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Plato Πλάτων | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Aristocles 428/427BCE Athens |
| Died | 348 BCE (aged c. 75-80) Athens, Greece |
| School tradition | Platonic Academy |
| Notable students | Aristotle |
Plato was an ancient Greek idealist philosopher and dialectician most well known for his theory of forms and his dialogues whilst also proposing the abolition of private property. Plato is sometimes called a proto-fascist and as such many of his ideas have inspired fascist idealogues; this is because the supposed utopian society described in Plato's most famous work, Republic, shares similarities with a fascist society, particularly in regards to class collaborationism and eugenics, the latter of which Plato was the first advocate for.[1][2]
Plato's Republic was heavily influenced by Xenophanes, specifically his demand for a moral, non-humanlike god alongside Plato's disdain for the demos (common working people), as he viewed them as incompetent and ignorant, which is why he advocated for an aristocracy of philosopher-kings in Republic.[3]
Life[edit | edit source]
In 428/427 BCE Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens. In roughly 407BCE he would meet Socrates and become a student of his, but after the death of Socrates Plato would travel to Megara followed by Cyrene and Egypt. In 389BCE he travelled to Italy and Sicily where he would meet with the students of Pythagoras. Plato would then return to Athens where he established his own school; Plato's Academy. In 367 and 361 BCE he would again visit Sicily at the request of Dionysius of Syracuse, who invited him with the intention of putting Plato's ideas into practise, this like all Plato's attempts to establish relationships with men in power predictably ended in failure. Plato would spend the remainder of his life in Athens writing and giving lectures before dying in 348 BCE.[4]
In the 390’s BCE Plato wrote: the Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, Laches, Lysis, Charmides, Protagoras, and Book 1 of the Republic. In the 380's BCE he wrote: the Gorgias, Meno, Euthydemus, Cratylus, and Hippias Minor. In the 370's and 360's BCE he wrote: the Phaedo, Symposium, and Phaedrus; Books 2–10 of the Republic); and the Theaetetus, Parmenides involving Parmenides, Sophist, Politi-cus, Philebus, Timaeus, and Critias. Finally in the 350's BCE Plato would write the Laws.[4]
Philosophy[edit | edit source]
Preface[edit | edit source]
Plato's popularity originates from him being the only ancient Greek philosopher to have a substantial amount of his work preserved, though it is important to recognize that Plato's concepts of an eternal soul, alongside geometry being the foundation of universal truth, are borrowed from Ancient Egyptian religion.[5]
In his dialogue ‘’Timaeus’’, he borrows the concept of a mathematically ordered, harmonious cosmos from Babylonian celestial observations; alongside this, his dualistic ideas of the physical world and the World of Forms were most likely influenced by Zoroastrianism, given Greece's connections and interactions with the Achaemenid Empire.[5]
Plato's philosophy universalizes and sanctifies the existing social relations of his time by presenting them as eternal and unchanging in his "Theory of Forms." Combined with the "Republic," his ideal society ruled by philosopher-kings is merely a metaphysical veil for his interest in privileging the ruling class using claims of wisdom.[6]
Plato's ethics are designed to subordinate the people to maintain harmony for the ruling class; this harmony rationalizes the social hierarchy. Plato's influence lingers to this day, with people glorifying experts and technocrats while treating the working class with suspicion.[6]
Eugenics[edit | edit source]
In his work, Republic, Plato argues that all human reproduction should be controlled by the state with the identity of parents being unknown in order to produce better soldiers and philosophers, with the latter becoming "philosopher-kings." Plato proposed that the state run eugenics program be concealed from the population via a fixed lottery in which mates were assigned a marriage number in order to produce the most favourable outcome with the supposedly more desirable people being allowed to procreate with multiple people.[2]
Theory of Forms[edit | edit source]
Most of Plato's work revolves around his conception of an ideal World of Forms. Plato maintains that the sensible world is an illusion, a view he borrowed from Parmenides, along with the idealistic assertion that the sensible world is not real. Everything that exists in the world is a reflection of its original concept; every person we see is a reflection of the original human being. Even that which is not material is a reflection, according to Plato, as he viewed beauty, justice, and truth as reflections of the originals.[7]
All these original concepts exist in the World of Forms; above us, there is a perfect, unchanging, and eternal world of Forms.[7]
Theory of Knowledge[edit | edit source]
Like Parmenides, Plato believed that one could not acquire knowledge from the observable world, but only opinions about the observable world. Plato believed that the human soul was immortal and existed in the World of Forms before we were born, so all learning is a matter of recollection: our souls remembered the perfect truth before they became bound to a physical body. He divided this into four parts:[7]
- The object of knowledge: the infinite, unchanging Forms.
- The source of knowledge: our reasoning and recollection.
- The nature of knowledge: the perfect, which justifies true belief.
- The goal of knowledge: according to Plato, to understand the Form of the Good.
Tripartite Soul[edit | edit source]
Plato believed that the human soul was divided into three parts:[7]
- Reason: the part of the soul that seeks truth and is responsible for logical decisions; according to Plato, it is regarded as the master of the soul.
- Spirit: this part of the soul is associated with courage, honour, and justice.
- Appetite: this part of the soul is driven by basic biological needs, such as food, drink, and sex.
According to Plato, a perfect person is one who controls the reason and spirit of their soul in order to specifically control their appetite.[7]
Allegory of the Cave[edit | edit source]
Plato wove together his ideas about reality, knowledge, and society in the Allegory of the Cave. He describes prisoners chained in a dark cave, staring at a featureless blank wall, where they see shadows cast by various objects behind them; to the prisoners, these shadows are real.[7]
If a prisoner were to escape from the cave, he would first be blinded by the sunlight, but then he would see the world and the sun as they truly are. If the prisoner returned to the other prisoners, they would think he was mad and refuse to leave the cave. This is a metaphor for how Plato attempts to prove his theory of the World of Forms to those he addresses.[7]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ L. Bloom (1962). On the social psychology of fascism. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, vol.18 (p. 44). Berghahn Books.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Plato (375 BCE). Republic, vol. 5-6.
- ↑ Frede, Dorothea and Mi-Kyoung Lee, "Plato’s Ethics: An Overview", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/plato-ethics/>.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A. F. Losev (1979). The Great Soviet Encyclopedia: 'Plato'.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Martin Bernal: Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (1987)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Popper, K. (2002). The Open Society and Its Enemies (7th ed.). Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780203820377.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Kraut, Richard, "Plato", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/plato/>.