by a tyrant. cussed in Phaedrus (276 c) where Plato criticizes the writHe argues that it is better to be ruled by a bad tyrant, than ten transmission of knowledge as faulty, favoring instead
be a bad democracy (since here all the people are now the spoken logos: he who has knowledge of the just
responsible for such actions, rather than one individual and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in earnest,
committing many bad deeds.) This is emphasised within write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words,
the Republic as Plato describes the event of mutiny on which cannot defend themselves by argument and canboard a ship.[58] Plato suggests the ships crew to be in not teach the truth eectually. The same argument is
line with the democratic rule of many and the captain, repeated in Platos Seventh Letter (344 c): every serialthough inhibited through ailments, the tyrant. Platos ous man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully
description of this event is parallel to that of democracy avoids writing. In the same letter he writes (341 c): I
within the state and the inherent problems that arise.
can certainly declare concerning all these writers who

It is, however, said that Plato once disclosed this knowledge to the public in his lecture On the Good (
), in which the Good ( ) is identied
with the One (the Unity, ), the fundamental ontological principle. The content of this lecture has been
transmitted by several witnesses. Aristoxenus describes
the event in the following words: Each came expecting
to learn something about the things that are generally considered good for men, such as wealth, good health, physical strength, and altogether a kind of wonderful happiness. But when the mathematical demonstrations came,
including numbers, geometrical gures and astronomy,
and nally the statement Good is One seemed to them, I
imagine, utterly unexpected and strange; hence some belittled the matter, while others rejected it.[68] Simplicius

quotes Alexander of Aphrodisias, who states that according to Plato, the rst principles of everything, including the Forms themselves are One and Indenite Duality ( ), which he called Large and Small
( )", and Simplicius reports as
well that one might also learn this from Speusippus and
Xenocrates and the others who were present at Platos lecture on the Good.[24]
Their account is in full agreement with Aristotles description of Platos metaphysical doctrine. In Metaphysics
he writes: Now since the Forms are the causes of everything else, he [i.e. Plato] supposed that their elements
are the elements of all things. Accordingly the material
principle is the Great and Small [i.e. the Dyad], and the
essence is the One ( ), since the numbers are derived
from the Great and Small by participation in the One
(987 b). From this account it is clear that he only employed two causes: that of the essence, and the material
cause; for the Forms are the cause of the essence in everything else, and the One is the cause of it in the Forms.
He also tells us what the material substrate is of which the
Forms are predicated in the case of sensible things, and
the One in that of the Forms - that it is this the duality
(the Dyad, ), the Great and Small (
). Further, he assigned to these two elements
respectively the causation of good and of evil (988 a).

THE DIALOGUES

model, and the epistemological substance of the debate

continually approaches the truth. Hartzs is a teleological interpretation at the core, in which philosophers will
ultimately exhaust the available body of knowledge and
thus reach the end of history. Karl Popper, on the other
hand, claims that dialectic is the art of intuition for visualising the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas, of unveiling the Great Mystery behind the common mans everyday world of appearances.[76]

3 The dialogues
See also: Stephanus pagination
Thirty-ve dialogues and thirteen letters (the Epistles)
have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, though modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of at least some
of these. Platos writings have been published in several
fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the
naming and referencing of Platos texts.

The usual system for making unique references to sections

of the text by Plato derives from a 16th-century edition
of Platos works by Henricus Stephanus. An overview of
Platos writings according to this system can be found in
The most important aspect of this interpretation of Platos the Stephanus pagination article.
metaphysics is the continuity between his teaching and One tradition regarding the arrangement of Platos texts is
the neoplatonic interpretation of Plotinus[69] or Ficino[70] according to tetralogies. This scheme is ascribed by Diowhich has been considered erroneous by many but may genes Laertius to an ancient scholar and court astrologer
in fact have been directly inuenced by oral transmission to Tiberius named Thrasyllus.
of Platos doctrine. A modern scholar who recognized
by
the importance of the unwritten doctrine of Plato was The works are usually grouped into Early, (sometimes
[77][78]
some
into
Transitional),
Middle,
and
Late
period.
Heinrich Gomperz who described it in his speech during
is thought worthy of
the 7th International Congress of Philosophy in 1930.[71] This choice to group chronologically
[79]
given
that its recogcriticism
by
some
(Cooper
et
al),
All the sources related to the have
nised
that
there
is
no
absolute
agreement
as to the true
been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as Teschronologicity,
since
the
facts
of
the
temporal
order of
[72]
timonia Platonica.
These sources have subsequently
[80]
writing
are
not
condently
ascertained.
been interpreted by scholars from the German Tbingen
School of interpretation such as Hans Joachim Krmer or Early : Apology (of Socrates), Charmides, Crito,
Thomas A. Szlezk.[73]
Euthyphro, Gorgias, (Lesser) Hippias (minor), (Greater)
Hippias (major), Ion, Laches, Lysis, Protagoras

2.7

Dialectic

The role of dialectic in Platos thought is contested but

there are two main interpretations: a type of reasoning
and a method of intuition.[74] Simon Blackburn adopts the
rst, saying that Platos dialectic is the process of eliciting the truth by means of questions aimed at opening out
what is already implicitly known, or at exposing the contradictions and muddles of an opponents position.[74] A
similar interpretation has been put forth by Louis Hartz,
who suggests that elements of the dialectic are borrowed
from Hegel.[75] According to this view, opposing arguments improve upon each other, and prevailing opinion
is shaped by the synthesis of many conicting ideas over
time. Each new idea exposes a aw in the accepted

Middle/Transitional : Cratylus, 'Euthydemus, Meno,

Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic, Symposium,
Middle/Late : Theaetetus
Late : Critias, Sophist, Statesman / Politicus, Timaeus ,
Philebus, Laws
Chronologicity was not a consideration in ancient times,
in that grouping of this nature are virtually absent (Tarrant) in the extant writings of ancient Platonists.[81]

3.1 Writings of doubted authenticity

Jowett mentions in his Appendix to Menexenus, that
works which bore the character of a writer were at-

