Plato

For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation) and Platon rigorous and systematic examination of ethical, political,
(disambiguation).
metaphysical, and epistemological issues, armed with a
distinctive methodcan be called his invention. Few
[1]
Plato (/pleto/; Greek: Pltn pronounced other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range: perhaps only Aristotle
[pl.tn] in Classical Attic; 428/427 or 424/423
would be gen348/347 BC) was a philosopher and mathematician in (who studied with him), Aquinas and Kant
[10]
erally
agreed
to
be
of
the
same
rank.
Classical Greece, and the founder of the Academy in
Athens, the rst institution of higher learning in the
Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal
gure in the development of philosophy, especially the 1
Western tradition.[2] Unlike nearly all of his philosophical
contemporaries, Platos entire uvre is believed to have
1.1
survived intact for over 2,400 years.[3][4]
Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous
student, Aristotle, Plato laid the very foundations of
Western philosophy and science.[5] 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.[6] In addition
to being a foundational gure for Western science, philosophy, and mathematics, Plato has also often been
cited as one of the founders of Western religion and
spirituality,[7] particularly Christianity, which Friedrich
Nietzsche, amongst other scholars, called Platonism for
the people.[8] Platos inuence on Christian thought is
often thought to be mediated by his major inuence on
Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the most important
philosophers and theologians in the history of Christianity. Plato was the innovator of the dialogue and dialectic
forms in philosophy, which originate with him. Plato
appears to have been the founder of Western political
philosophy, with his Republic, and Laws among other
dialogues, providing some of the earliest extant treatments of political questions from a philosophical perspective. Platos own most decisive philosophical inuences
are usually thought to have been Socrates, Parmenides,
Heraclitus and Pythagoras, although few of his predecessors works remain extant and much of what we know
about these gures today derives from Plato himself.[9]

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.

1.1.1 Birth and family

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.[11]
Platos mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of
a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and
lyric poet Solon.[12] 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).[13] 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).[13] The
brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Plato

as "...one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wideranging, and inuential authors in the history of philosophy. ... He was not the rst thinker or writer to whom the
word philosopher should be applied. But he was so selfconscious about how philosophy should be conceived, and
what its scope and ambitions properly are, and he so transformed the intellectual currents with which he grappled,
that the subject of philosophy, as it is often conceiveda
1

1 BIOGRAPHY

Republic as sons of Ariston,[14] and presumably brothers of Plato, but some have argued they were uncles.[15]
But in a scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger
than Plato.[16]

Athens in 605/4 BCE. There is 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
becomes a conundrum.

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.[17] 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.[18]

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[28] or that Plato derived his name from the
breadth (, platyts) of his eloquence, or else
because he was very wide (, plats) across the
forehead.[29] Recently a scholar has argued that even the
name Aristocles for Plato was a much later invention.[30]
Although Platon was a fairly common name (31 instances
are known from Athens alone[31] ), 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.

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.[19] 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.[20]
Ariston appears to have died in Platos childhood, although the precise dating of his death is dicult.[21] Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mothers brother,[22]
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.[23] Pyrilampes had a
son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous
for his beauty.[24] Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes
second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in Parmenides.[25]
In contrast to reticence about himself, Plato often introduced his distinguished relatives into his dialogues,
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
take prominent parts in the Republic.[26] 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.[27]
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

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.[32] Plato must have been instructed in grammar,
music, and gymnastics by the most distinguished teachers of his time.[33] Dicaearchus went so far as to say that
Plato wrestled at the Isthmian games.[34] 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.[35] 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
discursive.[36]

1.2 Plato and Pythagoras

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

1.4

Later life

Pythagoras, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg

Chronicle

material world. It is probable that both were inuenced

by Orphism.[37][38]
Aristotle claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely
followed the teachings of the Pythagoreans,[39] and
Cicero repeats this claim: Platonem ferunt didicisse
Pythagorea omnia (They say Plato learned all things
Pythagorean).[40] Bertrand Russell, in his A History
of Western Philosophy, contended that the inuence of
Pythagoras on Plato and others was so great that he
should be considered the most inuential of all Western
philosophers.[38]

1.3

Plato and Socrates

Main article: Socratic problem

The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention among scholars. Plato makes
it clear in his Apology of Socrates, that he was a devoted
young follower of Socrates. In that dialogue, Socrates is
presented as mentioning Plato by name as one of those
youths close enough to him to have been corrupted, if he
were in fact guilty of corrupting the youth, and questioning why their fathers and brothers did not step forward
to testify against him if he was indeed guilty of such a
crime (33d-34a). Later, Plato is mentioned along with
Crito, Critobolus, and Apollodorus as oering to pay a
ne of 30 minas on Socrates behalf, in lieu of the death
penalty proposed by Meletus (38b). In the Phaedo, the
title character lists those who were in attendance at the
prison on Socrates last day, explaining Platos absence
by saying, Plato was ill. (Phaedo 59b)
Plato 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

Plato and Socrates in a medieval depiction

the dialogues historical delity. In any case, Xenophon

and Aristophanes seem to present a somewhat dierent
portrait of Socrates from the one Plato paints. Some have
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.[41]
Aristotle attributes a dierent doctrine with respect to
the Ideas to Plato and Socrates (Metaphysics 987b111).
Putting it in a nutshell, Aristotle merely suggests that
Socrates 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.[42] 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.[43] 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.[44] The Academy operated until it was de-

