The name of Plato, a philosopher who lived in ancient Greece, is known not only to students of history and philosophy faculties. His teachings and works are famous all over the world thanks to the efforts made by supporters and students of the Platonic school immediately during his lifetime. As a result, Plato's ideas became widespread and quickly spread throughout Greece, and then throughout Ancient Rome, and from there to its numerous colonies.

The life and work of the philosopher was varied, which is associated with the characteristics of Greek society of the 5th-4th centuries. BC.

Formation of Plato's worldview

The philosopher's teachings were greatly influenced by his origin, family, education, and the political system of Hellas. Plato's biographers believe that he was born in either 428 or 427 BC, and died in 348 or 347 BC.

At the time of Plato’s birth, a war was going on in Greece between Athens and Sparta, which was called the Peloponnesian War. The reason for the internecine struggle was the establishment of influence over all of Hellas and the colonies.

The name Plato was invented either by a wrestling teacher or by the philosopher’s students in his youth, but at birth he was named Aristocles. Translated from ancient Greek, “Plato” means broad or broad-shouldered. According to one version, Aristocles was engaged in wrestling and had a large and strong physique, for which the teacher called him Plato. Another version says that the nickname arose due to the ideas and views of the philosopher. There is a third option, according to which Plato had a rather wide forehead.

Aristocles was born in Athens. His family was considered quite noble and aristocratic, descended from King Kodra. Almost nothing is known about the boy’s father; most likely, his name was Ariston. Mother - Periktion - took an active part in the life of Athens. Among the relatives of the future philosopher were the outstanding politician Solon, the ancient Greek playwright Critias, and the orator Andokides.

Plato had one sister and three brothers - two brothers and one half-brother, and none of them were interested in politics. And Aristocles himself preferred to read books, write poetry, and talk with philosophers. His brothers did this too.

The boy received a very good education for that time, which consisted of attending music, gymnastics, literacy, drawing, and literature lessons. In his youth, he began to compose his own tragedies, epigrams, which were dedicated to the gods. His passion for literature did not prevent Plato from taking part in various games, competitions, and wrestling tournaments.

Plato's philosophy was greatly influenced by:

• Socrates, who turned the life and worldview of a young man upside down. It was Socrates who gave Plato the confidence that there is truth and high values ​​in life that can give benefits and beauty. These privileges can only be achieved through hard work, self-knowledge and improvement.
• The teachings of the Sophists, who argued that there is social inequality, and morality is an invention of the weak, and an aristocratic form of government is best suited for Greece.
• Euclid, around whom Socrates' disciples gathered. For some time they remembered the teacher and experienced his death. It was after moving to Megara that Plato came up with the idea of ​​traveling the world, believing, like his teacher, that wisdom is passed on from other people. And for this you need to travel and communicate.

Journey

Historians have not fully established where Plato first went. It is possible that it was Babylon or Assyria. The sages from these countries gave him knowledge of magic and astronomy. Where the wandering Greek followed, biographers can only guess. Among the versions are Phenicia, Judea, Egypt, several cities in North Africa, where he met the greatest mathematicians of the time - Theodore and Aristippus. The philosopher took mathematics lessons from the first and gradually began to become closer to the Pythagoreans. Their influence on Platonic philosophy is evidenced by the fact that Plato studied various symbols of the Cosmos and human existence. The Pythagoreans helped make the philosopher's teaching more clear, strict, harmonious, consistent and comprehensive. He then used these principles to examine each subject and create his own theories.

Plato was accompanied on his journey by Eudoxus, who glorified Hellas in the field of astronomy and geography. Together they visited the countries mentioned above, and then stopped for a long time in Sicily. From here he went to Syracuse, where he met the tyrant Dionysius. The trip lasted until 387 BC.

Plato was forced to flee from Syracuse, fearing persecution by the tyrant. But the Greek did not make it home. He was sold into slavery on the island of Aegina, where he was bought by one of the local residents. Plato was immediately released.

After long wanderings, the philosopher again found himself in Athens, where he bought a house with a garden. Previously, there was a pagan sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Athena. According to legend, the area was donated by Theseus to the hero Academ for special services. He ordered olive trees to be planted here and a sanctuary to be built.

Platonov Academy

The inhabitants of Athens quickly began to call the place where Plato lived the Academy. This name covered gardens, gymnasiums, and groves. In 385 BC, a philosophical school was formed that existed until the 5th century. AD, i.e. until the end of antiquity.

The Academy in form represented an association of sages who served Apollo and various muses.

The Academy was also called a museyon, and its founder – a scholar. It is interesting that during his lifetime, Plato’s successor was appointed, and he made his own nephew.

Above the entrance to the Academy there was an inscription “Let no non-geometer enter,” which meant that entry to the school was closed to anyone who did not respect mathematics and geometry.

The main subjects at school were astronomy and mathematics, classes took place according to a general and individual system. The first type of classes was suitable for the general public, and the second - only for a rather narrow circle of people who wanted to study philosophy.

The students of the Academy lived in the gymnasium, and therefore had to follow a strict daily routine established by Plato himself. In the mornings, the students were woken up by the ringing of an alarm clock, which the philosopher made himself. The students lived quite ascetically, as the Pythagoreans preached, they all ate together, spent a lot of time in silence, thought, and purified their own thoughts.

Classes at the Academy were taught by Plato, his students, and graduates of the philosophical school who successfully completed the course of study. The conversations took place in a garden or grove, a house where a special exedra was equipped.

Students of the Platonic Academy paid special attention to the study of the following sciences:

• Philosophy;
• Mathematics;
• Astronomy;
• Literature;
• Botany;
• Law (including legislation, state structure);
• Natural science.