3.3

Narration of the dialogues

tributed to that writer even when the actual author was roughly into three groups.[89] The following represents
unknown.[82]
one relatively common such division.[90] It should, however, be kept in mind that many of the positions in the
For below:
ordering are still highly disputed, and also that the very
(*) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether notion that Platos dialogues can or should be ordered
Plato is the author, and () if most scholars agree that is by no means universally accepted.
Plato is not the author of the work.[83]
Among those who classify the dialogues into periods of
First Alcibiades (*), Second Alcibiades () , Clitophon (*) , composition, Socrates gures in all of the early diaEpinomis (), Epistles (*), Hipparchus (), Menexenus(*), logues and they are considered the most faithful repreMinos () (Rival) Lovers (), Theages ()
sentations of the historical Socrates.[91] They include The
Apology of Socrates, Charmides, Crito, Euthyphro, Ion,
Laches, Lesser Hippias, Lysis, Menexenus, and Protago3.1.1 Spurious writings
ras (often considered one of the last of the early dialogues). Three dialogues are often considered transiThe following works were transmitted under Platos
tional or pre-middle": Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Meno.
name, most of them already considered spurious in antiquity, and so were not included by Thrasyllus in his Whereas those classied as early dialogues often contetralogical arrangement. These works are labelled as clude in aporia, the so-called middle dialogues provide
more clearly stated positive teachings that are often asNotheuomenoi (spurious) or Apocrypha.
cribed to Plato such as the theory of Forms. These di Axiochus, Denitions, Demodocus, Epigrams, alogues include Cratylus, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic,
Symposium, Parmenides, and Theaetetus. Proponents of
Eryxias, Halcyon, On Justice, On Virtue, Sisyphus.
dividing the dialogues into periods often consider the
Parmenides and Theaetetus to come late in this period
3.2 Composition of the dialogues
and be transitional to the next, as they seem to treat the
theory of Forms critically (Parmenides) or only indirectly
No one knows the exact order Platos dialogues were writ- (Theaetetus).[92] Ritters stylometric analysis places Phaeten in, nor the extent to which some might have been drus as probably after Theaetetus and Parmenides,[93] allater revised and rewritten. A signicant distinction of though it does not relate to the theory of Forms in the
the early Plato and the later Plato has been oered by same way. The rst book of the Republic is often thought
scholars such as E.R. Dodds and has been summarized to have been written signicantly earlier than the rest of
by Harold Bloom in his book titled Agon: E.R. Dodds is the work, although possibly having undergone revisions
the classical scholar whose writings most illuminated the when the later books were attached to it.[92]
Hellenic descent (in) The Greeks and the Irrational [...]
The remaining dialogues are classied as late and are
In his chapter on Plato and the Irrational Soul [...] Dodds
generally agreed to be dicult and challenging pieces of
traces Platos spiritual evolution from the pure rationalphilosophy. This grouping is the only one proven by styist of the Protagoras to the transcendental psychologist,
lometric analysis.[87] While looked to for Platos mature
inuenced by the Pythagoreans and Orphics, of the later
answers to the questions posed by his earlier works, those
works culminating in the Laws.[84]
answers are dicult to discern. Some scholars[91] indi[85]
Lewis Campbell was the rst
to make exhaustive cate that the theory of Forms is absent from the late diuse of stylometry to prove objectively that the Critias, alogues, its having been refuted in the Parmenides, but
Timaeus, Laws, Philebus, Sophist, and Statesman were there isn't total consensus that the Parmenides actually
all clustered together as a group, while the Parmenides, refutes the theory of Forms.[94] The so-called late diPhaedrus, Republic, and Theaetetus belong to a separate alogues include Critias, Laws, Philebus, Sophist, Statesgroup, which must be earlier (given Aristotles statement man, and Timaeus.[91]
in his Politics[86] that the Laws was written after the Republic; cf. Diogenes Laertius Lives 3.37). What is remarkable about Campbells conclusions is that, in spite 3.3 Narration of the dialogues
of all the stylometric studies that have been conducted
since his time, perhaps the only chronological fact about Plato never presents himself as a participant in any of
Platos works that can now be said to be proven by sty- the dialogues, and with the exception of the Apology,
lometry is the fact that Critias, Timaeus, Laws, Philebus, there is no suggestion that he heard any of the diaSophist, and Statesman are the latest of Platos dialogues, logues rsthand. Some dialogues have no narrator but
the others earlier.[87]
have a pure dramatic form (examples: Meno, Gorgias,
Increasingly in the most recent Plato scholarship, writers are skeptical of the notion that the order of Platos
writings can be established with any precision,[88] though
Platos works are still often characterized as falling at least

Phaedrus, Crito, Euthyphro), some dialogues are narrated

by Socrates, wherein he speaks in rst person (examples:
Lysis, Charmides, Republic). One dialogue, Protagoras,
begins in dramatic form but quickly proceeds to Socrates

10

THE DIALOGUES

narration of a conversation he had previously with the of Athens.

sophist for whom the dialogue is named; this narration If Platos important dialogues do not refer to Socrates
continues uninterrupted till the dialogues end.
execution explicitly, they allude to it, or use characters or
themes that play a part in it. Five dialogues foreshadow
the trial: In the Theaetetus (210d) and the Euthyphro (2a
b) Socrates tells people that he is about to face corruption
charges. In the Meno (94e95a), one of the men who
brings legal charges against Socrates, Anytus, warns him
about the trouble he may get into if he does not stop criticizing important people. In the Gorgias, Socrates says
that his trial will be like a doctor prosecuted by a cook
who asks a jury of children to choose between the doctors bitter medicine and the cooks tasty treats (521e
Platos Symposium (Anselm Feuerbach, 1873)
522a). In the Republic (7.517e), Socrates explains why
an enlightened man (presumably himself) will stumble in
Two dialogues Phaedo and Symposium also begin in draa courtroom situation. The Apology is Socrates defense
matic form but then proceed to virtually uninterrupted
speech, and the Crito and Phaedo take place in prison afnarration by followers of Socrates. Phaedo, an account
ter the conviction. In the Protagoras, Socrates is a guest
of Socrates nal conversation and hemlock drinking, is
at the home of Callias, son of Hipponicus, a man whom
narrated by Phaedo to Echecrates in a foreign city not
Socrates disparages in the Apology as having wasted a
long after the execution took place.[95] The Symposium is
great amount of money on sophists fees.
narrated by Apollodorus, a Socratic disciple, apparently
to Glaucon. Apollodorus assures his listener that he is recounting the story, which took place when he himself was 3.5 Unity and diversity of the dialogues
an infant, not from his own memory, but as remembered
by Aristodemus, who told him the story years ago.
Two other important dialogues, the Symposium and the
The Theaetetus is a peculiar case: a dialogue in dra- Phaedrus, are linked to the main storyline by characters.
matic form imbedded within another dialogue in dra- In the Apology (19b, c), Socrates says Aristophanes slanmatic form. In the beginning of the Theaetetus (142c- dered him in a comic play, and blames him for causing his
143b), Euclides says that he compiled the conversation bad reputation, and ultimately, his death. In the Sympofrom notes he took based on what Socrates told him of sium, the two of them are drinking together with other
his conversation with the title character. The rest of the friends. The character Phaedrus is linked to the main
Theaetetus is presented as a book written in dramatic story line by character (Phaedrus is also a participant in
form and read by one of Euclides slaves (143c). Some the Symposium and the Protagoras) and by theme (the
scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this philosopher as divine emissary, etc.) The Protagoras is
date wearied of the narrated form.[96] With the excep- also strongly linked to the Symposium by characters: all
tion of the Theaetetus, Plato gives no explicit indication of the formal speakers at the Symposium (with the excepas to how these orally transmitted conversations came to tion of Aristophanes) are present at the home of Callias
in that dialogue. Charmides and his guardian Critias are
be written down.
present for the discussion in the Protagoras. Examples
of characters crossing between dialogues can be further
multiplied. The Protagoras contains the largest gathering
3.4 Trial of Socrates
of Socratic associates.
Main article: Trial of Socrates
In the dialogues Plato is most celebrated and admired for,
The trial of Socrates is the central, unifying event of the
great Platonic dialogues. Because of this, Platos Apology
is perhaps the most often read of the dialogues. In the
Apology, Socrates tries to dismiss rumors that he is a
sophist and defends himself against charges of disbelief in
the gods and corruption of the young. Socrates insists that
long-standing slander will be the real cause of his demise,
and says the legal charges are essentially false. Socrates
famously denies being wise, and explains how his life as
a philosopher was launched by the Oracle at Delphi. He
says that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put
him at odds with his fellow man, and that this is the reason he has been mistaken for a menace to the city-state

