PLATO

born 428/427 BC, Athens, or Aegina, Greece died 348/347, Athens ancient Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient GreeksSocrates, Plato, and Aristotlewho between them laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Building on the life and thought of Socrates, Plato developed a profound and wide-ranging system of philosophy. His thought has logical, epistemological, and metaphysical aspects; but its underlying motivation is ethical. It sometimes relies upon conjectures and myth, and it is occasionally mystical in tone; but fundamentally Plato is a rationalist, devoted to the proposition that reason must be followed wherever it leads. Thus the core of Plato's philosophy, resting upon a foundation of eternal Ideas, or Forms, is a rationalistic ethics. born , 428/427 BC, Athens, or Aegina, Greece died 348/347, Athens ancient Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient GreeksSocrates, Plato, and Aristotle. He developed a wide-ranging system of philosophy that was strongly ethical, resting on a foundation of eternal Ideas, or Forms, that are universals or absolutes. Platonism influenced currents of philosophy up to the 20th century. A brief account of the life and works of Plato follows; for a full biography, see Platonism, Plato and. Born of a distinguished Athenian family, Plato had political ambitions until he became convinced that there was no place for men of conscience in active politics. After the execution of Socrates (399 BC), he and other Socratic men took temporary refuge at Megara. Plato spent the next few years traveling in Greece, Egypt, Italy, and Sicily, where he found a kindred spirit in Dion, brother-in-law of Dionysius I, the tyrant of Syracuse. About 387 he founded the Academy in Athens as an institute for the systematic pursuit of philosophical and scientific research. He presided over it for the rest of his life, making it the recognized authority also in mathematics and jurisprudence. On the death of Dionysius I in 367 Plato went to Syracuse at the request of Dion to be the tutor for Dionysius II, but the plan to educate a constitutional king failed, and Plato returned to the Academy. Although Plato considered the foundation and organization of the Academy his chief work, his importance to later generations has been as one of the greatest of philosophical writers. His dialogues are divided into two groupsthe earlier and the lateron the basis of a real difference in thought, perhaps indicating the distinction between the more Socratic thought and the more distinctively Platonic thought. Additional reading Life and thought There are several good brief introductions to Plato, including C.J. Rowe, Plato (1984); J.E. Raven, Plato's Thought in the Making: A Study of the Development of His Metaphysics (1965, reprinted 1985); G.M.A. Grube, Plato's Thought (1935, reprinted 1980); G.C. Field, The Philosophy of Plato, 2nd ed. (1969, reprinted 1978); and A.E. Taylor, Plato, the Man and His Work, 7th ed. (1960, reprinted 1969). On Plato's life, see also G.C. Field, Plato and His Contemporaries: A Study in Fourth-Century Life and Thought (1930, reprinted 1975); Alice Swift Riginos, Platonica: The Anecdotes Concerning the Life and Writings of Plato (1976); and the old but still valuable work by George Grote, Plato, and the Other Companions of Sokrates, new ed., 4 vol. (1888, reprinted 1974). On the history of the Academy, see Harold Cherniss, The Riddle of the Early Academy (1945, reprinted 1980); and John Glucker, Antiochus and the Late Academy (1978).A full and scholarly account of Plato's philosophy can be found in W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4, Plato: The Man and His Dialogues: Earlier Period (1975), and vol. 5, The Later Plato and the Academy (1978), while vol. 3, The Fifth-Century Enlightenment (1969), contains a full account of what is known about Socrates. Other general accounts include Paul Friedlnder, Plato, 3 vol. (195869; originally published in German, 2nd ed., 195460); I.M. Crombie, An Examination of Plato's Doctrines, 2 vol. (196263; reissued 1979); and J.C.B. Gosling, Plato (1973, reissued 1983). Gilbert Ryle, Plato's Progress (1966), is idiosyncratic. Much contemporary scholarly work has appeared in articles. Gregory Vlastos, Platonic Studies, 2nd ed. (1981), contains several classic papers. There are two useful anthologies: Gregory Vlastos (ed.), The Philosophy of Socrates (1971, reprinted 1980), and Plato, 2 vol. (197071, reprinted 1978).On Plato's ethics, see in particular John Gould, The Development of Plato's Ethics (1955, reprinted 1972); Pamela Huby, Plato and Modern Morality (1972); and Terence Irwin, Plato's Moral Theory: The Early and Middle Dialogues (1977, reissued 1979). On his political theory, see R.H.S. Crossman, Plato Today, rev. 2nd ed. (1959, reissued 1971); K.R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, vol. 1, The Spell of Plato, 5th ed. (1966, reprinted 