Among Plato's students were Lycurgus, Hyperilus, Philip of Opunt, and Demosthenes.

last years of life

When Plato was over 60 years old, he was again invited to Syracuse, where Dionysius the Younger ruled. According to Dion, the ruler sought to acquire new knowledge. Plato managed to convince the tyrant that tyranny is an ineffective form of government. Dionysius the Younger admitted this quite quickly.

Due to gossip and machinations of his enemies, Dion was expelled by his ruler from Syracuse, and therefore moved to live in Athens, at Plato's Academy. Following his friend, the elderly philosopher returned home.

One more time Plato visited Syracuse, but was completely disappointed in Dionysius, seeing his treachery towards others. Dion remained in Sicily, dying in 353 BC. The news of his friend’s death greatly crippled the philosopher; he began to constantly get sick and be alone. The year and day of Plato's death are not precisely established. It is believed that he died on his birthday. Before his death, he gave freedom to his slave and ordered a will to be drawn up, according to which the philosopher’s small property was distributed to friends.

The great Greek was buried in the Academy, where the inhabitants of Athens erected a monument to Plato.

Works of Plato

Unlike many ancient authors, whose works reached modern readers in a fragmentary state, Plato’s works have been preserved in their entirety. The authenticity of some of them is questioned by biographers, as a result of which the “Platonic question” arose in historiography. The general list of the philosopher’s works is:

• 13 letters;
• Apology of Socrates;
• 34 dialogues.

It is precisely because of dialogues that researchers argue constantly. The best and most famous creations in dialogue form are:

• Phaedo;
• Parmenides;
• Sophist;
• Timaeus;
• State;
• Phaedrus;
• Parmenides.

One of the Pythagoreans, whose name was Thrasyllus, who served as an astrologer at the court of the Roman emperor Tiberius, collected and published the works of Plato. The philosopher decided to break all creations into tetralogies, as a result of which Alcibiades the First and Second, Rivals, Protagoras, Gorgias, Lysis, Cratylus, Apology, Crito, Minos, Laws, Post-Laws, Letters, State and others appeared.

There are known dialogues that were published under the name of Plato.

The study of Plato's creativity and works began in the 17th century. The so-called “corpus of Plato’s texts” began to be critically studied by scientists who tried to sort the works according to a chronological principle. It was then that the suspicion arose that not all of the works belonged to the philosopher.

Most of Plato's works are written in the form of dialogue, which was used to conduct court hearings and proceedings in ancient Greece. Such a form, as the Greeks believed, helped to adequately and correctly reflect the emotions and living speech of a person. The dialogues best corresponded to the principles of objective idealism, the concept of which was developed by Plato. Idealism was based on principles such as:

• Primacy of consciousness.
• The predominance of ideas over being.

Plato did not specifically study dialectics, being and knowledge, but his thoughts on these problems of philosophy are presented in numerous works. For example, in the “letters of Plato” or in the “Republic”.

Features of Plato's teachings

• The philosopher studied Genesis based on three main substances - soul, mind and unity. However, he did not give a clear definition of these concepts, so researchers found that in some places he contradicted himself in his definitions. This is also manifested in the fact that Plato tried to interpret these substances from different points of view. The same applied to the properties that were attributed to concepts - often the properties not only contradicted each other, but were also mutually exclusive and incompatible. Plato interpreted the “One” as the basis of being and reality, considering substance to be the first principle. The One has no signs, as well as properties, which prevents, according to Plato, from finding its essence. The One is one, without parts, does not belong to existence, therefore it can be attributed to such categories as “nothing”, “infinity”, “many”. As a result, it is difficult to understand what the unified is; it cannot be understood, felt, reflected on and interpreted.
• The mind was understood by Plato from the point of view of ontology and epistemology. The philosopher believed that this is one of the root causes of everything that happens in the Universe, in heaven or on earth. The mind, according to Plato, should bring order, understanding of the Universe by people who should interpret phenomena, stars, the firmament, celestial bodies, living and nonliving things from a reasonable point of view. The mind is a rationality that lives its own life, having the ability to live.
• Plato divides the soul into two parts - world and individual. The world soul is a real substance, which was also not clearly understood by Plato. He believed that substance consists of elements - eternal and temporary essence. The functions of the soul are the unification of the bodily and ideas, therefore it arises only when the demiurge wants, i.e. God.

Thus, Plato’s ontology is built on the combination of three ideal substances that exist objectively. They have nothing to do with what a person thinks and does.

Cognition occupied a special place in the scientist’s philosophy. Plato believed that you need to know the world through your own knowledge, to love the idea, so he rejected feelings. The source of the present, i.e. true knowledge can become knowledge, and feelings stimulate the process. Ideas can only be known through the mind, the mind.

Plato's dialectical concept was constantly changing, depending on the environment and views professed by the Greek. The scientist considered dialectics to be a separate science on which other scientific fields and methods are based. If we consider dialectics as a method, then the division of the whole into separate parts will occur, which can then be combined into a whole. This understanding of the unified once again proves the inconsistency of Plato’s ontological knowledge.

Traveling to different countries had a special influence on the formation of Plato’s social philosophy, who for the first time in all of Greece systematically presented knowledge about human society and the state. Researchers believe that the philosopher identified these concepts.