Socrates is concerned with human and political virtue,

has a distinctive personality, and friends and enemies who
travel with him from dialogue to dialogue. This is not
to say that Socrates is consistent: a man who is his friend
in one dialogue may be an adversary or subject of his
mockery in another. For example, Socrates praises the
wisdom of Euthyphro many times in the Cratylus, but
makes him look like a fool in the Euthyphro. He disparages sophists generally, and Prodicus specically in
the Apology, whom he also slyly jabs in the Cratylus for
charging the hefty fee of fty drachmas for a course on
language and grammar. However, Socrates tells Theaetetus in his namesake dialogue that he admires Prodicus and
has directed many pupils to him. Socrates ideas are also

3.6

Platonic scholarship

not consistent within or between or among dialogues.

3.6

Platonic scholarship

11
supply Marsilio Ficino with Platos text for translation
to Latin. During the early Islamic era, Persian and
Arab scholars translated much of Plato into Arabic and
wrote commentaries and interpretations on Platos, Aristotles and other Platonist philosophers works (see AlFarabi, Avicenna, Averroes, Hunayn ibn Ishaq). Many
of these comments on Plato were translated from Arabic into Latin and as such inuenced Medieval scholastic
philosophers.[100]
During the Renaissance, with the general resurgence of
interest in classical civilization, knowledge of Platos philosophy would become widespread again in the West.
Many of the greatest early modern scientists and artists
who broke with Scholasticism and fostered the owering of the Renaissance, with the support of the Platoinspired Lorenzo (grandson of Cosimo), saw Platos philosophy as the basis for progress in the arts and sciences.
His political views, too, were well-received: the vision
of wise philosopher-kings of the Republic matched the
views set out in works such as Machiavelli's The Prince.
More problematic was Platos belief in metempsychosis,
transmigration of the soul, as well as his ethical views
(on polyamory and euthanasia in particular), which did
not match those of Christianity. It was Plethons student
Bessarion who reconciled Plato with Christian theology,
arguing that Platos views were only ideals, unattainable
due to the fall of man.[101]

The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.
(Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929).

Although their popularity has uctuated over the years,

the works of Plato have never been without readers since
the time they were written.[97] Platos thought is often
compared with that of his most famous student, Aristotle, whose reputation during the Western Middle Ages
so completely eclipsed that of Plato that the Scholastic
philosophers referred to Aristotle as the Philosopher.
However, in the Byzantine Empire, the study of Plato
continued.
The only Platonic work known to western scholarship
was Timaeus, until translations were made at a time
post the fall of Constantinople, which occurred during
1453,[98] George Gemistos Plethon brought Platos original writings from Constantinople in the century of its
fall. It is believed that Plethon passed a copy of the Dialogues to Cosimo de' Medici when in 1438 the Council
of Ferrara, called to unify the Greek and Latin Churches,
was adjourned to Florence, where Plethon then lectured
on the relation and dierences of Plato and Aristotle,
and red Cosimo with his enthusiasm;[99] Cosimo would

By the 19th century, Platos reputation was restored, and

at least on par with Aristotles. Notable Western philosophers have continued to draw upon Platos work since
that time. Platos inuence has been especially strong
in mathematics and the sciences. He helped to distinguish between pure and applied mathematics by widening
the gap between arithmetic, now called number theory
and logistic, now called arithmetic. He regarded logistic as appropriate for business men and men of war
who must learn the art of numbers or he will not know
how to array his troops, while arithmetic was appropriate for philosophers because he has to arise out of
the sea of change and lay hold of true being.[102] Platos
resurgence further inspired some of the greatest advances
in logic since Aristotle, primarily through Gottlob Frege
and his followers Kurt Gdel, Alonzo Church, and Alfred
Tarski. Albert Einstein suggested that the scientist who
takes philosophy seriously would have to avoid systematization and take on many dierent roles, and possibly
appear as a Platonist or Pythagorean, in that such a one
would have the viewpoint of logical simplicity as an indispensable and eective tool of his research.[103]
Many recent philosophers have diverged from what some
would describe as the ontological models and moral ideals characteristic of traditional Platonism. A number of
these postmodern philosophers have thus appeared to disparage Platonism from more or less informed perspectives. Friedrich Nietzsche notoriously attacked Platos
idea of the good itself along with many fundamentals
of Christian morality, which he interpreted as Platon-

12

ism for the masses in one of his most important works,

Beyond Good and Evil (1886). Martin Heidegger argued against Platos alleged obfuscation of Being in his incomplete tome, Being and Time (1927), and the philosopher of science Karl Popper argued in The Open Society
and Its Enemies (1945) that Platos alleged proposal for
a utopian political regime in the Republic was prototypically totalitarian. The political philosopher and professor
Leo Strauss is considered by some as the prime thinker involved in the recovery of Platonic thought in its more political, and less metaphysical, form. Strauss political approach was in part inspired by the appropriation of Plato
and Aristotle by medieval Jewish and Islamic political
philosophers, especially Maimonides and Al-Farabi, as
opposed to the Christian metaphysical tradition that developed from Neoplatonism. Deeply inuenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger, Strauss nonetheless rejects their
condemnation of Plato and looks to the dialogues for a
solution to what all three latter day thinkers acknowledge
as 'the crisis of the West.'