PHILOSOPHY

stroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 84 BCE. Neoplatonists revived the Academy in the early 5th century, and
it operated until AD 529, when it was closed by Justinian
I of Byzantium, who saw it as a threat to the propagation
of Christianity. Many intellectuals were schooled in the
Academy, the most prominent one being Aristotle.[45][46]
Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the
politics of the city of Syracuse. According to Diogenes
Laertius, Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was under the rule of Dionysius.[47] During this rst trip Dionysiuss brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse, became one of
Platos disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against
Plato. Plato almost faced death, but he was sold into
slavery. Then Anniceris[48] bought Platos freedom for
twenty minas,[49] and sent him home. After Dionysiuss
death, according to Platos Seventh Letter, Dion requested
Plato return to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II and guide
him to become a philosopher king. Dionysius II seemed
to accept 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,[50] suggests
Plato died in his bed, whilst a young Thracian girl played
the ute to him.[51] 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.[52] According to Tertullian, Plato
simply died in his sleep.[52]

2
2.1

Philosophy
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
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 rela-

Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of

Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation
and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics
in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens,
representing his belief in The Forms

tionship 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.[53] 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

2.3

Theory of Forms

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,
crime and punishment, pleasure and pain, rhetoric and
rhapsody, human nature and sexuality, as well as love and
wisdom.

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
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
that perfect justice exists (although it is not clear where)
and his own trial would be a cheap copy of it.
The allegory of the cave (often said by scholars to represent Platos own epistemology and metaphysics) is intimately connected to his political ideology (often said to
also be Platos own), that only people who have climbed
out of the cave and cast their eyes on a vision of goodness
are t to rule. Socrates claims that the enlightened men
of society must be forced from their divine contemplations and be compelled to run the city according to their
lofty insights. Thus is born the idea of the "philosopherking", the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon
him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good
master. This is the main thesis of Socrates in the Republic, that the most wisdom the masses can muster is the
wise choice of a ruler.

2.3 Theory of Forms

Main article: Theory of Forms
The theory of Forms (or theory of Ideas) typically refers
to the belief that the material world as it seems to us is
not the real world, but only an image or copy of the
real world. In some of Platos dialogues, this is expressed
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 2.4 Epistemology
the most intelligible (noeton) and that the visible world
("(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 Many have interpreted Plato as statingeven having
pitifully in a den of evil and ignorance. Socrates admits been the rst to writethat knowledge is justied true
that few climb out of the den, or cave of ignorance, and belief, an inuential view that informed future developthose who do, not only have a terrible struggle to attain ments in epistemology.[54] This interpretation is partly
the heights, but when they go back down for a visit or based on a reading of the Theaetetus wherein Plato argues
to help other people up, they nd themselves objects of 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
events are shadows of their ideal or perfect forms, and
exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect
versions of themselves. Just as shadows are temporary,
inconsequential epiphenomena produced by physical objects, physical objects are themselves eeting phenomena
caused by more substantial causes, the ideals of which
they are mere instances. For example, Socrates thinks

his true belief (Theaetetus 201cd). And this theory may

again be seen in the Meno, where it is suggested that true
belief can be raised to the level of knowledge if it is bound
with an account as to the question of why the object
of the true belief is so (Meno 97d98a).[55] Many years
later, Edmund Gettier famously demonstrated the problems of the justied true belief account of knowledge.
That the modern theory of justied true belief as knowl-

PHILOSOPHY

edge which Gettier addresses is equivalent to Platos is accepted by some scholars but rejected by others.[56] Plato
himself also identied problems with the justied true belief denition in the Theaetetus, concluding that justication (or an account) would require knowledge of differentness, meaning that the denition of knowledge is
circular (Theaetetus 210ab).[57]
Later in the Meno, Socrates uses a geometrical example to
expound Platos view that knowledge in this latter sense
is acquired by recollection. Socrates elicits a fact concerning a geometrical construction from a slave boy, who
could not have otherwise known the fact (due to the slave
boys lack of education). The knowledge must be present,
Socrates concludes, in an eternal, non-experiential form.
In other dialogues, the Sophist, Statesman, Republic, and
the Parmenides, Plato himself associates knowledge with
the apprehension of unchanging Forms and their relationships to one another (which he calls expertise in
Dialectic), including through the processes of collection
and division.[58] More explicitly, Plato himself argues in Papirus Oxyrhynchus, with fragment of Platos Republic
the Timaeus that knowledge is always proportionate to the
realm from which it is gained. In other words, if one deetc. These correspond to the appetite part of the
rives ones account of something experientially, because
soul.
the world of sense is in ux, the views therein attained
Protective (Warriors or Guardians) those who are
will be mere opinions. And opinions are characterized
adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces.
by a lack of necessity and stability. On the other hand,
These correspond to the spirit part of the soul.
if one derives ones account of something by way of the
non-sensible forms, because these forms are unchanging,
Governing (Rulers or Philosopher Kings) those
so too is the account derived from them. That apprehenwho are intelligent, rational, self-controlled, in love
sion of forms is required for knowledge may be taken to
with wisdom, well suited to make decisions for the
[59]
cohere with Platos theory in the Theaetetus and Meno.
community. These correspond to the reason part
Indeed, the apprehension of Forms may be at the base of
of the soul and are very few.
the account required for justication, in that it oers
foundational knowledge which itself needs no account,
In the Timaeus, Plato locates the parts of the soul within
thereby avoiding an innite regression.[60]
the human body: Reason is located in the head, spirit in
the top third of the torso, and the appetite in the middle
third of the torso, down to the navel.[62][63]
2.5 The state
Main article: The Republic (Plato)
Platos philosophical views had many societal implications, 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
all cases.
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.[61]

According to this model, the principles of Athenian

democracy (as it existed in his day) are rejected as only
a few are t to rule. Instead of rhetoric and persuasion,
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)

Plato describes these philosopher kings as those who

Productive (Workers) the labourers, carpenters, love the sight of truth (Republic 475c) and supports the
plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor

2.6

Unwritten doctrines

7
responsible for such actions, rather than one individual
committing many bad deeds.) This is emphasised within
the Republic as Plato describes the event of mutiny on
board a ship.[64] Plato suggests the ships crew to be in
line with the democratic rule of many and the captain,
although inhibited through ailments, the tyrant. Platos
description of this event is parallel to that of democracy
within the state and the inherent problems that arise.

