Plato: biography of this ancient Greek philosopher

There are many reasons to think that Plato is the true founder of philosophy as an institutionalized discipline. This philosopher made of philosophy an academic knowledge, never better said, since he taught it in his new Academy of Athens.

Plato's life takes place in many places and, despite coming from a wealthy family, his story is that of someone who He had a very bad time having to go into exile from his hometown and becoming a slave because of the misfortunes of the war.

Concerned with power, he is credited with the idea that a just world would be one whose rulers were philosophers. Let's find out more about the life and thought of this philosopher through a biography of Plato, one of the most prominent thinkers of the western world.

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Short biography of Plato

Aristocles of Athens, known by his nickname of Plato (in Greek Πλάτων, Plátōn "the one with broad shoulders") was born around the year 428 a. C. in Athens, although there are sources that suggest that he may have been born on Aegina. In any case, this philosopher traveled through much of the Mediterranean and drew on ideas from many currents of thought.

The result was Platonic philosophy, one of the fundamental influences of Western culture..

Early years and family context

Plato was born into a wealthy and powerful family, in fact, his father Ariston believed that his vast wealth was due to his descent from Codro, the last king that Athens had.

As for her mother, Perictione, she and her relatives seemed descended from ancient Greek lawmaker Solon.her, in addition to being related to two very important characters of her time: Critias and Cármides, tyrants who they had participated in an oligarchic coup together with 28 other tyrants perpetrated in 404 to. C.

From the marriage between Ariston and Perictione, two sons and a daughter were born in addition to Plato: Glaucón, Adimanto and Potone. When Ariston died, her mother Perictione remarried, this time with her uncle Pirilampes, who was a friend of Pericles., a very important politician in the history of Greece. From the union of Perictione and Pirilampes, Antiphon, Plato's half-brother, was born.

Philosophical training

Thanks to coming from a family of extensive wealth, Plato's education was wide and deep, having the opportunity to be instructed by various illustrious figures of his time. It is probable that when he began in philosophy he was a disciple of Cratylus, considered a follower of the teachings of the philosopher Heraclitus.

However, the most important moment in Plato's formation came in 407 BC. C. Barely 20 years old he had the opportunity to meet Socrates who would become his teacher when he was 63 years old. For 8 years Socrates transmitted everything he knew to the young Plato, only arrested for his imprisonment and death.

Interest in politics

Due to the characteristics of his family, in which many members were or had been politicians, the young man considered becoming one of them as well. However, knowing first-hand how his family ruled, the tyrants Critias and Carmides, and not noticing many differences with how the Democrats who replaced them did, Plato was disappointed by the politics.

For Plato the political way to find justice was precisely philosophy. In fact, one of his maxims that has transcended over time is that justice will only be real if the rulers are philosophers, or the rulers begin to philosophize.

Exile from Athens

As his teacher Socrates was accused of a crime unjustly and sentenced to death, Plato decided to flee to the city of Megara, in Attica. Although he had not committed any crime, he flees for fear of being judged given his close and deep ties with his master, his Socrates. It is believed that he must have stayed in Megara for about three years where he had the opportunity to interact with Euclides de Megara and the school of philosophy of that city.

After Megara he traveled to Egypt and subsequently moved to the region of Cyrenaica, now Libya. There he was able to relate to the mathematician Theodore and to the philosopher Aristipo de Cirene. After his stay in Cyrenaica, Plato traveled to Italy, where he intended to meet Archytas of Tarentum, a versatile man of learning who boasted of being a mathematician, statesman, astronomer and philosopher. However, it can be said that there are sources that consider that, after being in Cyrenaica, he traveled directly to Athens.

Visit to King Dionysus I

Around 388 a. C. Plato traveled to the island of Sicily, in whose capital, Syracuse, he met Dion, Dionysius I's brother-in-law, king of the city. Dio was an admirer of the philosophers who followed the teachings of Socrates and informed the king of Plato's presence. The king, intrigued by such an interesting visit, sent for the philosopher to his palace. Despite the initial interest, the relationship between the two should not have been very good because, although the reasons are not known, Dionysus I ended up expelling Plato.

In his second exile, the philosopher was forced to leave Syracuse aboard a Spartan ship, stopping at Aegina. At that time Aegina and Athens were at war and, on stopping, Plato he ended up being a slave in that first city. Fortunately, he was later rescued by Anníceris, a philosopher from the Cyrenaic school whom he had met when he was in Cyrene.

Academy Foundation

Plato would return to Athens around the year 387 a. C., where he would take the opportunity to found the institution best known of him: the Academy. He built it on the outskirts of Athens, next to a garden dedicated to the hero Academo, which is why he received such a name.

This institution was a kind of sect of wise men organized with its regulations that, in addition, had a student residence, library, classrooms and specialized seminaries. This academy it would be a model for the later universities of the Middle Ages.