3.7

Textual sources and history

THE DIALOGUES

texts of Plato as received today apparently represent the

complete written philosophical work of Plato and are
generally good by the standards of textual criticism.[105]
No modern edition of Plato in the original Greek represents a single source, but rather it is reconstructed from
multiple sources which are compared with each other.
These sources are medieval manuscripts written on vellum (mainly from 9th-13th century AD Byzantium), papyri (mainly from late antiquity in Egypt), and from the
independent testimonia of other authors who quote various segments of the works (which come from a variety of
sources). The text as presented is usually not much dierent from what appears in the Byzantine manuscripts, and
papyri and testimonia just conrm the manuscript tradition. In some editions however the readings in the papyri
or testimonia are favoured in some places by the editing
critic of the text. Reviewing editions of papyri for the
Republic in 1987, Slings suggests that the use of papyri is
hampered due to some poor editing practices.[106]
In the rst century AD, Thrasyllus of Mendes had compiled and published the works of Plato in the original
Greek, both genuine and spurious. While it has not survived to the present day, all the extant medieval Greek
manuscripts are based on his edition.[107]
The oldest surviving complete manuscript for many of
the dialogues is the Clarke Plato (Codex Oxoniensis
Clarkianus 39, or Codex Boleianus MS E.D. Clarke 39),
which was written in Constantinople in 895 and acquired
by Oxford University in 1809.[108] The Clarke is given
the siglum B in modern editions. B contains the rst six
tetralogies and is described internally as being written by
John the Calligrapher on behalf of Arethas of Caesarea.
It appears to have undergone corrections by Arethas
himself.[109] For the last two tetralogies and the apocrypha, the oldest surviving complete manuscript is Codex
Parisinus graecus 1807, designated A, which was written nearly contemporaneously to B, circa 900 AD.[110]
A must be a copy of the edition edited by the patriarch,
Photios, teacher of Arethas.[111][112][113] A probably had
an initial volume containing the rst 7 tetralogies which
is now lost, but of which a copy was made, Codex Venetus
append. class. 4, 1, which has the siglum T. The oldest
manuscript for the seventh tetralogy is Codex Vindobonensis 54. suppl. phil. Gr. 7, with siglum W, with a
supposed date in the twelfth century.[114] In total there
are fty-one such Byzantine manuscripts known, while
others may yet be found.[115]

To help establish the text, the older evidence of papyri

and the independent evidence of the testimony of commentators and other authors (i.e., those who quote and
refer to an old text of Plato which is no longer extant)
First page of the Euthyphro, from the Clarke Plato (Codex Ox- are also used. Many papyri which contain fragments of
oniensis Clarkianus 39), 895 AD. The text is Greek minuscule.
Platos texts are among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The
2003 Oxford Classical Texts edition by Slings even cites
See also: List of manuscripts of Platos dialogues
the Coptic translation of a fragment of the Republic in
the Nag Hammadi library as evidence.[116] Important auSome 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive.[104] The thors for testimony include Olympiodorus the Younger,

13
Plutarch, Proclus, Iamblichus, Eusebius, and Stobaeus.

Platonic love

During the early Renaissance, the Greek language and,

along with it, Platos texts were reintroduced to Western
Europe by Byzantine scholars. In September or October of 1484 Filippo Valori and Francesco Berlinghieri
printed 1025 copies of Ficinos translation, using the
printing press at the Dominican convent S.Jacopo di
Ripoli.[117][118] Cosimo had been inuenced toward
studying Plato by the many Byzantine Platonists in Florence during his day, including George Gemistus Plethon.
Henri Estiennes edition, including parallel Greek and
Latin, was published in 1578. It was this edition which
established Stephanus pagination, still in use today.[119]

Platonic solid

3.8

Modern editions

Platonic realism
Proclus
Seventh Letter
Theia mania
Ellen Francis Mason, translator of Plato

5 Notes

a. ^ Plato is a nickname from the adjective

plats broad. Diogenes Laertius mentions three posThe Oxford Classical Texts oers the current standard sible meanings of the nickname:[130]
complete Greek text of Platos complete works. In ve
volumes edited by John Burnet, its rst edition was pub
lished 1900-1907, and it is still available from the pub ' lisher, having last been printed in 1993.[120][121] The sec ,
ond edition is still in progress with only the rst volume,
[],
printed in 1995, and the Republic, printed in 2003, avail .
able. The Cambridge Greek and Latin Texts and Cam
bridge Classical Texts and Commentaries series includes
,
Greek editions of the Protagoras, Symposium, Phaedrus,
.
Alcibiades, and Clitophon, with English philological, literAnd he learnt gymnastics under Ariston, the
ary, and, to an extent, philosophical commentary.[122][123]
Argive wrestler. And from him he received
One distinguished edition of the Greek text is E. R.
the name of Plato on account of his robust gDodds' of the Gorgias, which includes extensive English
ure, in place of his original name which was
commentary.[124][125]
Aristocles, after his grandfather, as AlexanThe modern standard complete English edition is the
der informs us in his Successions of Philoso1997 Hackett Plato, Complete Works, edited by John M.
phers. But others arm that he got the name
Cooper.[126][127] For many of these translations Hackett
Plato from the breadth of his style, or from the
oers separate volumes which include more by way of
breadth of his forehead, as suggested by Neancommentary, notes, and introductory material. There
thes.
is also the Clarendon Plato Series by Oxford University Press which oers English translations and thorough Seneca mentions the meaning of Platos name in connecphilosophical commentary by leading scholars on a few tion to a moral lesson:[131]
of Platos works, including John McDowell's version of
the Theaetetus.[128] Cornell University Press has also beIllud simul cogitemus, si mundum ipsum, non
gun the Agora series of English translations of classiminus mortalem quam nos sumus, providentia
cal and medieval philosophical texts, including a few of
periculis eximit, posse aliquatenus nostra quoPlatos.[129]
que providentia longiorem prorogari huic corpusculo moram, si voluptates, quibus pars maior perit, potuerimus regere et coercere. Plato
4 See also
ipse ad senectutem se diligentia protulit. Erat
quidem corpus validum ac forte sortitus et illi nomen latitudo pectoris fecerat, sed naviga Cambridge Platonists
tiones ac pericula multum detraxerant viribus;
List of speakers in Platos dialogues
parsimonia tamen et eorum quae aviditatem
evocant modus et diligens sui tutela perduxit
Methexis
illum ad senectutem multis prohibentibus causis.
Platos tripartite theory of soul
Let us at the same time reect, seeing that
Platonic Academy
Providence rescues from its perils the world