Among the main ideas that Plato put forward regarding the state, it is worth noting the following:

• People created countries because it was a natural need to unite. The purpose of this form of organization of society was to facilitate living conditions, existence, and economic activity.
• People sought to fully satisfy their own needs, so they began to involve others in solving their own problems.
• The desire to get rid of need is one of the main tools why people began to create states.
• There is an invisible connection between the human soul, the state and the cosmos, since they have common principles. In the state one can find three principles that correspond to the principles in the human soul. These are reasonable, lustful, furious, which correlated with deliberative, business and protective. From the business beginning, three classes arose - philosophers who were rulers, warriors who became defenders, artisans and farmers who served as producers.
• If each of the classes correctly performs its functions, then the state can be interpreted as fair.

Plato recognized the existence of only three forms of government - democracy, aristocracy and monarchy. He rejected the first because the democratic regime of Athens killed Socrates, who was the philosopher's teacher.

Because of this, Plato, until the end of his life, tried to develop a concept of what a state and political system should be. He built his thoughts in the form of dialogues with Socrates, in which the “Laws” were written. These works were never completed by Plato.

At the same time, the philosopher tried to find an image of a just person who, due to democracy, would have perverted ideas and minds. It is possible to get rid of democracy only with the help of philosophers, whom the scientist considered true and right-thinking people. Therefore, he believed that philosophers are obliged to occupy only the highest positions in the state, to manage others.

Plato devoted his great work “The State” to consideration of issues related to the state, the structure of the country, and the development of the political system. Some ideas can be found in the works "Politician" and "Gorgias". It also sets out the concept of how to educate a real citizen. This can only be done if the society is class-based, which will make it possible to create a correct system for the distribution of material wealth. The state should be taken care of by its residents who are not engaged in commerce and do not own private property.

The cosmological teaching of Plato, who understood the Cosmos and the Universe as a sphere, deserves special attention. He was created, therefore he is finite. The Cosmos was created by the demiurge, who brought order to the world. The world has its own soul, because... is a living being. The disposition of the soul is interesting. It is not located inside the world, but envelops it. The world soul consists of such important elements as air, earth, water and fire. Plato considered these elements to be the main ones in creating a world in which there is both harmony and relationships expressed by numbers. Such a soul has its own knowledge. The world created by the creator contributes to the appearance of many circles - stars (they are not motionless) and planets.

Plato thought about the structure of the world like this:

• At the very top was the mind, i.e. demiurge.
• Below it was the world soul and the world body, which is usually called the Cosmos.

All living things are the creation of God, who creates people with souls. The latter, after the death of their owners, move into new bodies. The soul is immaterial, immortal, and therefore will exist forever. Each soul creates the demiurge only once. As soon as it leaves the body, it enters the so-called world of ideas, where the soul is carried by a chariot with horses. One of them is a symbol of evil, and the second is a symbol of purity and purity. Because evil pulls the chariot down, it falls and the soul falls back into the physical body.

Plato's soul, like everything else, has a certain structure. In particular, it consists of lust, prudence and ardor. This allows a person to think, especially in the process of comprehending and knowing the truth. The consequence of this is that a person gradually, through internal dialogues, solves his own problems, contradictions, and finds the truth. Without such a logical connection, it is impossible to find objectivity. Plato's philosophy says that human thinking has its own dialectic, which allows us to comprehend the essence of things.

The ideas of the ancient Greek philosopher were able to be further developed only by thinkers of the 19th century, who brought dialectics to a new level. But its foundations were laid in ancient Greece.

Plato's ideas and philosophy continued to develop after his death, penetrating medieval and Muslim philosophical thought.

Socrates' student and Aristotle's teacher is the ancient Greek thinker and philosopher Plato, whose biography is of interest to historians, stylists, writers, philosophers and politicians. This is an outstanding representative of humanity, who lived during the turbulent time of crisis of the Greek polis, the aggravation of the class struggle, when the era of Hellenism was replaced by the era of the philosopher Plato, who lived his life fruitfully. The biography briefly presented in the article testifies to his greatness as a scientist and the wisdom of his heart.

Life path

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

Plato's short biography is typical for representatives of his time and class. Having received an education appropriate to his position, Plato, at approximately the age of 20, became acquainted with the teachings of Socrates and became his student and follower. Plato was among the Athenians who offered financial guarantee for the convicted man. After the execution of the teacher, he left his hometown and went on a journey without a specific goal: he first moved to Megara, then visited Cyrene and even Egypt. Having learned everything he could from the Egyptian priests, he went to Italy, where he became close to the philosophers of the Pythagorean school. The facts from Plato’s life related to travel end here: he traveled a lot around the world, but remained an Athenian at heart.

When Plato was already about 40 years old (it is noteworthy that it was to this age that the Greeks attributed the highest flowering of personality - acme), he returned to Athens and opened his own school there, called the Academy. Until the end of his life, Plato practically did not leave Athens; he lived in solitude, surrounding himself with students. He revered the memory of the deceased teacher, but he popularized his ideas only among a narrow circle of followers and did not seek to take them to the streets of the polis, like Socrates. Plato died at the age of eighty, without losing his clarity of mind. He was buried on Keramika, near the Academy. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato went through this. His biography, upon closer examination, is fascinatingly interesting, but much of the information about it is very unreliable and more like a legend.

Platonov Academy

The name “Academy” comes from the fact that the plot of land that Plato bought specifically for his school was located near the gymnasium dedicated to the hero Academus. On the territory of the Academy, students not only had philosophical conversations and listened to Plato, they were allowed to live there permanently or for a short time.

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

The idea of ​​political education

Much attention was paid to political education at the Academy. But in antiquity, politics was not the lot of a small group of delegated representatives: all adult citizens, that is, free and legitimate Athenians, took part in the administration of the polis. Later, Plato's student Aristotle formulated the definition of a politician as a person who participates in the public life of the polis, as opposed to an idiot - an asocial person. That is, participation in politics was an integral part of the life of the ancient Greek, and political education meant the development of justice, nobility, fortitude and sharpness of mind.

