Platon - Dialogues of Plato

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Cover art by Robert Hunt

ISBN: 978-1-4391-6948-3

ISBN-13: 978-1-4516-8563-3 (eBook)

For more than two centuries, writers, philosophers, and statesmen throughout the world have celebrated Plato as one of historys greatest thinkers. In his dialogues (399360 BCE), Plato explores the great ideas of lifelove, death, search for immortalityand essentially what it means to be human. His dialogues are also full of biting social criticism. He rails at hypocrites, challenging politicians, teachers, and other leaders to rethink their morality and ethics. Unleashing the dramatic potential in the literary form of the dialogue, Plato creates lively debates among different points of view that invite the reader to join the discussion.

Though Platos dialogues are serious, they also provide entertaining discourse. They tell the story of his controversial teacher, Socrates (c. 469399 BCE), an independent thinker and nonconformist who is arrested on trumped-up charges of corruption and is tried, convicted, and executed by his political enemies. Meno and Euthyphro find Socrates at the height of his career, as he questions authority and decries hypocrisy. The trilogy of Apology, Crito, and Phaedo takes the reader from Socrates trial to his prison cell, for serious discussions on justice, loyalty, death, and the immortality of the soul. Symposium, one of Platos undisputed masterpieces, presents Socrates as a guest at a dinner party, joining his friends in food, drink, and a delightful night of speeches about love that are comic, sentimental, and inspirational. Set in ancient Athens during a period of political turmoil, Dialogues of Plato depicts Socrates as a vivid, imperfect human being, both funny and solemn, who challenges the leaders of Athenian society to think critically about their strongest convictions.

On a deeper level, Platos dialogues draw a distinction between the physical world that can deceive us and an ideal spirit world, which inspires us to strive for truth and goodness. Plato emphasizes a spiritual reward that awaits the faithful after a worldly life of trials and tribulations. Platos works not only influenced the foundations of Christianity, but also the development of philosophy from the time of his pupil Aristotle (384322 BCE) until the present day. With his focus on debate as a process for discovering the truth, Platos philosophy can be applied to a wide spectrum of ethical issues, including torture, war, and the role of government in a democratic society. Dialogues of Plato is among the first works of literature to ask the most pointed questions about human existence, questions that we continue to attempt to answer each day.

Very little is known about Platos life, and the sources that mention him are incomplete and unreliable. Even his date of birth is uncertain. He was born sometime around 427 BCE, the fourth child of an aristocratic Athenian family whose lineage claimed well-known ancestors like the Athenian lawgiver Solon, and even the god Poseidon. His family probably resided on the island of Aegina, about fifteen miles from Athens. Platos father died around the time of his birth, which later inspired the even more fantastic legend that the god Apollo himself was Platos real father. Platos stepfather was a close friend of the Athenian statesman Pericles, and the familys political connections may explain why the young Plato aspired to a career in public service.

Platos early education included training in gymnastics, the arts, mathematics, and history. Traditionally, male children of noble families were placed with older tutors who instructed them in virtue and practical matters. Although he may have had other teachers first, Plato met Socrates between the ages of fifteen and twenty. Plato entered adulthood during the last stages of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and it is possible that he served in the military. His brothers, Adeimantus and Glaucon, distinguished themselves in the war, and two of his uncles, Critias and Charmides, formed part of the elite Oligarchy of the Thirty, the antidemocratic government that ruled Athens after its defeat. Despite his familys involvement in Athenian politics, or perhaps because of it, Plato gave up his plan for a public career and instead became a dedicated pupil to Socrates, pursuing a life as a philosopher. Plato later cast his heroic brothers and controversial uncles as characters in a number of his dialogues.

Perhaps the most significant event that defined Platos adult life was the trial and execution of his mentor, Socrates, in 399 BCE. During the political instability that followed the Peloponnesian War, Athenian democracy collapsed (in 404 BCE), only to be restored a year later after a battle that claimed the lives of Platos uncles. A general amnesty was issued to stop acts of political revenge. Socrates, however, could not escape criticism for his previous associations with the enemies of the new government; when the amnesty prevented Athenian leaders from charging him with political crimes, they accused him of sacrilege against the gods and corrupting the youth of Athens. Plato attended the trial, which he recounts in Apology . He dramatizes Socrates last days awaiting execution in Crito and Phaedo .

In the years after Socrates death, Plato began writing his early dialogues, including Meno, Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, featuring his teacher as the protagonist. The dialogue form allowed him to dramatize Socrates method, called dialectic, in which he used a series of questions to challenge his interlocutors preconceived assumptions and illogical reasoning. Like many of Socrates followers, he moved away from Athens, settling for a time in Megara, near the border with Sparta. Even as his fame as a philosopher spread, he was never far removed from political intrigue. He was invited several times to Sicily to tutor kings Dionysius I and II of Syracuse, where he established a close friendship with the elder kings brother-in-law, Dion. His experience as a royal tutor was a mixed blessing. In 384 BCE, Dionysius I grew angry with Plato and sold him into slavery. He was freed shortly thereafter and returned to Athens. Some twenty years later, Dionysius II accused his uncle, Dion, of plotting with Plato against him. Dion was banished to Athens and Plato was held under house arrest before being allowed to join the exiled Dion. A few years later, Dion would successfully overthrow his nephew only to be assassinated in 354 BCE.