14

6 FOOTNOTES
itself, which is no less mortal than we ourselves, that to some extent our petty bodies
can be made to tarry longer upon earth by our
own providence, if only we acquire the ability
to control and check those pleasures whereby
the greater portion of mankind perishes. Plato
himself, by taking pains, advanced to old age.
To be sure, he was the fortunate possessor of
a strong and sound body (his very name was
given him because of his broad chest); but his
strength was much impaired by sea voyages and
desperate adventures. Nevertheless, by frugal
living, by setting a limit upon all that rouses the
appetites, and by painstaking attention to himself, he reached that advanced age in spite of
many hindrances.

b. ^ The grammarian Apollodorus of Athens argues

in his Chronicles that Plato was born in the rst year
of the eighty-eighth Olympiad (427 BCE), on the seventh day of the month Thargelion; according to this
tradition the god Apollo was born this day.[132] According to another biographer of him, Neanthes, Plato
was eighty-four years of age at his death.[132] If we accept Neanthes version, Plato was younger than Isocrates
by six years, and therefore he was born in the second
year of the 87th Olympiad, the year Pericles died (429
BCE).[133] According to the Suda, Plato was born in
Aegina in the 88th Olympiad amid the preliminaries of
the Peloponnesian war, and he lived 82 years.[134] Sir
Thomas Browne also believes that Plato was born in the
88th Olympiad.[135] Renaissance Platonists celebrated
Platos birth on November 7.[136] Ulrich von WilamowitzMoellendor estimates that Plato was born when Diotimos was archon eponymous, namely between July 29,
428 BCE and July 24, 427 BCE.[137] Greek philologist
Ioannis Kalitsounakis believes that the philosopher was
born on May 26 or 27, 427 BCE, while Jonathan Barnes
regards 428 BCE as year of Platos birth.[138] For her
part, Debra Nails asserts that the philosopher was born
in 424/423 BCE.[136] According to Seneca Plato died at
the age of 81 on the same day he was born.[139]
c. ^ Diogenes Laertius mentions that Plato was born, according to some writers, in Aegina in the house of Phidiades the son of Thales. Diogenes mentions as one of his
sources the Universal History of Favorinus. According
to Favorinus, Ariston, Platos family, and his family were
sent by Athens to settle as cleruchs (colonists retaining
their Athenian citizenship), on the island of Aegina, from
which they were expelled by the Spartans after Platos
birth there.[140] Nails points out, however, that there is
no record of any Spartan expulsion of Athenians from
Aegina between 431411 BCE.[141] On the other hand,
at the Peace of Nicias, Aegina was silently left under
Athens control, and it was not until the summer of 411
that the Spartans overran the island.[142] Therefore, Nails
concludes that perhaps Ariston was a cleruch, perhaps
he went to Aegina in 431, and perhaps Plato was born

on Aegina, but none of this enables a precise dating of

Aristons death (or Platos birth).[141] Aegina is regarded
as Platos place of birth by Suda as well.[134]

6 Footnotes
[1] Jones 2006.
[2] Plato. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002.
[3] Whitehead 1978, p. 39.
[4] Irwin 2011, pp. 6364, 6870.
[5] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, III
Nails 2002, p. 53
Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 46
[6] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, I
[7] Guthrie 1986, p. 10
Taylor 2001, p. xiv
Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 47
[8] Plato, Republic 368a
Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 47
[9] Some have held that Glaucon and Adeimantus were uncles
of Plato, but Zeller decides for the usual view that they
were brothers. Cf. Ph. d. Gr. ii. 1, 4th ed. 1889, p. 392,
and Abhandl. d. Berl. Akad., 1873, Hist.-Phil Kl. pp. 86
.
[10] Xenophon, Memorabilia, 3.6.1
[11] Nails 2002, p. 247.
[12] Nails 2002, p. 246.
[13] Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, 1
Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, I
Plato. Suda.
[14] Cicero, De Divinatione, I, 36
[15] Nails 2002, p. 53
Taylor 2001, p. xiv
[16] Plato, Charmides 158a
Nails 2003, pp. 228229
[17] Plato, Charmides 158a
Plutarch, Pericles, IV
[18] Plato, Gorgias 481d and 513b
Aristophanes, Wasps, 97
[19] Plato, Parmenides 126c
[20] Guthrie 1986, p. 11.
[21] Kahn 2004, p. 186.
[22] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV
[23] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV
Notopoulos 1939, p. 135

15

[24] see Tarn 1981, p. 226.

[58] Plato, Republic 488

[25] Guthrie 1986, p. 12 (footnote).

[59] Blssner 2007, p. 350.

[26] Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, 2

[60] Republic 550b

[27] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV

Smith 1870, p. 393

[61] Republic 554a

[28] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, V

[63] Republic 571a

[29] Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1.987a

[64] Dorter 2006, pp. 253267.

[30] Borody 1998.

[65] Rodriguez-Grandjean 1998.

[31] R.M. Hare, Plato in C.C.W. Taylor, R.M. Hare and

Jonathan Barnes, Greek Philosophers, Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999
(1982), 103189, here 1179.

[66] Reale 1990. Cf. p.14 and onwards.

[32] Russell, Bertrand (1991). History of Western Philosophy.

Routledge. pp. 122124. ISBN 0-415-07854-7.
[33] Metaphysics, 1.6.1 (987a)
[34] Tusc. Disput. 1.17.39.
[35] Strauss 1964, pp. 5051.
[36] McEvoy 1984.
[37] Cairns 1961, p. xiii.
[38] Robinson 1827, p. 16.
[39] Dillon 2003, pp. 13.
[40] Press 2000, p. 1.
[41] Riginos 1976, p. 73.

[62] Republic 561ab

[67] Krmer 1990. Cf. pp.38-47.

[68] Elementa harmonica II, 3031; quoted in Gaiser 1980, p.
5.
[69] Plotinus describes this in the last part of his nal Ennead
(VI, 9) entitled On the Good, or the One (
). Jens Halfwassen states in Der Aufstieg zum
Einen (2006) that Plotinus ontologywhich should be
called Plotinus henology - is a rather accurate philosophical renewal and continuation of Platos unwritten doctrine,
i.e. the doctrine rediscovered by Krmer and Gaiser.
[70] In one of his letters (Epistolae 1612) Ficino writes: The
main goal of the divine Plato ... is to show one principle of
things, which he called the One ( )", cf. Montoriola
1926, p. 147.
[71] Gomperz 1931.
[72] Gaiser 1998.

