Plato Autobiography

Plato Autobiography

Full Name: Mr. Plato
Date of Birth: 428 BC
Place of Birth: Athens, Greece
Died: 347 BC
Place of Death: Athens, Greece
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers


Known to have one of the greatest influences on modern Western thought, and to have taught his ways to Aristotle in the Academy, Plato is considered one of the greatest minds and logical rationalists in world history. While his works often border mysticism, his continual pursuit of ethical answers based on logical processes still influences law, politics, education, ethics, philosophy, and psychology even today.

Not much is known about the days of young Plato. He was of some higher social class, hence his elitist education and his ability to travel to Sicily and even as far as Egypt. Being brought up in a noble family meant that he would have access to the best libraries and teachers available in his day. While he always preferred to stay in Athens, he knew a lot about the outside world, mainly through reading and intimate discussions with others. Even as a young boy, Plato wrote poetry, plays, and his association with Socrates gained him national recognition by others of young nobility in Athens.

In Plato’s work, the Apology, show that he was active in government following the Phoenician conflicts. But, from this moment on, Plato never took an active role in the politics of his day and instead resorted to spending time pursuit of his own education. Plato traveled to Athens and remained with Dionysius in Sicily for some time. When Plato returned to Athens, he was dropped off on the nearby island of Aegina and had to make his own way back to Athens.

Upon his return, Plato opened up his own academy and founded it as a gymnasium, similar to what Aristotle opened several years later. The Academy remained in operation until the arrival of Christian emperors. While here, Plato began writing his Dialogues, which is how he is most remembered today. His dialogues discuss certain humane virtues personified and laid the foundation of all his and his followers’ future philosophies. In the dialogues, Socrates discusses and debates each virtue, showing what is wrong with each one according to a new model of thinking.

Socrates also appears in the Symposium and in the Republic, where a utopia is founded based upon the harmony of the soul, which is made up of three parts: the rational, less rational, and the impulsive. Through these writings, one learns how wisdom, courage, and justice greatly affect a society that is attempting perfection.