Return to Syracuse

In 367 a. C. Dioniosio I of Syracuse passes away, inheriting the throne to his son Dionisio II. Dio saw fit to bring Plato back to become the tutor of the newly crowned king and invited him again to come to Sicily. Naturally, Plato had reservations about him, since from there he had been expelled and, by a series of unfortunate events, he ended up being made a slave in his flight from him. He still dared to travel to Syracuse and accepted the offer, leaving Eudoxus the direction of the Academy.

Once Plato had arrived in Syracuse, Dionysus II distrusted both the philosopher and Dion. He considered that these two were a competition for him and his throne, so very soon he took action and ended up banishing them, although without completely denying an eventual return. He first expelled Dion and then Plato, again.

Last years

Plato returned directly to Athens and stayed there until 361 BC. C. when Dionysius II invited him again. Plato did not trust at all and decided to go in the company of some disciples, leaving this time in charge of the Pontic Heraclides Academy. In an unexpected turn of events Dionysius II again saw a threat in Plato and, this time, decided to arrest him.

Fortunately, Plato was rescued with the help of Archytas of Tarentum. Thereafter, he distrusted anyone outside the city of Athens and invitations from him, the philosopher decided to dedicate himself completely to the Academy, directing it until his death, between 348 or 347 BC. C.

His philosophy

Plato was very influenced by the philosophy of Pythagoras since its inception. For Plato it was the soul, and not the body, that really meant the true essence of being. In fact, he believed that the body was nothing more than a packaging that hindered our search for truth and limited the free expression of our being. The soul was an entity weighed down by the physical world and the senses.

Plato was of the opinion that the soul came from an elevated world, a dimension where it would have had contact with the truth. At some point, the soul indulged in low pleasures and, as a result, was forced to reduce itself to the physical and known world, being imprisoned within the body.

Theory of the three parts

In his theory of the three parts he considers that the soul has three faculties: impulsiveness, rationality and the element of passion.

The impulsive faculty was linked to the ability to give orders and, also, to the force of will. It was related to strength and drive, as well as ambition and rage.

The faculty of rationality was, according to Plato, the highest faculty among all the others. He related it to intelligence and wisdom and, according to him, it was the philosophers who had it most developed.

The passionate faculty, on the other hand, was the lowest of all and was related to the natural urge to avoid pain and seek pleasure. Plato indicated that this was the element that promoted the taste for material goods, which hindered the soul in its search for the truth and the essence of things.

The two realities

For Plato there were what we could call two types of realities. On the one hand we have the real realm, which was made up of the world of ideas, and on the other we have the semi-real realm, made up of the world of the material and sensible.

According to Plato, the world of ideas is eternal, not subject to time or space, being able to understand as the true essence of the real. In contrast, the semi-real world is imperfect, ambiguous, unstable and has limits that depend on space and time.

Thus, Plato gave the concept of ideas a notion related to those universal elements, which serve as models that constitute truths that are maintained over time. For him, ideas were concepts such as virtue, beauty, equality and truth, that is, abstract and conceptually perfect, well-defined concepts.

• You may be interested in: "Plato's Theory of Ideas"

The myth of the cave

The myth of the cave is, surely, the best allegory to understand the duality exposed by Plato in his philosophy. This myth explains that there is an area linked to ideas, which is unintelligible, and there is another that is totally associated with the sensible world, which would be the one we experience as beings of flesh and blood. The interior of the cave represents the sensible world, while life outside it would be related to the world of ideas.

For Plato, living inside the cave implies living in a world full of darkness and being completely subjected to worldly pleasures. The act of getting out of the cave is the representation of leaving behind the pursuit of pleasures and going in search of knowledge, of real ideas. Namely, Leaving the cave is synonymous with prioritizing reason over impulsivity and pleasure. The further away we are from the cave, the more knowledge we gain and the closer we are to the truth.

Division of the human soul and relation to politics

Plato separates the "real" into two opposite worlds. On the one hand we have the positive, which is represented by the soul, the intelligible and the sky, while on the other we have the negative, represented by the body, the earth and the sensible. Namely, the positive was the world of ideas, while the negative was the physical world. Based on these reflections, he relates these ideas to how the ideal state should be, in which Plato established a division regarding the conformation of the human soul.

The three faculties of the soul are located in three different places in the body. Reason is in the head, courage or impulsive faculty is in the heart, and passion or appetite is in the lower abdomen. These three faculties and the structures in which they are housed are those that move man and incline him towards his decisions.

According to Plato, the man who was dedicated to governing should be the one who dominated reason and wisdom above the other two faculties. That is, the good ruler was the one who possessed a soul with a tendency to seek the truth. It is here where he defended the idea that good rulers should be philosophers, that is, men who prioritize reason why in front of the other two faculties, or that at least the kings would philosophize trying to seek the truth to bring prosperity to their land.

Bibliographic references:

• Bury, R. G. (1910). "The Ethics of Plato". April. The International Journal of Ethics XX (3): 271-281.
• Ross, W. D. (1993). Plato's Theory of Ideas. Madrid: Chair.