[46] Riginos 1976, p. 195.

[73] For a brief description of the problem see for example

Gaiser 1980. A more detailed analysis is given by Krmer
1990. Another description is by Reale 1997 and Reale
1990. A thorough analysis of the consequences of such an
approach is given by Szlezak 1999. Another supporter of
this interpretation is the German philosopher Karl Albert,
cf. Albert 1980 or Albert 1996. Hans-Georg Gadamer
is also sympathetic towards it, cf. Grondin 2010 and
Gadamer 1980. Gadamers nal position on the subject
is stated in Gadamer 1997.

[47] Baird & Kaufmann 2008.

[74] Blackburn 1996, p. 104.

[48] Fine 2003, p. 5.

[75] Hartz, Louis. 1984. A Synthesis of World History. Zurich:

Humanity Press

[42] Not to be confused with Anniceris the Cyrenaic philosopher.

[43] Diogenes Laertius, Book iii, 20
[44] Riginos 1976, p. 194.
[45] Schall 1996.

[49] McDowell 1973, p. 230.

[50] Fine 1979, p. 366.
[51] McDowell 1973, p. 256.
[52] Taylor 2011, pp. 176187.
[53] Lee 2011, p. 432.
[54] Taylor 2011, p. 189.
[55] Blssner 2007, pp. 345349.
[56] Plato, Timaeus 44d & 70
[57] Dorter 2006, p. 360.

[76] Popper 1962, p. 133.

[77] C. D. C. Reeve (Delta Kappa Epsilon Distinguished
Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill) - A Plato Reader: Eight Essential Dialogues
(page vi - Introduction) Hackett Publishing 2012 - 592
pages ISBN 1603849173 [Retrieved 2015-3-31](ed. this
the rst source of < Early, Middle,(Transitional), Late >
[78] Robin Barrow (Professor of Philosophy of Education at
Simon Fraser University, Canada and Fellow of The Royal
Society of Canada) - Appendix 2:Notes on the authenticity and Groupings of Platos works (in) Plato Bloomsbury
Publishing, 18 Dec 2014 ISBN 1472504852 [Retrieved
2015-3-31]

16

6 FOOTNOTES

[79] Preface - page x (of) Platonic Writings/Platonic Readings [102] Boyer 1991, p. 86: 'Plato is important in the history of
(edited by CL. Griswold Jr) Penn State Press, 1 Nov 2010
mathematics largely for his role as inspirer and director
ISBN 0271044810 [Retrieved 2015-3-31]
of others, and perhaps to him is due the sharp distinction
in ancient Greece between arithmetic (in the sense of the
[80] JM. Cooper (Stuart Professor of Philosophy, Princeton
theory of numbers) and logistic (the technique of compuUniversity c.1997), D. S. Hutchinson - Complete Works
tation). Plato regarded logistic as appropriate for the busi- xii Hackett Publishing, 1997 [Retrieved 2015-3-31](ed.
nessman and for the man of war, who must learn the art
this source was 1st source for criticism of < chronological
of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops.
order >)
The philosopher, on the other hand, must be an arithmetician because he has to arise out of the sea of change and
[81] H Tarrant (Professor of Classics at the University of
lay hold of true being."'
Newcastle, New South Wales) - Platos First Interpreters
(Cornell University Press, 2000) ISBN 080143792X [Re- [103] Einstein 1949, pp. 683684.
trieved 2015-3-31]
[104] Brumbaugh & Wells 1989.
[82] B Jowett - APPENDIX I (1st paragraph) - MENEX[105] Irwin 2011, pp. 64 & 74. See also Slings 1987, p. 34:
ENUS[Retrieved 2015-3-31]
"... primary MSS. together oer a text of tolerably good
quality (this is without the further corrections of other
[83] The extent to which scholars consider a dialogue to be ausources).
thentic is noted in Cooper 1997, pp. vvi.
[84] Bloom 1982, p. 5.
[85] Burnet 1928b, p. 9.

[106] Slings 1987, p. 31.

[107] Cooper 1997, pp. viiixii.

[86] Aristotle, Politics 1264b24-27.

[108] Manuscripts - Philosophy Faculty Library (Internet

Archive)

[87] Cooper 1997, p. xiv.

[109] Dodds 1959, pp. 3536.

[88] Kraut 2013; Schoeld 2002; and Rowe 2006.

[110] Dodds 1959, p. 37.

[89] Brickhouse & Smith.

[90]

[91]
[92]
[93]
[94]
[95]

[111] RD McKirahan - Philosophy Before Socrates (Second

Edition): An Introduction with Texts and Commentary:
See Guthrie 1986; Vlastos 1991; Penner 1992; Kahn
An Introduction with Texts and Commentary Hackett
1996; Fine 1999b.
Publishing, 1 Mar 2011 ISBN 1603846123 [Retrieved
2015-3-20]
Dodds 2004.
[112] RS Brumbaugh - Plato for the Modern Age (p.199) UniBrandwood 1990, p. 251.
versity Press of America, 1 Jan 1991 ISBN 0819183563
[Retrieved 2015-3-20]
Brandwood 1990, p. 77.
[113] J Duy - The lonely mission of Michael Psellos (in)
Meinwald 1991.
Byzantine Philosophy and Its Ancient Sources edited by
K Ierodiakonou (Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN
The time is not long after the death of Socrates; for the
0199269718 [Retrieved 2015-3-20]
Pythagoreans [Echecrates & co.] have not heard any details yet (Burnet 1911, p. 5).
[114] Dodds 1959, p. 39.

[96] Burnet 1928a, 177.

[115] Irwin 2011, p. 71.

[97] Cooper 1997, p. vii.

[116] Slings 2003, p. xxiii.

[98] C.U.M. Smith - Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the [117] J Hankins - (p.301) ISBN 9004091610 [Retrieved 20153-20]
History of Neuroscience (page 1) Springer Science &
Business, 1 Jan 2014, 374 pages, Volume 6 of History,
[118] Allen 1975, p. 12.
philosophy and theory of the life sciences SpringerLink :
Bcher ISBN 9401787743 [Retrieved 2015-06-27]
[119] Suzanne 2009.
[99] Lackner 2001, p. 21.
[100] See Burrell 1998 and Hasse 2002, pp. 3345.

[120] Cooper 1997, pp. xii & xxvii.

[121] Oxford Classical Texts - Classical Studies & Ancient History Series - Series - Academic, Professional, & General [101] Harris, Jonathan (2002). Byzantines in Renaissance
Oxford University Press
Italy. ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval
Studies. College of Staten Island, City University of New [122] Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics - Series - Academic
and Professional Books - Cambridge University Press
York. Retrieved 9 February 2015.