Philosophical works

To express his views and concepts in writing, Plato primarily chose the form of dialogue. This is a fairly common literary device in ancient times. Plato's philosophical works of the early and late periods of his life are very different, and this is natural, because his wisdom accumulated and his views changed over time. It is customary among researchers to conditionally divide the evolution of Platonic philosophy into three periods:

1. Apprenticeship (under the influence of Socrates) - "Apology of Socrates", "Crito", "Lysias", "Protagoras", "Charmides", "Euthyphro" and 1 book of "States".

2. Wanderings (under the influence of the ideas of Heraclitus) - “Gorgias”, “Cratylus”, “Meno”.

3. Teaching (predominant influence of the ideas of the Pythagorean school) - “Symposium”, “Phaedo”, “Phaedrus”, “Parmenides”, “Sophist”, “Politician”, “Timaeus”, “Critius”, 2-10 books of the “States” , "Laws".

Father of Idealism

Plato is considered the founder of idealism; this term itself comes from the central concept in his teaching - eidos. The point is that Plato imagined the world as divided into two spheres: the world of ideas (eidos) and the world of forms (material things). Eidos are prototypes, the source of the material world. Matter itself is formless and ethereal; the world acquires meaningful outlines only thanks to the presence of ideas.

The dominant place in the world of eidos is occupied by the idea of ​​Good, and all others flow from it. This Good represents the Beginning of Beginnings, Absolute Beauty, the Creator of the Universe. The eidos of every thing is its essence, the most important thing, the most hidden thing in a person, is the soul. and unchangeable, their existence flows outside of space-time boundaries, and objects are impermanent, repeatable and distorted, their existence is finite.

As for the human soul, Plato's philosophical teaching allegorically interprets it as a chariot with two horses driven by a driver. He personifies the rational principle; in his harness, a white horse symbolizes nobility and highly moral qualities, and a black horse symbolizes instincts and base desires. In the afterlife, the soul (the charioteer), along with the gods, participates in eternal truths and experiences the world of eidos. After rebirth, the concept of eternal truths remains in the soul as a memory.

Cosmos - the entire existing world, is a completely reproduced prototype. Plato's doctrine of cosmic proportions also stems from the theory of eidos.

Beauty and Love are eternal concepts

From all this it follows that knowledge of the world is an attempt to discern in things the reflection of ideas through love, just deeds and beauty. The doctrine of Beauty occupies a central place in Plato's philosophy: the search for beauty in man and the world around him, the creation of beauty through harmonious laws and art is the highest destiny of man. Thus, evolving, the soul goes from contemplating the beauty of material things to understanding beauty in the arts and sciences, to the highest point - comprehending moral beauty. This occurs as an insight and brings the soul closer to the world of the gods.

Together with Beauty, Love is called upon to raise a person to the world of eidos. In this respect, the figure of the philosopher is identical to the image of Eros - he strives for good, representing a mediator, a guide from ignorance to wisdom. Love is a creative force; beautiful things and harmonious laws of human relationships are born from it. That is, Love is a key concept in the theory of knowledge; it consistently develops from its bodily (material) form to the mental, and then to the spiritual, which is involved in the sphere of pure ideas. This last love is the memory of ideal existence preserved by the soul.

It should be emphasized that the division into the world of ideas and things does not mean dualism (which Plato was so often later accused of by his ideological opponents, starting with Aristotle), they are connected by primordial ties. True being - the level of eidos - exists forever, it is self-sufficient. But matter appears as an imitation of an idea; it is only “present” in ideal existence.

Plato's political views

Biography is inextricably linked with the understanding of a reasonable and correct state structure. The teachings of the father of idealism about management and relationships between people are set out in the treatise “The State”. Everything is built on the parallel between individual aspects of the human soul and types of people (according to their social role).

So, the three parts of the soul are responsible for wisdom, moderation and courage. Overall, these qualities represent justice. It follows that a fair (ideal) state is possible when each person in it is in his place and performs once and for all established functions (according to his abilities). According to the scheme outlined in the Republic, where Plato’s brief biography, the outcome of his life and the main ideas found their final embodiment, everyone should be ruled by philosophers, bearers of wisdom. All citizens obey their rational principles. Warriors (in other translations, guards) play an important role in the state; increased attention is paid to these people. Warriors must be educated in the spirit of the primacy of reason and will over instincts and spiritual impulses. But this is not the coldness of the machine, which seems to modern man, but not an understanding of the highest harmony of the world, clouded by passions. The third category of citizens are the creators of material wealth. A just state was described schematically and briefly in this way by the philosopher Plato. The biography of one of the greatest thinkers in the history of mankind indicates that his teaching found a wide response in the minds of his contemporaries - it is known that he received many requests from the rulers of ancient policies and some eastern states to compile codes of laws for them.

Plato's late biography, teaching at the Academy and obvious sympathy for the ideas of the Pythagoreans are associated with the theory of “ideal numbers”, which was later developed by the Neoplatonists.

Myths and beliefs

His position regarding myth is interesting: as a philosopher, Plato, whose biography and works that have survived to this day clearly indicate a great intellect, did not reject traditional mythology. But he proposed to interpret myth as a symbol, an allegory, and not to perceive it as some kind of axiom. Myth, according to Plato's idea, was not a historical fact. He perceived mythical images and events as a kind of philosophical doctrine that does not set out events, but only provides food for thought and re-evaluation of events. In addition, many ancient Greek myths were composed by ordinary people without any stylistic or literary treatment. For these reasons, Plato considered it advisable to protect the child's mind from most mythological plots, filled with fiction, often rudeness and immorality.

