Plato

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Greek philosopher known for his Dialogues and for founding his Academy outside of Athens, the first university-like school in the western world. Born Aristocles son of Ariston of the deme Colytus in 428/7, Plato had two older brothers (Adeimantus and Glaucon)who both appear in Plato's dialogue Republic, and a sister Potone. His nickname 'Plato' was given him by his wrestling coach because of his broad shoulders (in Greek 'Platon' means broad). When he was in his late teens or early twenties he heard Socrates teaching in the market and abandoned his plans to pursue a literary career as a playwright; he burned his early work and devoted himself to philosophy.

Socrates' execution in 399 BCE had a great impact on the then twenty-eight year old and he left Athens to travel, visiting Egypt and Italy among other places, before returning to his homeland to write his Dialogues and set up the Academy. Plato's most famous student was Aristotle who would go on to tutor Alexander the Great and, in so doing, would teach philosophy to the world. Plato died at the age of eighty in 348/7 BCE. His Academy endured for nearly one thousand years as a beacon of higher learning until it was closed by the Emperor Justinian in 529 CE in an effort to suppress the 'heresies' of pagan thought.

The twentieth-century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead has famously written, "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."

Written by Joshua J. Mark, published 02 September 2009.

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