Plato in his academy, drawing after a painting by Swedish painter

Carl Johan Wahlbom

and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health

are not things that everyone is qualied to practice by nature. A large part of the Republic then addresses how
the educational system should be set up to produce these
philosopher kings.
However, it must be taken into account that the ideal
city outlined in the Republic is qualied by Socrates as
the ideal luxurious city, examined to determine how it
is that injustice and justice grow in a city (Republic
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.
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.

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).[65] 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.[66] 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.[67] In
democracy, the state bears resemblance to ancient Athens
with traits such as equality of political opportunity and
freedom for the individual to do as he likes.[68] 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.[69][65][70]

2.6 Unwritten doctrines

For a long time, Platos unwritten doctrine[71][72][73] 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

THE DIALOGUES

and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in earnest,
write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words,
which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth eectually. The same argument is
repeated in Platos Seventh Letter (344 c): every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully
avoids writing. In the same letter he writes (341 c): I
can certainly declare concerning all these writers who
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).

which has been considered erroneous by many but may

in fact have been directly inuenced by oral transmission
of Platos doctrine. A modern scholar who recognized
the importance of the unwritten doctrine of Plato was
Heinrich Gomperz who described it in his speech during
the 7th International Congress of Philosophy in 1930.[77]
All the sources related to the have
been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as Testimonia Platonica.[78] These sources have subsequently
been interpreted by scholars from the German Tbingen
School of interpretation such as Hans Joachim Krmer or
Thomas A. Szlezk.[79]

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.[74] 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.[30]

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.[80] 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.[80] A
similar interpretation has been put forth by Louis Hartz,
who suggests that elements of the dialectic are borrowed
from Hegel.[81] 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
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 evTheir account is in full agreement with Aristotles de- eryday world of appearances.[82]
scription 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 3 The dialogues
are the elements of all things. Accordingly the material
principle is the Great and Small [i.e. the Dyad], and the
See also: Stephanus pagination
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 em- Thirty-ve dialogues and thirteen letters (the Epistles)
ployed two causes: that of the essence, and the material have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, though modcause; for the Forms are the cause of the essence in ev- ern scholarship doubts the authenticity of at least some
erything else, and the One is the cause of it in the Forms. of these. Platos writings have been published in several
He also tells us what the material substrate is of which the fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the
Forms are predicated in the case of sensible things, and naming and referencing of Platos texts.
the One in that of the Forms - that it is this the duality The usual system for making unique references to sections
(the Dyad, ), the Great and Small ( of the text by Plato derives from a 16th-century edition
). Further, he assigned to these two elements of Platos works by Henricus Stephanus. An overview of
respectively the causation of good and of evil (988 a).
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[75] or Ficino[76] according to tetralogies. This scheme is ascribed by Dio-

3.2

Composition of the dialogues

genes Laertius to an ancient scholar and court astrologer scholars such as E.R. Dodds and has been summarized
to Tiberius named Thrasyllus.
by Harold Bloom in his book titled Agon: E.R. Dodds is
The works are usually grouped into Early, (sometimes by the classical scholar whose writings most illuminated the
some into Transitional), Middle, and Late period.[83][84] Hellenic descent (in) The Greeks and the Irrational [...]
This choice to group chronologically is thought worthy of In his chapter on Plato and the Irrational Soul [...] Dodds
criticism by some (Cooper et al),[85] given that its recog- traces Platos spiritual evolution from the pure rationalnised that there is no absolute agreement as to the true ist of the Protagoras to the transcendental psychologist,
Orphics, of the later
chronologicity, since the facts of the temporal order of inuenced by the Pythagoreans and
works culminating in the Laws.[90]
[86]
writing are not condently ascertained.
[91]
to make exhaustive
Early : Apology (of Socrates), Charmides, Crito, Lewis Campbell was the rst
use
of
stylometry
to
prove
objectively
that the Critias,
Euthyphro, Gorgias, (Lesser) Hippias (minor), (Greater)
Timaeus,
Laws,
Philebus,
Sophist,
and
Statesman were
Hippias (major), Ion, Laches, Lysis, Protagoras
all clustered together as a group, while the Parmenides,
Middle/Transitional : Cratylus, Euthydemus, Meno, Phaedrus, Republic, and Theaetetus belong to a separate
Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic, Symposium,
group, which must be earlier (given Aristotles statement
in his Politics[92] that the Laws was written after the ReMiddle/Late : Theaetetus
public; cf. Diogenes Laertius Lives 3.37). What is reLate : Critias, Sophist, Statesman / Politicus, Timaeus , markable about Campbells conclusions is that, in spite
Philebus, Laws
of all the stylometric studies that have been conducted
Chronologicity was not a consideration in ancient times, since his time, perhaps the only chronological fact about
in that grouping of this nature are virtually absent (Tar- Platos works that can now be said to be proven by stylometry is the fact that Critias, Timaeus, Laws, Philebus,
rant) in the extant writings of ancient Platonists.[87]
Sophist, and Statesman are the latest of Platos dialogues,
the others earlier.[93]

3.1

Writings of doubted authenticity

Jowett mentions in his Appendix to Menexenus, that

works which bore the character of a writer were attributed to that writer even when the actual author was
unknown.[88]
For below:
(*) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether
Plato is the author, and () if most scholars agree that
Plato is not the author of the work.[89]

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,[94] though
Platos works are still often characterized as falling at least
roughly into three groups.[95] The following represents
one relatively common such division.[96] It should, however, be kept in mind that many of the positions in the
ordering are still highly disputed, and also that the very
notion that Platos dialogues can or should be ordered
is by no means universally accepted.