Plato's first proof for the immortality of the human soul

Plato is the first ancient philosopher whose works have reached modern times not in fragments, but with complete preservation of the text. In his dialogues “The Republic” and “Phaedrus” he provides 4 proofs of the immortality of the human soul. The first of them is called “cyclic”. Its essence boils down to the fact that opposites can only exist if there is mutual conditionality. Those. the greater implies the existence of the lesser; if there is death, then there is immortality. Plato cited this fact as the main argument in favor of the idea of ​​reincarnation of souls.

Second proof

Derived from the idea that knowledge is memory. Plato taught that in human consciousness there are such concepts as justice, beauty, and faith. These concepts exist “by themselves.” They are not taught, they are felt and understood at the level of consciousness. They are absolute entities, eternal and immortal. If a soul, upon being born, already knows about them, it means that it knew about them even before life on Earth. Since the soul knows about eternal essences, it means that it itself is eternal.

Third argument

Built on the opposition of a mortal body and an immortal soul. Plato taught that everything in the world is dual. Body and soul are inextricably linked during life. But the body is part of nature, while the soul is part of the divine principle. The body strives to satisfy base feelings and instincts, while the soul gravitates towards knowledge and development. The body is controlled by the soul. and will, a person is able to prevail over the baseness of instincts. Consequently, if the body is mortal and perishable, then in contrast to it the soul is eternal and incorruptible. If the body cannot exist without the soul, then the soul can exist separately.

Fourth and final proof

The most difficult teaching. He is most clearly characterized by Cebeta in the Phaedo. The proof comes from the statement that every thing has an inherent immutable nature. Thus, even will always be even, white cannot be called black, and anything just will never be evil. Based on this, death brings corruption, and life never knows death. If the body is capable of dying and decaying, then its essence is death. Life is the opposite of death, the soul is the opposite of the body. This means that if the body is perishable, then the soul is immortal.

The meaning of Plato's ideas

These are, in general terms, the ideas that the ancient Greek philosopher Plato left to humanity as a legacy. The biography of this extraordinary man has become a legend over two and a half millennia, and his teaching, in one or another of its aspects, served as the foundation for a significant part of the existing philosophical concepts. His student Aristotle criticized the views of his teacher and built a philosophical system of materialism opposite to his teaching. But this fact is another evidence of Plato’s greatness: not every teacher is given the opportunity to raise a follower, but perhaps only a few are worthy opponents.

The philosophy of Plato found many followers in the era of antiquity; knowledge of the works and main postulates of his teaching was a natural and integral part of the education of a worthy citizen of the Greek polis. Such a significant figure in the history of philosophical thought was not completely forgotten even in the Middle Ages, when the scholastics decisively rejected the ancient heritage. Plato inspired the philosophers of the Renaissance and provided endless food for thought to European thinkers of subsequent centuries. A reflection of his teachings is visible in many existing philosophical and worldview concepts; quotes from Plato can be found in all branches of humanities.

What the philosopher looked like, his character

Archaeologists have found many busts of Plato, well preserved from ancient times and the Middle Ages. Many sketches and photographs of Plato were created based on them. In addition, the philosopher’s appearance can be judged from chronicle sources.

According to all the data collected bit by bit, Plato was tall, athletically built, broad in bones and shoulders. At the same time, he had a very flexible character and was devoid of pride, arrogance and self-esteem. He was very modest and always polite not only to his peers, but also to representatives of the lower class.

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

Antiquity is a period in human history filled with reforms and discoveries that seriously influenced the further development of mankind. The knowledge gained in those years became a solid foundation for the development of science and technology, and ancient culture became a fertile basis for the formation of European culture.

Ancient philosophers in Raphael's painting "The School of Athens"

The basic principles of philosophy, like other sciences, were also formulated during the period of antiquity. , Archytas, Plato... These people are outstanding public figures, writers, scientists and philosophers of their time. They all contributed to the development of philosophy, and regarding Plato, the British logician and mathematician Alfred Whitehead even said that all European philosophy is, in fact, a footnote to the works of the ancient Greek.

Childhood and youth

The exact year in which the philosopher was born is unknown. There is an assumption that this happened in 428 or 427 BC. The birthday is considered to be May 21 (7th Fargelion), on this day the Greeks celebrated the birthday of the son of Zeus and the Titanide Leto - Apollo.

There is also no specific information about the exact place of birth. Most sources call Plato's hometown Athens, however, there is another option. According to him, the future philosopher was born on the island of Aegina, located in the Saronikos Gulf, and Plato’s family moved to Athens in order to give their children a good education.

By the way, not only the year and place of Plato’s birth are considered controversial. There is an opinion that in fact the philosopher’s name was Aristocles, and Plato was a nickname that the philosopher received from his pankration coach, wrestler Ariston from Argos, because of his broad shoulders (“platos” - translated from ancient Greek as “broad”). This was first mentioned by the late antique historian Diogenes Laertius.

Plato's parents belonged to the aristocratic class. The philosopher's father was a descendant of the king of Attica Codra, and his mother was a descendant of the Athenian reformer Solon. On his mother's side, Plato had two uncles - Critias and Charmides, they were both members of the group of pro-Spartan rulers "The Thirty Tyrants". In addition to Plato, Ariston and Periktiona (that was the name of his parents) had other children: sons Glaucon and Adeimantus, as well as daughter Poton.

