Plato (424/423 BC – 348/347 BC) was a Classical Greek philosopher, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Plato is considered to be the founder of Western philosophy.
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Was Gödel the first person to bring up that truth always exceeds the grasp of proof?
Was Gödel the first person to pose and solve this question in mathematics? In the larger philosophical debate, has this question been posed before? Say by Plato or Aristotle?
One could interpret for ...
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What is the most accurate translation of “Eudaimonia”?
I am taking an introduction course to philosophy at my university. And the professors are translating "Eudaimonia" to "A happy life", or "A good life", used "Living a good/happy life". My course is in ...
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Is it useful to think of social sub-bodies as a microcosm of the social body itself?
For example, can we consider the state itself, or a large corporation or a small office as a microcosm of the larger social body? Can we then consider it to have its own internal polity and discuss ...
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what was Plato's view on noumenon?
The relation between objects in the world is established by pure concepts existing a-priori:
1) These concepts belong to a world of absolute concepts away from the mind - Plato
2) These concepts ...
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Stephanus numbering
I have all of Plato's works, but unfortunately they're missing the Stephanus numbering. Is there a resource which I can use to see which paragraphs they refer to? A brief table containing the first ...
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Platonic Forms and Deleuzian Ideas
After presenting a paper before members of The French Society of Philosophy titled The Method of Dramatisation, Gilles Deleuze was posed a number of questions by those in attendance. The crux of the ...
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Is there any evidence that Plato had inscribed above his academy 'Let no-one ignorant of geometry enter here'?
I've seen this in quite a few places, I'm just wondering if it's a cultural myth, or whether it actually has a basis in fact.
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Is democracy scalable?
In a small tribe, where pretty much everyone knows everyone else (and their ancestors) one could elect one person to rule over all; he is in a simple sense, first amongst equals, for all the members ...
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Does the freudian subconcious have roots in Plato?
I read somewhere, I think it may even be in a dialogue of Plato, rather than a commentary, but I've forgotten altogether that Plato had a notion of the subconcious. Is there a reference for this ...
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Was the Republic a meritocracy?
One direct way of stating the heart of the question might be: is there sufficient textual evidence and support for the assertion that Plato's Republic contains meritocratic elements?
A second and ...
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Summary of Callicles and Thrasymachus's arguments regarding injustice
I find somewhat odd to find out that there does not seem to exist concise summary or review of Callicles and Thrasymachus's arguments for supporting injustice, so I ask this question: what would be ...
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Why was Socratic epistemology diminished?
My question is a follow-up from reading this answer;
"Roughly speaking, Socrates believed truth could not be discovered with certainty, Plato believed that truth could only be known via ...
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Is the coast of england a platonic form?
A real-world circle is not a true circle which, as far as Platos concerned, lives in the World of Forms. But isn't a fractal a mathematical form, so that does live in the the World of Forms; and as ...
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Is there any Philosophical significance to why Plato chose to present his work in the form of a dialogue?
Spinoza presented his work in a proposition/theorem format following Euclid, presumably to varnish his work in the seemingly eternal verities of mathematics.
Is there any significance as to why Plato ...
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Is it possible to deduce how much of Platos philosophy is original to himself and not due to his predecessors?
Alfred North Whitehead said 'The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato'.
I'm not interested (in this question) ...
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Why did Epicureanism become “the main opponent” of Stoicism?
I was reading about Epicureanism on Wikipedia, and there I saw that, apparently, Epicureanism was in conflict with Stoicism and Platonism. I then read up on those two philosophies, and well, they do ...
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Question on learning type in Plato Cave Allegory
My question is based on the Cave of Plato. In this myth I see two types of learning.
The first type of learning is the person that is released from the cave and climbs up to the light. The second ...
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How do Neoplatonic interpretations differ from original Platonic ideas?
The Wikipedia entry on Neoplatonism says:
Neoplatonists would have considered themselves simply Platonists, and
the modern distinction is due to the perception that their philosophy
contained ...
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Does Plato see the tyranny as final?
Plato's Republic famously describes the decay of the regimes, a process by which a society decays from the best regime, that of aristocracy, to the lowest, that of tyranny. However, the purpose of ...
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Was Socrates a fictional character invented by Plato?
I have read a lot of websites that suggest Socrates was a fictional character created by Plato (albeit without the citation of any corroborating evidence), but I have also read the opposite (and by ...