First Alcibiades (*), Second Alcibiades (), Clitophon (*), Among those who classify the dialogues into periods of
Epinomis (), Epistles (*), Hipparchus (), Menexenus(*), composition, Socrates gures in all of the early dialogues and they are considered the most faithful repreMinos () (Rival) Lovers (), Theages ()
sentations of the historical Socrates.[97] 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 diaThe following works were transmitted under Platos logues). Three dialogues are often considered transiname, most of them already considered spurious in an- tional or pre-middle": Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Meno.
tiquity, 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
Notheuomenoi (spurious) or Apocrypha.
more clearly stated positive teachings that are often ascribed to Plato such as the theory of Forms. These di Axiochus, Denitions, Demodocus, Epigrams, alogues include Cratylus, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Republic,
Eryxias, Halcyon, On Justice, On Virtue, Sisyphus.
Symposium, Parmenides, and Theaetetus. Proponents of
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).[98] Ritters stylometric analysis places Phaeten in, nor the extent to which some might have been drus as probably after Theaetetus and Parmenides,[99] 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

10
same way. The rst book of the Republic is often thought
to have been written signicantly earlier than the rest of
the work, although possibly having undergone revisions
when the later books were attached to it.[98]

THE DIALOGUES

143b), Euclides says that he compiled the conversation

from notes he took based on what Socrates told him of
his conversation with the title character. The rest of the
Theaetetus is presented as a book written in dramatic
form and read by one of Euclides slaves (143c). Some
scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this
date wearied of the narrated form.[102] With the exception of the Theaetetus, Plato gives no explicit indication
as to how these orally transmitted conversations came to
be written down.

The remaining dialogues are classied as late and are

generally agreed to be dicult and challenging pieces of
philosophy. This grouping is the only one proven by stylometric analysis.[93] While looked to for Platos mature
answers to the questions posed by his earlier works, those
answers are dicult to discern. Some scholars[97] indicate that the theory of Forms is absent from the late dialogues, its having been refuted in the Parmenides, but
3.4 Trial of Socrates
there isn't total consensus that the Parmenides actually
refutes the theory of Forms.[100] The so-called late diMain article: Trial of Socrates
alogues include Critias, Laws, Philebus, Sophist, Statesman, and Timaeus.[97]
The trial of Socrates is the central, unifying event of the
great Platonic dialogues. Because of this, Platos Apology
3.3 Narration of the dialogues
is perhaps the most often read of the dialogues. In the
Apology, Socrates tries to dismiss rumors that he is a
Plato never presents himself as a participant in any of sophist and defends himself against charges of disbelief in
the dialogues, and with the exception of the Apology, the gods and corruption of the young. Socrates insists that
there is no suggestion that he heard any of the dia- long-standing slander will be the real cause of his demise,
logues rsthand. Some dialogues have no narrator but and says the legal charges are essentially false. Socrates
have a pure dramatic form (examples: Meno, Gorgias, famously denies being wise, and explains how his life as
Phaedrus, Crito, Euthyphro), some dialogues are narrated a philosopher was launched by the Oracle at Delphi. He
by Socrates, wherein he speaks in rst person (examples: says that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put
Lysis, Charmides, Republic). One dialogue, Protagoras, him at odds with his fellow man, and that this is the reabegins in dramatic form but quickly proceeds to Socrates son he has been mistaken for a menace to the city-state
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
[101]
The Symposium is
long after the execution took place.
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 embedded 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

3.6

Platonic scholarship

11

bad reputation, and ultimately, his death. In the Symposium, the two of them are drinking together with other
friends. The character Phaedrus is linked to the main
story line by character (Phaedrus is also a participant in
the Symposium and the Protagoras) and by theme (the
philosopher as divine emissary, etc.) The Protagoras is
also strongly linked to the Symposium by characters: all
of the formal speakers at the Symposium (with the exception of Aristophanes) are present at the home of Callias
in that dialogue. Charmides and his guardian Critias are
present for the discussion in the Protagoras. Examples
of characters crossing between dialogues can be further
multiplied. The Protagoras contains the largest gathering
of Socratic associates.
In the dialogues Plato is most celebrated and admired for,
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
The safest general characterisation of the European philosophnot consistent within or between or among dialogues.
ical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.
(Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929).

