Plato's mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon. According to a disputed tradition, reported by Diogenes Laërtius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus, and the king of Messenia, Melanthus. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina between 429 and 423 BC. The exact time and place of Plato's birth are unknown, but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. His father contributed all which was necessary to give to his son a good education, and, therefore, Plato must have been instructed in grammar, music, gymnastics and philosophy by some of the most distinguished teachers of his era. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies. The philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Few other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range: perhaps only Aristotle (who studied with him), Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank." ĭue to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Plato's early life and education. But he was so self-conscious about how philosophy should be conceived, and what its scope and ambitions properly are, and he so transformed the intellectual currents with which he grappled, that the subject of philosophy, as it is often conceived-a rigorous and systematic examination of ethical, political, metaphysical, and epistemological issues, armed with a distinctive method-can be called his invention. He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word 'philosopher' should be applied. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Plato as ".one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been along with Socrates, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Pythagoras, although few of his predecessors' works remain extant and much of what we know about these figures today derives from Plato himself. The so-called Neoplatonism of philosophers like Plotinus and Porphyry influenced Saint Augustine and thus Christianity. Plato also appears to have been the founder of Western political philosophy, with his Republic, and Laws among other dialogues, providing some of the earliest extant treatments. His most famous contribution bears his name, Platonism (also ambiguously called either Platonic realism or Platonic idealism), the doctrine of the Forms to provide a realist solution to the problem of universals. Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." In addition, Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality. He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the development of Western philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle. Plato ( / ˈ p l eɪ t oʊ/ Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn, pronounced in Classical Attic 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.
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