PLATO

428/7-348/7 B.C.E
◦Real name: ARISTOCLES
◦PLATO was his nickname because of his broad
shoulders or forehead (in Greek 'Platon' means
broad)
◦Born in ATHENS
◦Father: ARISTON Mother: PERICTIONE
◦Siblings: ADEIMANTUS, GLAUCON, POTONE
Half-brother: ANTIPHON
◦From an aristocratic well known family
◦Became a student of Socrates – Socrates’
methods of dialogue and debate impressed Plato
so much that soon he became a close associate
and dedicated his life to the question of virtue and
the formation of a noble character
◦After the death of Socrates, Plato spent 12 years
traveling in southern Italy, Sicily and Egypt,
studying with other philosophers including
Phytagoreans.
◦Around 387, the 40-year-old Plato returned to
Athens and founded his philosophical school in
the grove of the Greek hero Academus, just
outside the city walls. In his open-air Academy he
delivered lectures to students gathered from
throughout the Greek world.
◦Aristotle arrived from northern Greece to join the
Academy at age 17, studying and teaching there
for the last 20 years of Plato’s life
 PLATO’s DIALOGUES
◦The early dialogues offer a deep exploration of
Socrates’ dialectic method of breaking down and
analyzing ideas and presumptions.
◦In the middle dialogues Plato’s individual ideas
and beliefs.
◦Plato’s late dialogues are barely dialogues at all
but rather explorations of specific topics.
 FINAL YEARS
Plato's final years were spent at the Academy
and with his writing. The circumstances
surrounding his death are clouded, though it
is fairly certain that he died in Athens around
348 B.C.E., when he was in his early 80s.
Some scholars suggest that he died while
attending a wedding, while others believe he
died peacefully in his sleep.
 PLATO’S PHILOSOPHY ABOUT SELF
One simple idea is that the ideal self should be like a
philosopher, rational and wise, seeking knowledge. The
rational, spirited and appetitive makeup the self. To illuminate,
Plato explained it through “Chariot Allegory”.
Plato's three elements of the psyche are:
◦The appetites, which includes all our myriad desires for
various pleasures, comforts, physical satisfactions, and bodily
ease. He does note that they can often be in conflict even with
each other. This element of the soul is represented by the ugly
black horse on the left.
◦The spirited, or hot-blooded part, the part that gets
angry when it perceives (for example) an injustice
being done. This is the part of us that loves to face and
overcome great challenges, the part that can steel itself
to adversity, and that loves victory, winning, challenge,
and honor. "spirited" in the same sense that we speak
of a high-spirited horse, for example, one with lots of
energy and power. This element of the soul is
represented by the noble white horse on the right.
◦The mind (nous), our conscious awareness, is
represented by the charioteer who is guiding (or
who at least should be guiding) the horses and
chariot. This is the part of us that thinks,
analyzes, looks ahead, rationally weighs options,
and tries to gauge what is best and truest overall.
◦One other common misconception: Some think that
Plato believes these three elements of the psyche
should be in balance with each other, like should each
have its equal "say" in a person's life. But that isn't the
way Plato sees it. He thinks the charioteer should be in
charge of the whole system, should make the
determining decisions about when to give each horse
its rein and when to hold it back. The whole system
should not be governed by the wishes of the horses
(nor by the inertia of the chariot itself, the body) but by
the rational decisions of the charioteer.