The children received a classical musical education - this was the name of general education, which included a system of aesthetic, moral and mental education (named after the muses). Plato's teacher at that time was the pre-Socratic philosopher Cratylus, a follower of Heraclitus of Ephesus. Under his leadership, the future thinker studied literature, rhetoric, ethics, foundations of science and other disciplines.

During his studies, Plato achieved the best results in literature, fine arts and wrestling; later the philosopher participated in the Olympic and Nemean Games.

Plato's childhood and youth fell in the post-Periclean era, when cowardice, laziness and greed were widespread among the population. The situation was only intensified by the military conflict between the Delian League (under the leadership of Athens) and the Peloponnesian League (under the leadership of Sparta).

Ariston was a politician trying to improve the lives of his fellow citizens. Therefore, he wanted his son, after receiving his education, to also become a politician, but Plato himself had completely different views on the future. He tried his hand at writing, composing poems and dramas.

One day, in 408 BC, young Plato decided to take the tragedy he had written to the local theater. On the way I ran into an elderly but strong man. They struck up a conversation that turned the young man’s life upside down and also gave him the start of a new life. This man was Socrates.

Philosophy and views

The teaching of Socrates was reformist; it was strikingly different from what had come before. In his philosophy, the emphasis was shifted from the study of the world and nature to the study of man. The views and statements of Socrates impressed the young Plato, as can be judged from the latter’s works.

In 399 BC, Socrates was convicted and sentenced to death. The philosopher was accused of not honoring the gods revered by the inhabitants of the city, but instead spreading a new faith, thereby corrupting the people. Out of respect for past merits, including participation in the Peloponnesian War, Socrates was allowed to give a defense speech (on its basis Plato’s Apology of Socrates was written), and the death penalty was carried out by drinking poison from a cup.

The execution of Socrates seriously influenced Plato, arousing in him a fierce hatred of democracy. After the death of his teacher, Plato goes on a journey, the purpose of which is to meet other scientists and exchange experiences with them. Over the next ten to fifteen years, the philosopher visited Megara, Cyrene, Phenicia and Egypt. During this time, he managed to meet and communicate with Archytas of Tarentum, with other students of Socrates - Euclid and Theodore, as well as with Eastern magicians and Chaldeans. The latter forced Plato to become seriously interested in Eastern philosophy.

After long wanderings, Plato arrived in Sicily. The philosopher's plans were to create a new state, together with the local military leader Dionysius the Elder (also known as Syracuse). According to Plato, in the new state philosophers should rule, and not drink poison from a chalice while a cheering crowd shouts. But the idea was not destined to be realized - Dionysius turned out to be a tyrant who categorically did not like Plato’s ideas.

After this fiasco, the philosopher decided to return to Athens. This city forced Plato to reconsider some ideas about the ideal state. The result of these thoughts was the Academy opened in 387 BC - an educational institution in which Plato began to teach other people. This is how a new religious and philosophical union was formed.

Plato's school was named after the area where the lessons were held (a park outside Athens), and the area itself was named after the mythical hero Hekademos. At Plato's Academy, students studied mathematics, philosophy, natural science, astronomy and other sciences. Training took place through dialogues - Plato believed that this was the best method of understanding the essence of things.

The teachers and students of the Academy lived together - Plato adopted this feature from the followers of Pythagoras. Famous students of Plato were the astronomer Eudochus (who introduced Plato closer to Eastern teachings and religions) and the philosopher.

In 366 and 361 BC, Plato revisits Sicily, at the invitation of his friend Dion, the ruler of Syracuse and brother-in-law of Dionysius the Elder. Dionysius does not like this situation, which he eloquently makes clear by the murder of Dion. The death of a friend upset Plato and forced him to return back to Athens, where the philosopher continued his studies until the end of his days.

To this day, not a single original work of Plato has survived, but copies have survived. The oldest copy of the philosopher's work was found in the city of Pemja (160 km southwest of Cairo), written on Egyptian papyrus.

Plato's works form the Platonic Corpus. For the preservation of the philosopher’s collected works, we should thank the ancient Greek bibliographer Aristophanes of Byzantium. By the way, it was he who first structured Plato’s works, dividing them into trilogies.

Later, the restructuring was carried out by the philosopher Thrasyllus of Menda, the court astrologer of Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus. Thrasyllus grouped Plato's works into tetralogy, a division that is still used today.

There were other attempts to structure and group the philosopher’s works. The version of the Russian antique scholar Alexei Fedorovich Losev is popular. According to Losev, Plato’s books should be divided into 4 periods: early (“Crito”, “Charmides”, etc.), transitional (“Euthydemus”, “Ion”, etc.), mature (“Timaeus”, “Republic”, etc. .) and late (“Laws” and “Post-Law”).

For a long time, only one work by Plato was available to the general public - Timaeus. The situation was corrected by the Italian philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), who translated the rest of the philosopher’s works from ancient Greek into Latin.

Personal life

The philosopher preached the rejection of private property, as well as the community of wives, husbands and children. Therefore, it is impossible to single out one wife for Plato, just as it is impossible to accurately name his biological children.

Death

After the murder of Dion of Syracuse, in 354 BC, Plato returned to Athens, where he lived until the end of his days. In the last days of his life, Plato began work on a new book, “On the Good as Such.” The basis of the work had already been formed, Plato shared it with his students. However, it was not destined to transfer thoughts to paper.

On his birthday in the year 348 (or 347) BC, Plato left this world for natural reasons - old age. The philosopher was buried in Ceramics, not far from the Academy. The words were carved on his tombstone:

“Apollo gave birth to two sons - Aesculapius and Plato. One heals bodies, and the other heals souls.”