3.6

Platonic scholarship

Although their popularity has uctuated over the years,

the works of Plato have never been without readers since
the time they were written.[103] 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.

totles 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.[106]
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.[107]

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,[104]
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;[105] Cosimo would
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, Aris- By the 19th century, Platos reputation was restored, and

12

THE DIALOGUES

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.[108] 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.[109]
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 Platonism 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

See also: List of manuscripts of Platos dialogues

First page of the Euthyphro, from the Clarke Plato (Codex Oxoniensis Clarkianus 39), 895 AD. The text is Greek minuscule.

generally good by the standards of textual criticism.[111]

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.[112]
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.[113]

The oldest surviving complete manuscript for many of

Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive.[110] The the dialogues is the Clarke Plato (Codex Oxoniensis
texts of Plato as received today apparently represent the Clarkianus 39, or Codex Boleianus MS E.D. Clarke 39),
complete written philosophical work of Plato and are which was written in Constantinople in 895 and acquired

13
by Oxford University in 1809.[114] 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.[115] 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.[116]
A must be a copy of the edition edited by the patriarch,
Photios, teacher of Arethas.[117][118][119] 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.[120] In total there
are fty-one such Byzantine manuscripts known, while
others may yet be found.[121]
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)
are also used. Many papyri which contain fragments of
Platos texts are among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The
2003 Oxford Classical Texts edition by Slings even cites
the Coptic translation of a fragment of the Republic in
the Nag Hammadi library as evidence.[122] Important authors for testimony include Olympiodorus the Younger,
Plutarch, Proclus, Iamblichus, Eusebius, and Stobaeus.
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.[123][124] 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.[125]

3.8

Modern editions

The Oxford Classical Texts oers the current standard

complete Greek text of Platos complete works. In ve
volumes edited by John Burnet, its rst edition was published 1900-1907, and it is still available from the publisher, having last been printed in 1993.[126][127] The second edition is still in progress with only the rst volume,
printed in 1995, and the Republic, printed in 2003, available. The Cambridge Greek and Latin Texts and Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries series includes
Greek editions of the Protagoras, Symposium, Phaedrus,
Alcibiades, and Clitophon, with English philological, literary, and, to an extent, philosophical commentary.[128][129]

One distinguished edition of the Greek text is E. R.

Dodds' of the Gorgias, which includes extensive English
commentary.[130][131]
The modern standard complete English edition is the
1997 Hackett Plato, Complete Works, edited by John M.
Cooper.[132][133] For many of these translations Hackett
oers separate volumes which include more by way of
commentary, notes, and introductory material. There
is also the Clarendon Plato Series by Oxford University Press which oers English translations and thorough
philosophical commentary by leading scholars on a few
of Platos works, including John McDowell's version of
the Theaetetus.[134] Cornell University Press has also begun the Agora series of English translations of classical and medieval philosophical texts, including a few of
Platos.[135]

4 See also
Cambridge Platonists
List of speakers in Platos dialogues
Methexis
Platos tripartite theory of soul
Platonic Academy
Platonic love
Platonic solid
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 possible meanings of the nickname:[136]

' ,
[],
.

,
.
And he learnt gymnastics under Ariston, the
Argive wrestler. And from him he received

14

6 FOOTNOTES
the name of Plato on account of his robust gure, in place of his original name which was
Aristocles, after his grandfather, as Alexander informs us in his Successions of Philosophers. But others arm that he got the name
Plato from the breadth of his style, or from the
breadth of his forehead, as suggested by Neanthes.

Thomas Browne also believes that Plato was born in the

88th Olympiad.[141] Renaissance Platonists celebrated
Platos birth on November 7.[142] Ulrich von WilamowitzMoellendor estimates that Plato was born when Diotimos was archon eponymous, namely between July 29,
428 BCE and July 24, 427 BCE.[143] 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.[144] For her
Seneca mentions the meaning of Platos name in connec- part, Debra Nails asserts that the philosopher was born
in 424/423 BCE.[142] According to Seneca Plato died at
tion to a moral lesson:[137]
the age of 81 on the same day he was born.[145]
Illud simul cogitemus, si mundum ipsum, non
c. ^ Diogenes Laertius mentions that Plato was born, acminus mortalem quam nos sumus, providentia
cording to some writers, in Aegina in the house of Phidipericulis eximit, posse aliquatenus nostra quoades the son of Thales. Diogenes mentions as one of his
que providentia longiorem prorogari huic corsources the Universal History of Favorinus. According
pusculo moram, si voluptates, quibus pars mato Favorinus, Ariston, Platos family, and his family were
ior perit, potuerimus regere et coercere. Plato
sent by Athens to settle as cleruchs (colonists retaining
ipse ad senectutem se diligentia protulit. Erat
their Athenian citizenship), on the island of Aegina, from
quidem corpus validum ac forte sortitus et ilwhich they were expelled by the Spartans after Platos
li nomen latitudo pectoris fecerat, sed navigabirth there.[146] Nails points out, however, that there is
tiones ac pericula multum detraxerant viribus;
no record of any Spartan expulsion of Athenians from
parsimonia tamen et eorum quae aviditatem
Aegina between 431411 BCE.[147] On the other hand,
evocant modus et diligens sui tutela perduxit
at the Peace of Nicias, Aegina was silently left under
illum ad senectutem multis prohibentibus cauAthens control, and it was not until the summer of 411
sis.
that the Spartans overran the island.[148] Therefore, Nails
Let us at the same time reect, seeing that
Providence rescues from its perils the world
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.[138] According to another biographer of him, Neanthes, Plato
was eighty-four years of age at his death.[138] 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).[139] 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.[140] Sir

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).[147] Aegina is regarded
as Platos place of birth by Suda as well.[140]

6 Footnotes
[1] Jones 2006.
[2] quote="...the subject of philosophy, as it is often
conceiveda rigorous and systematic examination of ethical, political, metaphysical, and epistemological issues,
armed with a distinctive methodcan be called his invention http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/
[3] See introduction. https://books.google.com/books?id=
eSKTvJDrr5kC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_
summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
[4] quote= " one of the most dazzling writers in the Western
literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wideranging, and inuential authors in the history of philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/
[5] Plato. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002.
[6] Whitehead 1978, p. 39.
[7] http://rebels-library.org/files/foucault_hermeneutics.pdf
[8] http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.
htm

