Plato: The Philosopher of all time
Great revolutions, reformations
and innovations occurred in the history of the world when people began to
think and reason. Eminent philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
etc., were the prime sources for the gigantic transformation in the world
of philosophy. Of these Plato ranks as one of the most authentic and
influential philosophers of all time.
Plato was born in 429 B.C. in a
distinguished aristocratic family in Athens. The name �Plato� seems to be
a nickname, which comes from a Greek word meaning �broad�. He was the
celebrated pupil of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, another illustrious
Greek Philosopher.
After the execution of Socrates,
Plato and his fellow disciples found it expedient to take refuge in Megora.
Having returned to Athens he founded the school �Academy�. The goal of the
school was to produce Philosopher-statesmen and politicians. Academy
went on to become the first European University.
The writings of Plato survive
even to this day. His works are presented in dialogue form, and Plato
himself never appeared in them as a speaker. In 367, Plato sailed to
Syracuse, where he spent his later years as a political advisor to
Dionysius II. At the age of eighty-one, he suffered a serious illness
caused by hardships of his long voyage, and breathed his last in 347.
Plato believed Philosophy as a discipline with a
unique intellectual method can bring about radical transformation in human
life and in the political community. It scrutinizes assumptions of those
other studies merely taken for granted. He claimed that Philosophy alone
can give us genuine understanding.
�Dominic D�Silva