1971); Ronald B. Levinson, In Defense of Plato (1953, reissued 1970); Renford Bambrough (ed.), Plato, Popper and Politics: Some Contributions to a Modern Controversy (1967); and Robert W. Hall, Plato (1981). See also Mary Margaret Mackenzie, Plato on Punishment (1981); and Richard Kraut, Socrates and the State (1984). For Plato's views on aesthetics, see Iris Murdoch, The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists (1977); and Julius Moravcsik and Philip Temko (eds.), Plato on Beauty, Wisdom, and the Arts (1982).For Plato's view of the soul, see T.M. Robinson, Plato's Psychology (1970). On the physical theory of the Timaeus, see Gregory Vlastos, Plato's Universe (1975); and on his attitude to science, see John P. Anton (ed.), Science and the Sciences in Plato (1980).On epistemology, see W.F.R. Hardie, A Study in Plato (1936); Norman Gulley, Plato's Theory of Knowledge (1962, reprinted 1973); W.g. Runciman, Plato's Later Epistemology (1962); Nicholas P. White, Plato on Knowledge and Reality (1976); and Jon Moline, Plato's Theory of Understanding (1981). The standard study of Plato's ideas on logic and dialectic is Richard Robinson, Plato's Earlier Dialectic, 2nd ed. (1953, reprinted 1984). See also Julius Stenzel, Plato's Method of Dialectic (1940, reprinted 1973; originally published in German, 2nd ed., 1931); and Kenneth M. Sayre, Plato's Analytic Method (1969).On metaphysics and the theory of Forms there is a comprehensive survey by W.D. Ross, Plato's Theory of Ideas (1951, reissued 1976); and a useful collection of essays, R.E. Allen (ed.), Studies in Plato's Metaphysics (1965, reprinted 1968). See also Friedrich Solmsen, Plato's Theology (1942, reissued 1967); Anders Wedberg, Plato's Philosophy of Mathematics (1955, reprinted 1977); Renford Bambrough (ed.), New Essays on Plato and Aristotle (1965); J.N. Findlay, Plato: The Written and Unwritten Doctrines (1974); and William J. Prior, Unity and Development in Plato's Metaphysics (1985). Commentaries Among the more useful commentaries are R.E. Allen, Plato's Euthyphro and the Earlier Theory of Forms (1970), and Socrates and Legal Obligation (1980); A.D. Woozley, Law and Obedience: The Law of Plato's Crito (1979); Rosamund Kent Sprague, Plato's Use of Fallacy: A Study of the Euthydemus and Some Other Dialogues (1962); B.A.F. Hubbard and E.S. Karnofsky, Plato's Protagoras: A Socratic Commentary (1982, reissued 1984); N.R. Murphy, The Interpretation of Plato's Republic (1951, reprinted 1967); R.C. Cross and A.D. Woozley, Plato's Republic: A Philosophical Commentary (1964, reissued 1980); Nicholas P. White, A Companion to Plato's Republic (1979); Julia Annas, An Introduction to Plato's Republic (1981); and Glenn R. Morrow, Plato's Cretan City: A Historical Interpretation of the Laws (1960). Jonathan Barnes Major Works: Works Plato's works are here listed in their traditional order, certain spurious items being omitted: Euthyphron (Euthyphro); Apologia Sokratous (Apology); Criton (Crito); Phaedon (Phaedo); Cratylos (Cratylus); Theaetetos (Theaetetus); Sophistes (Sophist); Politikos (Statesman); Parmenides; Philebos (Philebus); Symposion (Symposium); Phaedros (Phaedrus); Alkibiades (Alcibiades); Hipparchos (Hipparchus); Erastai (Lovers); Charmides; Laches; Lysis; Euthydemos (Euthydemus); Protagoras; Gorgias; Menon (Meno); Hippias Meizon (Hippias Major); Hippias Elatton (Hippias Minor); Ion; Menexenos (Menexenus); Politeia (Republic); Timaeos (Timeaus); Critias; Nomoi (Laws); and Epinomis. Texts The standard Greek text is the edition by Ioannes (John) Burnet, Platonis Opera, 5 vol. (190007, reprinted 1973 from various printings). All of the major works were translated into English by Benjamin Jowett, and the latest revisions of the Jowett translations are still the best available English versions of Plato. The Loeb Classical Library also contains the whole of Plato (in Greek and English); and several of the dialogues are published in the Penguin Classics series, including Philebus, trans. by Robin A.H. Waterfield (1982); Protagoras and Meno, trans. by W.K.C. Guthrie (1956, reissued 1966); and Plato's Symposium, trans. by W. Hamilton (1956). Recommended later editions Numerous English translations are available, including David Gallop (trans.), Phaedo (1975, reprinted 1983); John McDowell (trans.), Theaetetus (1973); Francis Macdonald Cornford (trans.), Plato's Theory of Knowledge: The Theaetetus and the Sophist of Plato (1935, reprinted 1973); J.B. Skemp (trans.), Statesman (1957, reissued 1977); R.E. Allen (trans.), Plato's Parmenides (1983); J.C.B. Gosling (trans.), Philebus (1975); R. Hackforth (trans.), Phaedo (1955, reprinted 1972); C.C.W. Taylor (trans.), Protagoras (1976); Terence Irwin (trans.), Gorgias (1979); R.W. Sharples (ed. and trans.), Meno (1985); Paul Woodruff (trans.), Hippias Major (1982); and James Adam (ed.), The Republic, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1963, reprinted 1969).