15

[9] quote="Though inuenced primarily by Socrates, to the

extent that Socrates is usually the main character in many
of Platos writings, he was also inuenced by Heraclitus,
Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans.http://www.iep.utm.
edu/plato/
[10] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/
[11] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, III
Nails 2002, p. 53
Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 46
[12] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, I
[13] Guthrie 1986, p. 10
Taylor 2001, p. xiv
Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 47
[14] Plato, Republic 368a
Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 47
[15] 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
.
[16] Xenophon, Memorabilia, 3.6.1

[34] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, V

[35] Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1.987a
[36] Borody 1998.
[37] 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.
[38] Russell, Bertrand (1991). History of Western Philosophy.
Routledge. pp. 122124. ISBN 0-415-07854-7.
[39] Metaphysics, 1.6.1 (987a)
[40] Tusc. Disput. 1.17.39.
[41] Strauss 1964, pp. 5051.
[42] McEvoy 1984.
[43] Cairns 1961, p. xiii.
[44] Robinson 1827, p. 16.
[45] Dillon 2003, pp. 13.
[46] Press 2000, p. 1.
[47] Riginos 1976, p. 73.

[17] Nails 2002, p. 247.

[18] Nails 2002, p. 246.

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

[19] Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, 1

Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, I
Plato. Suda.

[49] Diogenes Laertius, Book iii, 20

[20] Cicero, De Divinatione, I, 36

[51] Schall 1996.

[21] Nails 2002, p. 53

Taylor 2001, p. xiv

[52] Riginos 1976, p. 195.

[22] Plato, Charmides 158a

Nails 2003, pp. 228229

[54] Fine 2003, p. 5.

[23] Plato, Charmides 158a

Plutarch, Pericles, IV
[24] Plato, Gorgias 481d and 513b
Aristophanes, Wasps, 97
[25] Plato, Parmenides 126c
[26] Guthrie 1986, p. 11.
[27] Kahn 2004, p. 186.
[28] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV
[29] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV
Notopoulos 1939, p. 135
[30] see Tarn 1981, p. 226.
[31] Guthrie 1986, p. 12 (footnote).
[32] Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, 2
[33] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, IV
Smith 1870, p. 393

[50] Riginos 1976, p. 194.

[53] Baird & Kaufmann 2008.

[55] McDowell 1973, p. 230.

[56] Fine 1979, p. 366.
[57] McDowell 1973, p. 256.
[58] Taylor 2011, pp. 176187.
[59] Lee 2011, p. 432.
[60] Taylor 2011, p. 189.
[61] Blssner 2007, pp. 345349.
[62] Plato, Timaeus 44d & 70
[63] Dorter 2006, p. 360.
[64] Plato, Republic 488
[65] Blssner 2007, p. 350.
[66] Republic 550b
[67] Republic 554a
[68] Republic 561ab

16

[69] Republic 571a

[70] Dorter 2006, pp. 253267.
[71] Rodriguez-Grandjean 1998.
[72] Reale 1990. Cf. p.14 and onwards.
[73] Krmer 1990. Cf. pp.38-47.
[74] Elementa harmonica II, 3031; quoted in Gaiser 1980, p.
5.
[75] 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.
[76] 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.

6 FOOTNOTES

[86] JM. Cooper (Stuart Professor of Philosophy, Princeton

University c.1997), D. S. Hutchinson - Complete Works
- xii Hackett Publishing, 1997 [Retrieved 2015-3-31](ed.
this source was 1st source for criticism of < chronological
order >)
[87] H Tarrant (Professor of Classics at the University of
Newcastle, New South Wales) - Platos First Interpreters
(Cornell University Press, 2000) ISBN 080143792X [Retrieved 2015-3-31]
[88] B Jowett - APPENDIX I (1st paragraph) - MENEXENUS[Retrieved 2015-3-31]
[89] The extent to which scholars consider a dialogue to be authentic is noted in Cooper 1997, pp. vvi.
[90] Bloom 1982, p. 5.
[91] Burnet 1928b, p. 9.
[92] Aristotle, Politics 1264b24-27.
[93] Cooper 1997, p. xiv.
[94] Kraut 2013; Schoeld 2002; and Rowe 2006.
[95] Brickhouse & Smith.

[77] Gomperz 1931.

[78] Gaiser 1998.

[96] See Guthrie 1986; Vlastos 1991; Penner 1992; Kahn

1996; Fine 1999b.

[79] For a brief description of the problem see for example [97] Dodds 2004.
Gaiser 1980. A more detailed analysis is given by Krmer [98] Brandwood 1990, p. 251.
1990. Another description is by Reale 1997 and Reale
1990. A thorough analysis of the consequences of such an [99] Brandwood 1990, p. 77.
approach is given by Szlezak 1999. Another supporter of
this interpretation is the German philosopher Karl Albert, [100] Meinwald 1991.
cf. Albert 1980 or Albert 1996. Hans-Georg Gadamer
[101] The time is not long after the death of Socrates; for the
is also sympathetic towards it, cf. Grondin 2010 and
Pythagoreans [Echecrates & co.] have not heard any deGadamer 1980. Gadamers nal position on the subject
tails yet (Burnet 1911, p. 5).
is stated in Gadamer 1997.
[80] Blackburn 1996, p. 104.

[102] Burnet 1928a, 177.

[103] Cooper 1997, p. vii.