In memory of Plato, paintings were written and engravings were drawn (photos are available on the Internet). As a character, the philosopher appeared in films: “Blood, Voluptuousness and Death” (1948), “Socrates” (1971), “Night” (1985), “The Feast” (1989). In 2010, the last feature film to date in which Plato appears, “The Death of Socrates,” was released.

Ideas and discoveries

Plato's philosophy is based on Socrates' theory, according to which true knowledge is possible only in relation to non-subjective concepts that constitute an independent incorporeal world coexisting with the sensory world. Being is an absolute entity, eidos (ideas), not subject to space and time. Ideas in Plato's understanding are autonomous, which means that only they can be truly known. This is stated in the works of the transitional and mature period.

Plato's works Critias and Timaeus first describe the history of Atlantis, which is an ideal state.

The Cynic from Sinop (the one who lived in a barrel and walked around during the day with a lantern “in search of a man”) often argued with Plato. When Plato said that man is a two-legged animal without feathers, Diogenes slipped him a plucked chicken, calling him Plato's man. After this, the philosopher had to add the phrase “... with flat (wide) claws” to the formulation.

Plato is an opponent of passion and vivid manifestations of emotions; he believed that such behavior is base and contains a harmful principle. He expressed his opinion on the relationship between men and women in his works. This is where the term “platonic love” comes from.

To gather students for classes, Plato built a device based on a water clock that gave a signal at a given time. This is how the first alarm clock appeared.

Quotes

• “Socrates is my friend, but the truth is dearer” (later this statement will turn into “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer,” the authorship of which will be attributed to Aristotle and Cervantes).
• “When people are forced to choose between two evils, no one will obviously choose the greater if there is an opportunity to choose the lesser.”
• “What will education be like? However, it is difficult to find a better one that has been found since ancient times. For the body it is gymnastic, for the soul it is musical.”
• “In any business, the most important thing is the beginning.”
• “Ignorance is difficult because the ignorant, being neither beautiful, nor good, nor reasonable, seems satisfied with himself, does not consider himself in need and does not strive for what he, in his opinion, does not need.”

Plato was born in 427 BC. e. on o. Aegina near Athens; came from a poor aristocratic family. His real name is Aristocles. According to legend, he received the name Plato from Socrates. His name is associated with an athletic physique (Greek platys means "broad") and with the breadth of his interests. He was involved in sports, music, poetry a lot; he was considered a poet. He was familiar with the teachings of the philosophers Heraclitus, Cratylus, Parmenides, Democritus, Socrates. Having met Socrates at the age of twenty, he became his student. Historians believe that after this meeting Plato burned his poetic works, deciding to devote himself entirely to philosophy. Plato had a hard time with the death of his teacher and left Athens for a long time. During the years of his wanderings, he visited many cities and met with a number of philosophers of that time. A trip to the island of Sicily in the city of Syracuse, where the tyrant Dionysius the Elder ruled and where Plato proposed a plan for social reorganization, ended with the ruler of this city giving a secret order to the Spartan ambassador on whose ship Plato was sailing, either to kill him or sell him into slavery. The ambassador chose the latter, and Plato ended up on the pan-Greek slave market. After he was ransomed by one of the inhabitants of Aegina and released, Plato, having experienced injustice towards Socrates and himself, decided to be less involved in government affairs and focus more on philosophical issues themselves. Observations of political regimes in a number of countries led him to the conclusion that they were all bad and that, if we were to decide who should rule, then they should be philosophers. After his final return to Athens, Plato purchased a house with a garden on the outskirts of the city and founded a philosophical school there - the Academy. This name comes from the name of the Attic hero Academus, under whose patronage, as the Athenians believed, there was a grove planted in his honor and where Plato now taught. This Academy existed for more than 900 years. Over the years, many philosophers and statesmen have emerged from the Academy. Plato died in 347 BC. e. Almost all of Plato's philosophical works have survived to this day. Many of them are written in the form of artistic dialogue, and their main character was Socrates. In contrast to the personal meetings of the philosopher Socrates with his interlocutors, Plato transferred the dialogues to the “internal” plane and they were intended for everyone.

2. Plato is the founder of the idealistic direction of philosophy.

The main part of Plato's philosophy, which gave the name to the whole direction of philosophy, is the doctrine of ideas (eidos), the existence of two worlds: the world of ideas (eidos) and the world of things, or forms. Ideas (eidos) are prototypes of things, their sources. Ideas (eidos) underlie the entire set of things formed from formless matter. Ideas are the source of everything, but matter itself cannot give rise to anything. The world of ideas (eidos) exists outside of time and space. In this world there is a certain hierarchy, at the top of which stands the idea of ​​​​the Good, from which all others flow. Good is identical to absolute Beauty, but at the same time it is the Beginning of all beginnings and the Creator of the Universe. In the myth of the cave, the Good is depicted as the Sun, ideas are symbolized by those creatures and objects that pass in front of the cave, and the cave itself is an image of the material world with its illusions. The idea (eidos) of any thing or being is the deepest, most intimate and essential thing in it. In man, the role of idea is performed by his immortal soul. Ideas (eidos) have the qualities of constancy, unity and purity, and things have the qualities of variability, multiplicity and distortion.

