Plato

Young Plato was a student of Socrates. Influenced greatly by his teacher and moved by his friend's execution, Plato went on to establish one of the most powerful bodies of intellectual work in history. Twentieth century philosopher A.E. Whitehead gave his assessment of Plato's influence saying; "the safest general characterization' of Western thought is that 'it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." That is an exaggeration, but it is fair to say that many of the major topics in contemporary thought were taken up by Plato 2300 years ago. This fact is significant. When reading Plato it is remarkable to note how little of importance has changed for human beings. The consideration by the ancients of matters such as justice, love, friendship, morality, education, happiness, knowledge, loyalty, law, etc. all remain relevant to us in the present. Many aspects of human life and society have changed over the millennia, but the basic features of the human condition have not. Reading Plato is not valuable merely for knowing about distant history; it is a study of present ourselves.

Plato wrote mostly in the form of the dialogue. His works are written as discussions and could be performed as plays. This can be challenging for readers used to prose written from a single voice. Onechallenge is that the dialogue allows for several viewpoints to be presented. A reader must attend to who is speaking at any point in the dialogue and how the discussion got to that point. Another challenge is that, as in real life, a dialogue can change topics. Sometimes it helps to read Plato aloud. It would be beneficial to have well-performed video productions of the dialogues. The dialogues are full of psychological tension and personal drama. Plato is a great writer as well as a great philosopher. To get a beginning idea of the flow of the dialogue form, read now the short excerpts from Meno and Republic.

If you have now read the brief excerpts from the Meno and the Republic, you can surely see that Plato is not writing detached and ponderous theory. His characters have life; they are passionate about their ideas. Moreover, Plato's characters are not mere inventions. Thrasymachus, Glaucon, Meno, Gorgias, and of course Socrates, were real people who had their own ideas and aggendas. Some of them were alive in Plato's time and some of those must have been dismayed to see how they were portrayed. No one would want to be remembered by history as the Thrasymachus in the Republic. Thrasymachus really was a well-known speaker and teacher. Whether he was as brutish as depicted by Plato, is open to interpretation.

Next - learn more about Plato's Objective Values

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