[81] Hartz, Louis. 1984. A Synthesis of World History. Zurich:
[104] C.U.M. Smith - Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the
Humanity Press
History of Neuroscience (page 1) Springer Science &
Business, 1 Jan 2014, 374 pages, Volume 6 of History,
[82] Popper 1962, p. 133.
philosophy and theory of the life sciences SpringerLink :
Bcher ISBN 9401787743 [Retrieved 2015-06-27]
[83] C. D. C. Reeve (Delta Kappa Epsilon Distinguished
Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill) - A Plato Reader: Eight Essential Dialogues [105] Lackner 2001, p. 21.
(page vi - Introduction) Hackett Publishing 2012 - 592
[106] See Burrell 1998 and Hasse 2002, pp. 3345.
pages ISBN 1603849173 [Retrieved 2015-3-31](ed. this
the rst source of < Early, Middle,(Transitional), Late > [107] Harris, Jonathan (2002). Byzantines in Renaissance
Italy. ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval
[84] Robin Barrow (Professor of Philosophy of Education at
Studies. College of Staten Island, City University of New
Simon Fraser University, Canada and Fellow of The Royal
York. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
Society of Canada) - Appendix 2:Notes on the authenticity and Groupings of Platos works (in) Plato Bloomsbury [108] Boyer 1991, p. 86: 'Plato is important in the history of
mathematics largely for his role as inspirer and director
Publishing, 18 Dec 2014 ISBN 1472504852 [Retrieved
of others, and perhaps to him is due the sharp distinction
2015-3-31]
in ancient Greece between arithmetic (in the sense of the
[85] Preface - page x (of) Platonic Writings/Platonic Readings
theory of numbers) and logistic (the technique of compu(edited by CL. Griswold Jr) Penn State Press, 1 Nov 2010
tation). Plato regarded logistic as appropriate for the busiISBN 0271044810 [Retrieved 2015-3-31]
nessman and for the man of war, who must learn the art

17

of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops. [133] Complete Works - Philosophy
The philosopher, on the other hand, must be an arithmetician because he has to arise out of the sea of change and [134] Clarendon Plato Series - Philosophy Series - Series - Academic, Professional, & General - Oxford University Press
lay hold of true being."'
[109] Einstein 1949, pp. 683684.

[135] Cornell University Press : Agora Editions

[110] Brumbaugh & Wells 1989.

[136] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, 3.4; translation by Robert

Drew Hicks

[111] Irwin 2011, pp. 64 & 74. See also Slings 1987, p. 34:
"... primary MSS. together oer a text of tolerably good [137] Seneca, Epistulae, VI 58:29-30; translation by Robert
Mott Gummere
quality (this is without the further corrections of other
sources).
[138] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, II
[112] Slings 1987, p. 31.

[139] Nietzsche 1967, p. 32.

[113] Cooper 1997, pp. viiixii.

[140] Plato. Suda.

[114] Manuscripts - Philosophy Faculty Library (Internet [141]

Archive)
[142]
[115] Dodds 1959, pp. 3536.
[143]
[116] Dodds 1959, p. 37.
[144]
[117] RD McKirahan - Philosophy Before Socrates (Second
Edition): An Introduction with Texts and Commentary:
An Introduction with Texts and Commentary Hackett
Publishing, 1 Mar 2011 ISBN 1603846123 [Retrieved [145]
2015-3-20]

Browne 1672.
Nails 2006, p. 1.
Wilamowitz-Moellendor 2005, p. 46.
Plato. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002.
Plato. Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios Volume V
(in Greek). 1952.
Seneca, Epistulae, VI, 58, 31: natali suo decessit et annum
umum atque octogensimum.

[118] RS Brumbaugh - Plato for the Modern Age (p.199) Uni- [146] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Plato, III
versity Press of America, 1 Jan 1991 ISBN 0819183563
[147] Nails 2002, p. 54.
[Retrieved 2015-3-20]
[119] J Duy - The lonely mission of Michael Psellos (in) [148] Thucydides, 5.18
Thucydides, 8.92
Byzantine Philosophy and Its Ancient Sources edited by
K Ierodiakonou (Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN
0199269718 [Retrieved 2015-3-20]
[120] Dodds 1959, p. 39.
[121] Irwin 2011, p. 71.
[122] Slings 2003, p. xxiii.
[123] J Hankins - (p.301) ISBN 9004091610 [Retrieved 20153-20]
[124] Allen 1975, p. 12.
[125] Suzanne 2009.
[126] Cooper 1997, pp. xii & xxvii.
[127] Oxford Classical Texts - Classical Studies & Ancient History Series - Series - Academic, Professional, & General Oxford University Press
[128] Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics - Series - Academic
and Professional Books - Cambridge University Press
[129] Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries - Series Academic and Professional Books - Cambridge University
Press
[130] Irwin 1979, pp. vi & 11.
[131] Dodds 1959.
[132] Fine 1999a, p. 482.

7 References
7.1 Primary sources (Greek and Roman)
Apuleius, De Dogmate Platonis, I. See original text
in Latin Library.
Aristophanes, The Wasps.
Perseus program.

See original text in

Aristotle, Metaphysics. See original text in Perseus

program.
Cicero, De Divinatione, I. See original text in Latin
library.

Diogenes Lartius, Life of Plato, translated by

Robert Drew Hicks (1925).

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

18

Plato.
The Republic. Translated by Benjamin
Jowett. Wikisource. See original text in Perseus
program.
Plutarch (1683) [written in the late 1st century].
" Pericles". Lives. Translated by John Dryden.
Wikisource. See original text in Perseus program.

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Seneca the Younger.

Moral Letters to Lucilius:
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Brumbaugh, Robert S.; Wells, Rulon S. (October

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Thucydides.
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Burnet, John (1911). Platos Phaedo. Oxford University Press.

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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.