The human soul is represented by Plato in the form of a chariot with a rider and two horses, white and black. The driver symbolizes the rational principle in a person, and the horses: white - the noble, highest qualities of the soul, black - passions, desires and the instinctive principle. When a person is in another world, he (the charioteer) gets the opportunity to contemplate eternal truths together with the gods. When a person is born again into the material world, the knowledge of these truths remains in his soul as a memory. Therefore, according to Plato’s philosophy, the only way for a person to know is to remember, to find “glimmers” of ideas in the things of the sensory world. When a person manages to see traces of ideas - through beauty, love or just deeds - then, according to Plato, the wings of the soul, once lost by it, begin to grow again. Hence the importance of Plato’s teaching about Beauty, about the need to look for it in nature, people, art or beautifully constructed laws, because when the soul gradually rises from the contemplation of physical beauty to the beauty of the sciences and arts, then to the beauty of morals and customs, it the best way for the soul to climb the “golden ladder” to the world of ideas. The second force, no less transformative of a person and capable of raising him to the world of the gods, is Love. In general, the philosopher himself resembles Eros: he also strives to achieve good, he is neither wise nor ignorant, but is an intermediary between one and the other, he does not possess beauty and good and that is why he strives for them. Both philosophy and love make it possible to give birth to something beautiful: from the creation of beautiful things to beautiful laws and fair ideas. Plato teaches that we can all come out of the “cave” into the light of ideas, since the ability to see the light of the spiritual Sun (that is, to contemplate truth and think) is in everyone, but, unfortunately, we are looking in the wrong direction.

Plato is the founder of idealism. The main tenets of his idealistic teaching are the following:

material things are changeable, impermanent and cease to exist over time;

the surrounding world (“the world of things” is also temporary and changeable and in reality does not exist as an independent substance;

only pure (incorporeal) ideas (eidos) really exist;

pure (incorporeal) ideas are true, eternal and permanent;

any existing thing is just a material reflection of the original idea (eidos) of a given thing (for example, horses are born and die, but they are only the embodiment of the idea of ​​a horse, which is eternal and unchanging, etc.);

the whole world is a reflection of pure ideas (eidos).

Ancient Greek philosopher Plato was a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. Plato is the first philosopher whose works have reached our times not in short passages quoted by others, but in full.

Biography of Plato

Plato was born in 428-427 BC in the Greek city of Athens. The exact date of birth of the philosopher is unknown. Plato was born into a family of aristocratic origin, his father's family, Ariston, went back, according to legend, to the last king of Attica Codrus, and his ancestor Perictions, Plato's mother, was the Athenian reformer Solon.

Teachers

Plato's first teacher was Cratylus. Around 408 BC e. Plato met Socrates and became one of his students. It is characteristic that Socrates is an invariable participant in almost all of Plato’s works, written in the form of dialogues between historical and sometimes fictional characters.

Travels of Plato

Plato was among the Athenians who offered financial surety for Socrates, who was condemned to death. After the execution of the teacher, he left his hometown and went on a journey without a specific goal: he first moved to Megara, then visited Cyrene and even Egypt.

Having learned everything he could from the Egyptian priests, he went to Italy, where he became close to the philosophers Pythagorean school. Facts from the life of the philosopher Plato related to travel end here: he traveled a lot around the world, but remained an Athenian at heart.

Plato's teachings

Plato's teachings developed on the foundation philosophy of Socrates on the one hand and followers of Pythagoras with another. From his teacher, the father of idealism borrowed a dialectical view of the world and an attentive attitude to ethical problems.

But, as evidenced by Plato’s biography, namely the years spent in Sicily, among the Pythagoreans, he clearly sympathized with the philosophical doctrine of Pythagoras. At least that the philosophers in Plato's Academy lived and worked together, already resembles the Pythagorean school.

The name “Academy” comes from the fact that the plot of land that Plato bought specifically for his school was located near the gymnasium dedicated to the hero Academus. On the territory of the Academy, students not only had philosophical conversations and listened to Plato, they were allowed to live there permanently or for a short time.

Idealism

Plato is considered founder of idealism, this term itself comes from the central concept in his teaching - eidos. The point is that the philosopher Plato imagined the world as divided into two spheres: the world of ideas (eidos) and the world of forms (material things).

Eidos– these are prototypes, the source of the material world. Matter itself is formless and ethereal; the world acquires meaningful outlines only thanks to the presence of ideas. The dominant place in the world of eidos is occupied by the idea of ​​Good, and all others flow from it. This Good represents the Beginning of Beginnings, Absolute Beauty, the Creator of the Universe.

The eidos of each thing is its essence, the most important thing, the most hidden thing in a person - this is the soul. Ideas are absolute and unchangeable, their existence flows outside of space-time boundaries, and objects are impermanent, repeatable and distorted, their existence is finite.

Human soul

As for the human soul, Plato’s philosophical teaching allegorically interprets it as chariot with two horses, driven by a driver. He personifies the rational principle; in his harness, a white horse symbolizes nobility and highly moral qualities, and a black horse symbolizes instincts and base desires.

In the afterlife, the soul (the charioteer), along with the gods, participates in eternal truths and experiences the world of eidos. After rebirth, the concept of eternal truths remains in the soul as a memory.

Space – the entire existing world is a completely reproduced prototype. Plato's doctrine of cosmic proportions also stems from the theory of eidos.

Death of Plato

According to ancient legends, Plato died on his birthday in 347 BC uh. He was buried at the Academy. According to Diogenes Laertius, Plato's real name is Aristocles(Ancient Greek Αριστοκλής; literally, “best glory”). He is buried under this name.

Plato - nickname (from the Greek word "plato"- latitude), meaning "broad, broad-shouldered", which Socrates gave him for his tall stature, broad shoulders and success in wrestling. On the contrary, there are studies showing that the legend about his name "Aristocles" arose during the Hellenistic period.