7.2

Secondary sources

17

[123] Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries - Series Academic and Professional Books - Cambridge University
Press

Plato.
Charmides. Translated by Benjamin
Jowett. Wikisource. See original text in Perseus
program.

[124] Irwin 1979, pp. vi & 11.

Plato.
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Wikisource. See original text in Perseus program.

[125] Dodds 1959.

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[126] Fine 1999a, p. 482.

[127] Complete Works - Philosophy
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[129] Cornell University Press : Agora Editions
[130] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, 3.4; translation by Robert
Drew Hicks
[131] Seneca, Epistulae, VI 58:29-30; translation by Robert
Mott Gummere
[132] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, II

[134] Plato. Suda.

[136] Nails 2006, p. 1.

[137] Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 46.
[138] Plato. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002.
Plato. Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios Volume V
(in Greek). 1952.
[139] Seneca, Epistulae, VI, 58, 31: natali suo decessit et annum
umum atque octogensimum.
[140] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, III
[141] Nails 2002, p. 54.

7.2 Secondary sources

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Baird, Forrest E.; Kaufmann, Walter, eds. (2008).

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20

8 FURTHER READING

Strauss, Leo (1964). The City and the Man.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Suzanne, Bernard (8 March 2009). The Stephanus
edition. Plato and his dialogues. Retrieved 3 April
2014.
Szlezak, Thomas A. (1999). Reading Plato. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18984-5.
Tarn, Leonardo (1981).
Brill Publishers.

Speusippus of Athens.

Tarn, Leonardo (2001). Platos Alleged Epitaph.

Collected Papers 1962-1999. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 9004123040.
Taylor, Alfred Edward (2001) [1937]. Plato: The
Man and His Work. Courier Dover Publications.
ISBN 0-486-41605-4.
Taylor, C. C. W. (2011). Platos Epistemology.
In Fine, G. The Oxford Handbook of Plato. Oxford
University Press. pp. 165190.
Vlastos, Gregory (1991). Socrates: Ironist and
Moral Philosopher. Cambridge University Press.
Whitehead, Alfred North (1978). Process and Reality. New York: The Free Press.
Wilamowitz-Moellendor, Ulrich von (2005)
[1917]. Plato: His Life and Work (translated in
Greek by Xenophon Armyros). Kaktos. ISBN
960-382-664-2.

Further reading
Alican, Necip Fikri (2012). Rethinking Plato: A
Cartesian Quest for the Real Plato. Rodopi. ISBN
978-90-420-3537-9.
Allen, R. E. (1965). Studies in Platos Metaphysics
II. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0710036264
Ambuel, David (2007). Image and Paradigm in
Platos Sophist. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 9781-930972-04-9
Arieti, James A. Interpreting Plato: The Dialogues
as Drama, Rowman & Littleeld Publishers, Inc.
ISBN 0-8476-7662-5
Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of Greek
Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis
and Fragments, Traord Publishing ISBN 1-41204843-5
Barrow, Robin (2007). Plato: Continuum Library of
Educational Thought. Continuum. ISBN 0-82648408-5.

Cadame, Claude (1999). Indigenous and Modern Perspectives on Tribal Initiation Rites: Education According to Plato, pp. 278312, in Padilla,
Mark William (editor), Rites of Passage in Ancient
Greece: Literature, Religion, Society, Bucknell
University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8387-5418-X
Cooper, John M. & Hutchinson, D. S. (Eds.)
(1997). Plato: Complete Works. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 0-87220-349-2.
Corlett, J. Angelo (2005). Interpreting Platos Dialogues. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1930972-02-5
Durant, Will (1926). The Story of Philosophy. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-69500-2.
Derrida, Jacques (1972). La dissmination, Paris:
Seuil. (esp. cap.: La Pharmacie de Platon, 69-199)
ISBN 2-02-001958-2
Field, G.C. (Guy Cromwell) (1969). The Philosophy
of Plato (2nd ed. with an appendix by R. C. Cross.
ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19888040-5.
Fine, Gail (2000). Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19875206-7
Finley, M. I. (1969). Aspects of antiquity: Discoveries and Controversies The Viking Press, Inc., USA
Garvey, James (2006). Twenty Greatest Philosophy
Books. Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-9053-0.
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1986). A History of Greek Philosophy (Plato - The Man & His Dialogues - Earlier
Period), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-52131101-2
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1986). A History of Greek Philosophy (Later Plato & the Academy) Cambridge
University Press, ISBN 0-521-31102-0
Havelock, Eric (2005). Preface to Plato (History
of the Greek Mind), Belknap Press, ISBN 0-67469906-8
Hamilton, Edith & Cairns, Huntington (Eds.)
(1961). The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including
the Letters. Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0-69109718-6.
Harvard University Press publishes the hardbound
series Loeb Classical Library, containing Platos
works in Greek, with English translations on facing
pages.
Irvine, Andrew David (2008). Socrates on Trial: A
play based on Aristophanes Clouds and Platos Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, adapted for modern performance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

21
ISBN 978-0-8020-9783-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-08020-9538-1 (paper)
Hermann, Arnold (2010). Platos Parmenides: Text,
Translation & Introductory Essay, Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-71-1
Irwin, Terence (1995). Platos Ethics, Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19-508645-7
Jackson, Roy (2001). Plato: A Beginners Guide.
London: Hoder & Stroughton. ISBN 0-340-803851.
Jowett, Benjamin (1892). [The Dialogues of Plato.
Translated into English with analyses and introductions by B. Jowett.], Oxford Clarendon Press, UK,
UIN:BLL01002931898
Kochin, Michael S. (2002). Gender and Rhetoric in
Platos Political Thought. Cambridge Univ. Press.
ISBN 0-521-80852-9.

Mohr, Richard D. (Ed.), Sattler, Barbara M. (Ed.)

(2010) One Book, The Whole Universe: Platos
Timaeus Today, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 9781-930972-32-2
Moore, Edward (2007). Plato. Philosophy Insights
Series. Tirril, Humanities-Ebooks. ISBN 978-184760-047-9
Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. (1995). Genres in
Dialogue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy,
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-48264-X
Oxford University Press publishes scholarly editions
of Platos Greek texts in the Oxford Classical Texts
series, and some translations in the Clarendon Plato
Series.
Patterson, Richard (Ed.), Karasmanis, Vassilis
(Ed.), Hermann, Arnold (Ed.) (2013) Presocratics & Plato: Festschrift at Delphi in Honor of
Charles Kahn, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 9781-930972-75-9

Kraut, Richard (Ed.) (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0-521-43610-9.

