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[[Image:Raphael.jpg|right|thumb|Raphael's depiction of Plato in '''The School of Athens'''.]]

[[Image:Raphael.jpg|right|thumb|Raphael's depiction of Plato in '''The School of Athens'''.]]

'''Plato''' was a great [[Greek philosopher]] from 428 to 347 BC. His actual name is Aristocles, but he is commonly known by his wrestling name, Plato. He was a student of [[Socrates]] and founded the Academy, a school bereft of buildings wherein Plato taught his students math, logic, and the tenants of Sophitic thought. He wrote the [[Republic]], and its logical sequel, [[The Laws]], as well as a large number of other, less popular works in which he showed (amongst other things) how to teach [[geometry]] to [[slaves]], how to irritate [[sophists]], and how everything in the world is made of triangles. One of Plato's pupils was [[Aristotle]], who went on to greatly influence Aquinas, and much of the [[Magesterium]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. Although Plato cannot be described as a theist, he was a major influence on early Christian teachings, and there is notably similarity between his philosophy- [[The Form of the Good]], the [[soul]], and so on, and the most fundamental theistic beliefs.

'''Plato''' was a great [[Greek philosopher]] who lived from 428 to 347 BC. His family name was Aristocles. He was a friend of [[Socrates]] and founded the Academy, a school bereft of buildings wherein Plato taught his philosophy, which entailed many separate disciplines. He most famous work is [[Republic]], from which Rome and the United States took the name for their system of government. One of Plato's pupils was [[Aristotle]], whose works greatly influenced Aquinas, and much of the [[Magesterium]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. Although Plato cannot be described as a theist, neo-Platonism from the second and third centuries B.C. were a major influence on early Christian teachings.

Plato's works are different from the majority of philosophical works in style and structure. He wrote dialogues which combined elements of both Greek tragedy and philosophy. His works are conversational dramas filled with irony and 'hidden' content which only the experienced reader will recognize and understand. And he did not write explicit treatises, instead slowly and indirectly revealing his ideas over the course of dozens of dialogues written across the course of his life through the words of his character.  

==Theory of Forms==

==The Myth of the Cave==

Plato created the allegory of the cave. In this story there are a group of individuals chained in a cave with a fire to their backs. They cannot turn their heads and may only gaze upon the shadows reflecting off the cave walls. The prisoners establish a primitive social order in which respect is granted to those who can correctly predict which (completly random) shape will next be projected onto the wall. One day someone escapes and, after a long and ardous struggle symbolising how difficult and uncomfortable it can be for Man to practice philosophy and profoundly reconsider the world around him, observes the real world. He returns to tell his companions of his amazing discovery only to be refuted and disbelieved by the cave dwellers, who cannot even comprehend what he is trying to tell them, and prefer to play their shadow games. Further hurting his credibility, having been in the light he finds it difficult to operate in the dim cave and appears clumsy, and completly unable to perceive the shadows- he has no social status and is ostracised as a literal 'outsider'. In this Plato illustrates the supposed futility of shallow living and paying heed to traditional and social convention, and proposes that Man must strive out on his own to gain true knowledge.

Plato had his character Socrates present the myth of the cave in [[Republic]]. In this myth there are men chained in a cave, with a fire somewhere behind them casting light and shadows on the walls in front of them. They cannot turn their heads and may only gaze upon these shadows. The prisoners establish a primitive social order in which respect is granted to those who can correctly predict which shape the flames random gyrationgs will next be projecte onto the wall. In the myth one of these prisoners is set free, and eventually finds his way out of the cave into the realm of the sun and truth. In Socrates' thought experiment of a myth this freed man is then forced to return to the cave, where he tries to tell his companions of the truth he has seen, which they can only understand as the ravings of a madman.

==The Soul==

==The Soul==

Plato argued that there was sufficient evidence for a soul in his texts. He believed that only soul could ever have knowledge of the Forms, and it is in the polluted human body that could never obtain knowledge due to its use of sense-perception as the sole means of 'knowledge' that the soul (or mind) is unable to recall all the detail of the Forms, and so it was only through sense-perception that the soul was able to recall the Forms and hence the mind obtain knowledge. Souls had existed outside of time along with the Forms which is why they were able to recall the detail.

Plato had his characters take the existence of the human soul on faith, following the example of Socrates, who believed in the soul because a benevolent spirit spoke directly to his. In [[Phaedo]] Socrates tells a myth where only as disembodied souls can we possess true knowledge of the Forms. The soul in a human body cannot obtain true knowledge due to the body's failings and distractions. However, by study of philosophy one can regain the path to the true knowledge of the Forms, and prepare oneself for the realm to come after death.

[[Category:Philosophers]]

[[Category:Philosophers]]