8 Further reading
Alican, Necip Fikri (2012). Rethinking Plato: A
Cartesian Quest for the Real Plato. Amsterdam and
New York: Editions Rodopi B.V. ISBN 978-90420-3537-9.
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

21
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.

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

Fine, Gail (2000). Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN 0-19875206-7

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

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

Finley, M. I. (1969). Aspects of antiquity: Discoveries and Controversies The Viking Press, Inc., USA

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.

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

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.

Havelock, Eric (2005). Preface to Plato (History

of the Greek Mind), Belknap Press, ISBN 0-67469906-8

Mrquez, Xavier (2012) A Strangers Knowledge:

Statesmanship, Philosophy & Law in Platos Statesman, Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 978-1-93097279-7

Hamilton, Edith & Cairns, Huntington (Eds.)

(1961). The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including
the Letters. Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0-69109718-6.

Melchert, Norman (2002). The Great Conversation:

A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. McGraw
Hill. ISBN 0-19-517510-7.

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.
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

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
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

22
Nightingale, Andrea Wilson. (1995). Genres in
Dialogue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy,
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-48264-X

EXTERNAL LINKS

9 External links
Works available on-line:

Oxford University Press publishes scholarly editions

of Platos Greek texts in the Oxford Classical Texts
series, and some translations in the Clarendon Plato
Series.

Works by Plato at Perseus Project - Greek &

English hyperlinked text

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

Works by or about Plato at Internet Archive

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

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

Quick Links to Platos Dialogues (English,

Greek, French, Spanish)

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

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

Works of Plato (Jowett, 1892)

Works by Plato at Project Gutenberg
Works by Plato at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)
Plato complete works, annotated and searchable, at ELPENOR

The Dialogues of Plato with Apocryphal

Works from Loeb Classical Library edition
(1925-1968)
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

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

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

Plato

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

Value and Social Order. Rowman and Littleeld.
ISBN 0-8476-8112-2

Platos Political Philosophy

Smith, William. (1867). Dictionary of Greek and

Roman Biography and Mythology. University of
Michigan/Online version.

Platos Academy

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
Zuckert, Catherine (2009). Platos Philosophers:
The Coherence of the Dialogues, The University of
Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-99335-5

Platos Organicism
Platos Phaedo
Platos Republic
Platos Theaetetus
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.
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=687500766 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Magnus Manske, General Wesc,

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24

10

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SpaceFlight89, Thesevenseas, Crescent66, Saayiit, Maricon0wnz, Darivative, Cnwilliams, Volcry, Tamiicash, Tim1357, Abc518, Kgrad,
FoxBot, Double sharp, TobeBot, Pollinosisss, Georgiamusic, Jskhatter, Mono, Lotje, Loyalprecision, TurkeyStuers, Vera.tetrix, Clrbear430, Lkjhgfdsa 0, Straightthugtom, Satdeep Gill, Tbhotch, Gtziavelis, Fghsfghsfghs, Tat3rt0t1234, Waschwartz, DARTH SIDIOUS 2,
TjBot, Ripchip Bot, Saruha, Brandaray, Mandolinface, DASHBot, DiogenesTCP, EmausBot, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot, Marecheth
Ho'eElohuth, Syncategoremata, Mychele Trempetich, J. Clef, Tommy2010, Aur, Evanh2008, Kkm010, HiW-Bot, ZroBot, Soturix,
DelianDiver, Bilbo571, H3llBot, Wiooiw, AndrewOne, Zap Rowsdower, Ocaasi, JCGTU, Aidarzver, Coasterlover1994, DRMAR777,
L Kensington, MonoAV, Chewings72, Eastern Emperor, ChuispastonBot, Tziemer991, Jordibuma, Neil P. Quinn, GaleCarrLV, Petrb,
Helpsome, ClueBot NG, Hannaharendt, GoetheFromm, ReecyBoy42, Movses-bot, Alis9, Ashrzr, Frietjes, Polyesterthought, Oxford73,
Patrycja Z., Helpful Pixie Bot, Clandarkre, Lowercase sigmabot, Vagobot, TCN7JM, Odarcan, Graham11, TheGeneralUser, AvocatoBot, Davidiad, Snow Rise, Cncmaster, TROPtastic, CitationCleanerBot, Chmarkine, Dobrich, Asauers, Corey833, David12345, BattyBot,
Pendragon5, Zaxnaaog, Pratyya Ghosh, Zen Light, Arr4, Cyberbot II, Maxronnersjo, Khazar2, Ducknish, Vanished user sdij4rtltkjasdk3,
Asisman, Archer47, Pirhayati, Dexbot, Belisariusgroup, Webclient101, Prohairesius, TwoTwoHello, Lugia2453, VIAFbot, Graphium,
EntroDipintaGabbia, DanielTom, Juc123, Nicereddy, PinkAmpersand, Godot13, Link2077, I am One of Many, JPaestpreornJeolhlna,
Sosthenes12, Ketxus, Rakomwolvesbane, 7532665a, Jakec, Clover-bergamot, Elard09, Amb941, Navindukaru, X2sherman, Zenibus, Ginsuloft, Gavelboy, Inanygivenhole, Marcbcarlson, Jackmcbarn, Fredmond4, Aubreybardo, LittleIPEditor, Vancouver Socrates, Bojo1498,
Reinerda, Nizolan, 1234timewar, FelixRosch, Monkbot, , Gunduu, Statelaw1944, Crazynyancat, Good afternoon, Zeiimer, House of
Mogh, Seshata, Jordanjlatimer, Tetra quark, Hujt, Whalestate, Mj thenovelatre, KasparBot, Kingshowman and Anonymous: 1359

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