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'Daemons' vis-a-vis transcendental personification of self-will
Greek mythology, classical philosophy and early theology is teeming with things referred to as 'daemons'. Many, such as those of Plato's Socrates, hint at an externalised transcendental corollary of ...
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How does Søren Kierkegaard use the word “dialectic” and how does his use of it differ from G.W.F. Hegel's?
According, to my understanding, the meaning of dialectic is...
In Plato: a back-and-forth conversational style of reasoning from his later dialogues
In the Middle Ages: the scholastic style of ...
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What is the purpose of Plato's concept of Form?
Concerning this passage from Phaedo:
I mean, for instance, the number three, and there are many other examples. Take the case of three; do you not think it may always be called by its own name and ...
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What is the symbolism of Piraeus in The Republic?
Plato's Republic opens with this famous sentence:
I went down yesterday to the Piraeus [...]
According to Professor David Roochnik, in his lectures about The Republic, the choice of Piraeus as ...
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Did Plato's and Aristotle's backgrounds strongly influence their philosophies?
Plato usually tried to solve philosophical problems using a schematic approach. Probably one of the best examples of this is the tripartite system, which he applies both to the human soul (psyché) and ...
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What is the connection between these two theories in the Theaetetus?
In the Theaetetus, one of the theories of knowledge examined by Socrates and Theaetetus is that all knowledge comes from perception. At the same time, they are examining another theory: that ...
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What does Plato mean by 'opposite' in Phaedo?
In Phaedo, Plato (and this dialogue certainly seems to be platonic and not socratic) argues for the transmigration of the soul, in part with a cyclical argument:
Let us consider the question ...
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Seemingly invalid piece of reasoning in The Republic
In the beginning of The Republic, when discussing the nature of justice, Socrates leads Polemarchus to agree with him in this line of reasoning (the numbering is mine):
But let us consider this ...
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Does the Euthyphro dilemma apply to secular ethics?
The original statement of the dilemma is found in Plato's Euthyphro:
Just consider this question:—Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is ...
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What function do myths serve in the Platonic dialogues?
There is a consistent pattern throughout the corpus of Plato's dialogues: first, Socrates proposes a philosophical problem, like "what is justice?" or "is there an immortal soul?". Then he goes on to ...
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How much is known about Plato's “unwritten doctrines”?
It is often claimed in the historical literature that Plato's teachings were divided into the written documents (his famous books, like The Republic, The Laws etc) and oral teachings (what Aristotle ...
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Meaning of θυμοειδής in Plato
What is the meaning of the Greek word θυμοειδής (thumoeides or thymoeidês) in Plato? (I believe it occurs in the Phaedrus and the Republic.) What is its etymology? It apears to me to possibly come ...
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What were the government ideals for the Socrates and Aristotle?
Winston Churchill famously quipped, "The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." Plato also seems to have held such a view, where he wrote in The ...
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Is there a correct or better order to read Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates?
I would like to read the text written by Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and so on. Is there any reference of the best order to read them? Is the chronological order the best or correct one? Or is there a ...
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Plato's Socrates contradicts himself…or does he? [closed]
In his Apology Plato's Socrates clearly indicates he would continue to philosophize even if the court ordered him not to--clearly he does not believe one must obey the laws of the state. In his ...
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Was Plato using strawmen in his dialogues?
In Plato's Dialogues, he often would put words into the mouths of two opposing points-of-view, while inserting a third voice, often initially presented as taking a position between the two viewpoints, ...
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Observable and non-observable entities in explanation
So I've been reading through the Phaedo and have been thinking about Plato and have come up with a question, before I ask the question, I will give some background.
Plato's theory of the forms (as I ...
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What are the major differences between Nietzsche and Plato?
What are the philosophical and hermeneutic implications of the various ways of writing a philosophical text, in particular Plato's didactical and dialogical style versus Nietzsche's emphatic and ...
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What were Plato's view on slavery, in particular with respect to his proposed Utopia?
In the Dialogues(specifically The Republic), when he is discussing his Utopia, At one point, he does say that children should not be treated differently based on their parent's status in life. ...
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Are the unexamined lives of others worth examining?
Socrates continually admonished his interlocutors to become more introspective, arguing passionately for self-examination:
The unexamined life is not worth living.
But an examined life is ...