Sallis, John (1996). Being and Logos: Reading the

Platonic Dialogues. Indiana University Press. ISBN
0-253-21071-2.

Lilar, Suzanne (1954), Journal de l'analogiste, Paris,

ditions Julliard; Reedited 1979, Paris, Grasset.
Foreword by Julien Gracq

Sallis, John (1999). Chorology: On Beginning in

Platos Timaeus. Indiana University Press. ISBN
0-253-21308-8.

Lilar, Suzanne (1963), Le couple, Paris, Grasset.

Translated as Aspects of Love in Western Society in
1965, with a foreword by Jonathan Grin London,
Thames and Hudson.

Sayre, Kenneth M. (2005). Platos Late Ontology:

A Riddle Resolved. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN
978-1-930972-09-4

Lilar, Suzanne (1967) A propos de Sartre et de

l'amour , Paris, Grasset.
Lundberg, Phillip (2005). Tallyho - The Hunt for
Virtue: Beauty,Truth and Goodness Nine Dialogues
by Plato: Pheadrus, Lysis, Protagoras, Charmides,
Parmenides, Gorgias, Theaetetus, Meno & Sophist.
Authorhouse. ISBN 1-4184-4977-6.
Mrquez, Xavier (2012) A Strangers Knowledge:
Statesmanship, Philosophy & Law in Platos Statesman, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-93097279-7
Melchert, Norman (2002). The Great Conversation:
A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. McGraw
Hill. ISBN 0-19-517510-7.
Miller, Mitchell (2004). The Philosopher in Platos
Statesman. Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1930972-16-2
Mohr, Richard D. (2006). God and Forms in Plato and other Essays in Platos Metaphysics. Parmenides
Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-01-8

Seung, T. K. (1996). Plato Rediscovered: Human

Value and Social Order. Rowman and Littleeld.
ISBN 0-8476-8112-2
Smith, William. (1867). Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Biography and Mythology. University of
Michigan/Online version.
Stewart, John. (2010). Kierkegaard and the Greek
World - Socrates and Plato. Ashgate. ISBN 978-07546-6981-4
Thesle, Holger (2009). Platonic Patterns: A Collection of Studies by Holger Thesle, Parmenides
Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-29-2
Thomas Taylor has translated Platos complete
works.
Thomas Taylor (1804). The Works of Plato, viz. His
Fifty-Five Dialogues and Twelve Epistles 5 vols
Vlastos, Gregory (1981). Platonic Studies, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-10021-7
Vlastos, Gregory (2006). Platos Universe - with a
new Introducution by Luc Brisson, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-930972-13-1

22

Zuckert, Catherine (2009). Platos Philosophers:

The Coherence of the Dialogues, The University of
Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-99335-5

External links
Works available on-line:
Works by Plato at Perseus Project - Greek &
English hyperlinked text
Works of Plato (Jowett, 1892)
Works by Plato at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Plato at Internet Archive
Works by Plato at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)
Plato complete works, annotated and searchable, at ELPENOR
Quick Links to Platos Dialogues (English,
Greek, French, Spanish)
The Dialogues of Plato with Apocryphal
Works from Loeb Classical Library edition
(1925-1968)
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
Plato
Platos Organicism
Platos Phaedo
Platos Political Philosophy
Platos Republic
Platos Theaetetus
Platos Academy
Middle Platonism
Neoplatonism
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
Plato
Platos Ethics
Friendship and Eros
Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology
Plato on Utopia
Rhetoric and Poetry
Other resources:
Plato at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology
Project
Plato at PhilPapers
"Plato and Platonism". Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

EXTERNAL LINKS

Website on Plato and his works: Plato and his

dialogues by Bernard Suzanne
Approaching Plato: A Guide to the Early and
Middle Dialogues

23

10
10.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Plato Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato?oldid=675745559 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Magnus Manske, General Wesc,

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24

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10.2

Images

File:Anselm_Feuerbach_-_Das_Gastmahl._Nach_Platon_(zweite_Fassung)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Source:
https:
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Anselm_Feuerbach_-_Das_Gastmahl._Nach_Platon_%28zweite_Fassung%29_
-_Google_Art_Project.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: sQGa34z2sZaRmg at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum
Original artist: Anselm Feuerbach
File:Clarke_Plato_page_1_recto.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Clarke_Plato_page_1_recto.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: Bodleian Library http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/view/all/who/Plato/what/MS.
%20E.%20D.%20Clarke%2039/ Original artist: John the Calligrapher, Clarke, Plato
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Herma_of_Plato_-_0042MC.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Herma_of_Plato_-_0042MC.
jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: taken by Ricardo Andr Frantz Original artist: Ricardo Andr Frantz (User:Tetraktys)
File:Nuremberg_chronicles_f_61v_2.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Nuremberg_chronicles_f_
61v_2.png License: Public domain Contributors: Own work (scan from original book) Original artist: Michel Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwur (Text: Hartmann Schedel)
File:POxy3679_Parts_Plato_Republic.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/P._Oxy._LII_3679.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/ Original artist: Platon

10.3

Content license

25

File:People_icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: OpenClipart Original artist: OpenClipart
File:Plato-raphael.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Plato-raphael.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Raphael
File:Plato_i_sin_akademi,_av_Carl_Johan_Wahlbom_(ur_Svenska_Familj-Journalen).png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Plato_i_sin_akademi%2C_av_Carl_Johan_Wahlbom_%28ur_Svenska_Familj-Journalen%29.png
License: Public domain Contributors: http://runeberg.org/famijour/1879/0077.html Original artist: After Carl Wahlbom
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Sanzio_01_Plato_Aristotle.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Sanzio_01_Plato_Aristotle.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: Web Gallery of Art: <a href='http://www.wga.hu/art/r/raphael/4stanze/1segnatu/1/athens1.jpg'
data-x-rel='nofollow'><img
alt='Inkscape.svg'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/
20px-Inkscape.svg.png' width='20' height='20' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/
30px-Inkscape.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/40px-Inkscape.svg.png 2x'
data-le-width='60' data-le-height='60' /></a> Image <a href='http://www.wga.hu/html/r/raphael/4stanze/1segnatu/1/athens1.html'
data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Information icon.svg' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_
icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png' width='20' height='20' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/
Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_
icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='620' data-le-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Raphael
File:Socrates.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Socrates.png License: Public domain Contributors:
Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: The original uploader was Magnus Manske at English Wikipedia Later versions
were uploaded by Optimager at en.wikipedia.
File:Socrates_and_Plato.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Socrates_and_Plato.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Speaker_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.
svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Bastique, User:Ramac et al.
File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Rei-artur Original artist: Nicholas Moreau

10.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0