Saturday, December 28, 2019

The Genius of Plato Essay - 1784 Words

Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens, Greece. When he was a child his father, Ariston, who was believed to be descended from the early kings of Athens died, and his mother, Perictione married Pyrilampes. As a young man Plato was always interested in political leadership and eventually became a disciple of Socrates. He followed his philosophy and his dialectical style, which is believed to be the search for truth through questions, answers, and additional questions. After witnessing the death of Socrates at the hands of the Athenian democracy in 399 B.C., Plato left Athens and continued to travel to Italy, Sicily, and Egypt. (Internet) In 387 B.C. Plato founded the Academy in Athens otherwise known as the first†¦show more content†¦He does not enter into the conversation of Laws. More interest was shown in the possibilities of politics. Law and legal government were stressed and it greatly influenced Aristotle. It is clear that in later years Plato became more aware of the difficulties in attempting to combine science with government. Platos main interest at the end of his life was to guide human effort as indicated in his last dialogues, the Laws. (Allen) Many students of the Academy were reaching into positions of power in the Greek world. Plato planned a trilogy at the end of his life, the Timaeus, the Critias, and the Hermoncrates. (Allen) THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE Platos theory of knowledge can be found in the myth of the cave. The myth describes people chained within a cave. The only images they see are the shadows of objects and animals held in front of a fire that is behind them that reflects on the cave walls in front of them. That is all they had ever seen so that is what they believe to be real. One day a man escaped the cave and went outside. With the sun he saw what was real in the world and realized all he ever saw were just shadows. 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