Plato was born in Athens, Greece, of an aristocratic family.
He is the founder of Platonism, which is one of the western philosophy’s
main directions. Plato was a pupil of Socrates and the founder of European
first university, Academy.
Plato’s writings are regarded as classics in the world literature.
Plato was interested in politics but at the same time he despised the
odd branches of politics. He was a scientist, mathematician but also a
poet.
His dialogues are sometimes dazzling logical, sometimes rough, sometimes
pinched with a subtle irony. They can be read in many ways so how you
read Plato says rather much about you. A good example of Plato’s
ability to vary from the coarse to the sublime is in Symposium, where
one can compare Aristophanes speech with Diotima’s speech. According
to Aristophanes’ love exists as the primitive man had four arms
and legs, however, the God divided the man from the middle, and since
we are seeking our better half. Diotima’s speech instead is a poetical
description of how we intellectually, by a process of abstraction, can
go from the concrete and individual to the abstract and common to discover
the ideas – the way upward.
Plato came from an aristocratic family in Athena and was born 427 or 428
B.C. It is difficult to claim whether Plato was an aristocratic laid conservatism
or manchauvinism. In his much debated, “the State”, he lets
Socrates preach in favour for talented children from the poor families
shall be given education, and woman’s principal equality in the
military as well in the politics. Both thoughts were at that time very
radical. He also wants to accentuate the fact that the origin does not
mean anything as we all have poor people among our ancestors, so even
with kings. The important is what you have in your mind and what you make
of it, i.e. the meaning of ones philosophy in life. Plato had good reasons
to be sceptical against the upper classes, as he had seen his own elders
and his much admired relatives, carry on with a bloody terror regime for
some time.
Plato belonged to a group formed around Socrates for seven years. He was
present at Socrates trail and witnessed his death. Socrates defence speech
is usually counted as his first work. After Socrates death 399 B.C. his
disciples were dispersed.
Plato visited Egypt and Italy. The Pythagorean alliance and the leaders
of that time seem to have been influences on Plato’s self-learned
doctrine and his belief in immortality. In Sicily, Plato spent lots of
time at the tyrant, Dionysus, elder’s court. However, it came to
breaking point between them. Plato returned to Athens summer 388 B.C.
Now Plato started seriously his work as the teacher. He bought now, at
40 years old, outside Athens, a country place with its garden situated
close to a senior high school, named Academy. Plato instructed and worked
here with his most important works for more than 20 years.
Plato’s philosophy is under the name the doctrine of ideas. According
to the doctrine of ideas or rather doctrine of form is “reality”
(that to be understood by the senses) not real only a phantom of life.
That which is in the world around us, the material world is only real
to that extend it has a part of philosophy. The life, which on the contrary,
is real, unchangeable and true, is (personal) philosophy. A world does
not exist in time and space (then it should be changeable). Plato means
that the things around us vanish, the trees die, for example, but the
thought of the tree still is there, the idea of the trees.
The mathematical concept, for example, a circle or a straight line, they
are in fact only in the (personal) philosophy. In this world is the circle
never really round, the straight line never really straight. The thoughts
around the philosophy, where he means the soul returns after every life
to be reincarnated then, he develops in cave metaphor which are in the
form of a dialogue in the State (Republic?)
Disapproving of the democracy and the inclination for different kind of
the elitism and the authoritarian rule was the leading principle of Plato’s
political thinking. In this he followed after Socrates, who would have
said that politics and law should be taken care by only philosophers.
Among Plato’s ideas about the State there is lot of which we today
would regard as inhuman and totalitarian. Among others should the children
part from their parents as soon as it was possible after the birth to
be grown up without knowledge about their parents, brothers and sisters.
They should instead regards all about the same age as their sisters and
brothers and regard all adults such of age that they could be their parent
as their parents.
For Plato was work of art only an imitation of something in an external
world, which that in turn was an imitation of the philosophy. This means
the work of art was place in the lower standing. Also Plato like that
works of art had a harmful affect to its audience, if for example, the
spectators saw an act involving of a sex murder so thus there was a risk
that the audience should get morally damaged.
If Plato had been living in present times he should perhaps have been
an eager supporter of the ban of the violent computer plays and the films.
The dialogue in Plato’s work Symposium deals with love and is aimed
at find the love’s true nature. In Symposium a group highly educated
men discuss about Eros and love. At last presents Socrates the right knowledge
and love’s right nature. How love to the beauty can work as a way
to the truth. He explains a man’s attraction and love to the woman
as longing for immortality. The love between a woman and a man may result
in a child and by that secure the own immortality as the own name goes
on living. This, mean Socrates and Diotima, is reason to that the man
loves the woman and have attraction for her.
Phaedros is the opening speaker. He talks about Eros like the oldest of
the Gods and he stands for all the good. For Phaedros is the greatest
happiness for a man to have a good lover and that the love is able the
lovers die for each other. He thinks also that Eros, in spite of the greatness,
have been neglected by people.
Pausanias talks about two Eros, the heavenly one and the common one. It
is the heavenly one that is the good love, the spiritual, while the common
is the bodily which in its pure form is of evil. This spiritual love should
be what was the cause for so called boy love.
This love was thought to be wide superior the love between a man and a
woman. Also the love between two grown up men seems in Symposium to be
superior the heterosexual love.
The true love for Plato is the spiritual love that is also called the
Platonic love. The perfect love should instead of being love for an individual
to develop into understanding or knowledge. The love was for Plato similar
to the soul longing for the (personal) philosophy. This longing exists
when the soul is imprisoned in the material body that is a part of Phenomenally
world.
In Symposium there is Aristophanes speech discussing an instinct between
people and how this is arisen.
The people from the beginning were three sexes but the God punished them
due to their arrogance and divided them. That is why people always are
seeking for their better half to reach the wholeness.
