Plato's Politics

The dialogues of Plato that are of the most obvious importance for his political philosophy include the Apology, the Crito, the Gorgias, the Laws, the Republic, and the Statesman. Further, there are many questions of political philosophy that Plato discusses in his dialogues. These topics include, among others: the ultimate ends of the city's laws and political institutions and who should rule, and the forms of constitution and their ranking. Plato draws upon Socrates' idea of Apology where the former stalwart compares himself to a gadfly, which is placed upon the great horse of Athens. What is especially worth noting here is that Socrates claims to benefit Athens by benefiting its citizens, and this benefit consists in getting them to examine themselves and their lives with regard to virtue. Since Plato, throughout his career, believed that virtue was by far the most important contributor to happiness, and that the ultimate end of all of a person's rational actions is that person's own greatest happiness, such encouragement to virtue seems a reasonable way to proceed for anyone seeking really to benefit his fellow citizens. The middle dialogues and the. late dialogues wind up Plato's idea of a perfect state. However, the major idea that Plato draws upon is citizen's happiness, which will result in an ideal state.

Plato and Aristotle in the Academy

This article discusses Aristotle as a source of data regarding Plato's philosophy. The first pictures Aristotle beginning his intellectual life as a meek and dutiful Platonist and coming into his own as a philosopher only after the passing of his master, some twenty years beyond their earliest association. There are certain controversies regarding each other's approach towards philosophy; because Aristotle later on is seen to be disagreeing with his master on certain issues. Still less is there reason to credit the bewildering contention, common to antiquity and modernity, that Aristotle never developed to the point of grasping the rudiments of Platonic philosophy: “In the first place,” says Burnet of Aristotle, “it is certain that he never understood the teaching of the head of the Academy.” However, keeping aside the above controversies, it must be acknowledged that Aristotle does cite Plato's views in illuminating ways in some of his surviving corpus. It can be concluded that, despite certain difference of opinion, Aristotle's corpus continues to be a great source of information of his master, Plato.

The Platonic Corpus

This article attempts to answer certain questions that arise regarding the dialogues as penned by Plato centuries ago. The speaker or the narrator of the text happens to be Socrates, who through various conversations with his apprentices unravels the nuances of the various philosophical dialogues.

The Philebus

Plato's brainchild, the Philebus discusses the good human life and the claims of pleasure on the one hand and a cluster containing intelligence, wisdom, and right opinion on the other in connection with that life. The article talks about the notions of good human life and the pleasures surrounding it. Plato includes extended treatment of metaphysics and methodology: this is his typical supplement to the procedure of his own Socratic dialogues, which considered human questions in isolation from other issues. Despite several interpretations, the text remains largely elusive. After a long discourse, both Socrates and Philebus arrive at a conclusion that a mixed life, containing both reason and pleasure is what we all should desire and it is the best option for all.

Plato's Philosophy of Language

Ideas in and problems of the philosophy of language surface frequently in Plato's dialogues. This forms the basis of the present article. Some passages briefly formulate, or presuppose, views about names, signification, truth, or falsehood; others are extended discussions of important themes of the philosophy of language. Basic predicative expressions are an integral part of Plato's philosophy of language. The article further emphasizes on the importance of forms as missing standards. Plato does say that perceptible particulars derive their names from the forms they partake of.

Plato's Metaphysics

This article focuses on the idea of metaphysics as described by Plato. Plato's writings are not themselves shaped in reflection of modern subdivisions of philosophical areas and the form in which they are shaped—the often heavily and self-consciously crafted dialogue form—does not naturally invite separate identification and treatment of the writings' often tightly interwoven philosophical threads. It discusses a certain feature of Plato's ontology: his commitment, at least in certain works, to the existence of a special class of entities, once known in English as “ideas,” these days more commonly referred to as “forms.” The article further discusses ideas such as the Theory of Forms and it asks whether it has developed over a period of time. The language of forms, where do they occur and how are they categorized are also elaborated in the article.

Plato and Platonism

As the title suggests, the article focuses on the development of Plato and his philosophy, which is better known as Platonism. The advent of the Hellenestic schools advocated a more empirical approach to the study of philosophy as well as Platonism. And it was probably not until toward the beginning of the second century ad that a disparate set of philosophers who identified themselves as “Platonists” conceived the project of advocating and defending a specifically Platonic philosophy of interpreting Plato's works and ideas. The problem of the delayed development of Platonism is an interesting one because the general conditions for its emergence seem to have been in place from at least 50 bc. Notable among these conditions were three significant changes in late Hellenistic philosophy. The first was the demise of the skeptical academy by the middle of the first century bc, which released the interpretation of the Platonic corpus from institutional constraints, and in particular from the skeptical interpretations of Plato the academics had advocated since the third century bc. How much may the debate continue; Platonism still continues to be an integral part of present day philosophical interpretations.

The Epistemology and Metaphysics of Socrates

Epistemology and metaphysics as described by Socrates is the crux of this article. Socrates here is all set to assess the wisdom of the candidates. He goes about arguing as to who is wiser and the various aspects of wisdom. He also elaborates on wisdom as a virtue. The article further harps on the idea of what counts as knowledge and also highlights the differences between Socratic Ignorance and Complete Ignorance.

Plato in his Time and Place

This article traces the circumstances, which led to Plato becoming a great philosopher. Gradual unraveling of the article brings out more of young Plato and how he became a part of Socrates' circle. Doing philosophy meant trying to understand how to live the life of a just person: getting rid of illusions about what we know or what we think we want, and coming to see what living well really consists of. That is the manifesto Socrates enunciates in his speech to the jurors in the Apology. That is the theme Plato makes him elaborate and defends on a massive scale in the Republic, the longest and most complex of all his works. Fundamental in what he took from Socrates is the idea that philosophy is an inquiry, and inquiry best pursued in conversation with someone else.

The Timaeus on the Principles of Cosmology

Understanding of principles forms the basis of mastering Greek Philosophy. This article focuses on the idea of Principled Knowledge. Plato, too, seems to hold that grasping a body of knowledge requires a grasp of its principles. One example is the Republic where Socrates explains the image of the line. He has divided the line into two sections, the intelligible and the perceptible. The Timaeus, like the Republic, emphasizes the need for us to grasp the proper principle of our disciplines of study. The major principles enlisted in the Timaeus are as follows: Being is that which is graspable by intelligence with an account (logos); becoming is that which is graspable by opinion (doxa) with unreasoning (alogos) perception. Everything that comes into being has a cause (aition). When a craftsman uses an eternal model, his product is necessarily fine (kalon); if he uses a generated one, the product is not fine. The article further elaborates upon the standards of the cosmological argument and the most proper principle of coming into being which Socrates argues is the prelude.