Editing Plato (section)

== Life ==
{{anchor|Life}}
Plato was born between 428 and 423 BC{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=246}}{{sfn|Waterfield|2023}} into an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] and influential [[Ancient Athens|Athenian]] family;{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=53}} through his mother, [[Perictione]], he was a descendant of [[Solon]], a statesman credited with laying the foundations of [[Athenian democracy]].<ref>Stanton, G. R. ''Athenian Politics c. 800–500 BC: A Sourcebook'', Routledge, London (1990), p. 76.</ref> There is an apocryphal story that Plato is a nickname, and that his birth name was ''Aristocles'' ({{lang|grc|Ἀριστοκλῆς}}), meaning 'best reputation', but this is widely regarded as false by modern scholarship.{{sfn|Notopoulos|1939|pp=135–145}}{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=243}}{{sfn|Guthrie|1986|loc=p. 12 (footnote)}}{{sfn|Waterfield|2023}} Plato had two brothers, [[Glaucon]] and [[Adeimantus of Collytus|Adeimantus]], both of whom appear in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', and also a sister, [[Potone]], and a half brother, Antiphon.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023}} 

During Plato's childhood, Athens was involved in the [[Peloponessian War]] against Sparta. His older brothers, [[Adeimantus of Collytus|Adeimantus]] and [[Glaucon]], distinguished themselves at the battle of Megara in 409 BC.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=2}} Despite the war, Plato and his brothers, like all male citizens of Athens, received a traditional education in [[gymnastics]] and [[music]].{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|pp=14-19}} According to the ancient writers, there was a tradition that Plato's favorite employment in his youthful years was [[poetry]]: he wrote poems, [[dithyramb]]s at first, and afterwards [[lyric poem]]s and tragedies (a [[tetralogy]]), but abandoned his early passion and burnt his poems when he met Socrates and turned to philosophy.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|pp=20-21}} There are also some epigrams attributed to Plato, but these are now thought by some scholars to be spurious.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|pp=21-24}}

=== Socrates ===
[[File:Socrates Louvre.jpg|thumb|upright|Plato was one of the devoted young followers of Socrates, whose bust is pictured above.]]
In his youth, Plato first encountered [[Socrates]], who would become his teacher and greatest source of inspiration, initially in the company of other Athenian boys in the [[Palaestra]], such as is depicted with [[Lysis]] and [[Menexenus]], who discuss philosophy with Socrates in the ''[[Lysis (dialogue) |Lysis]]'',{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=2}} but he soon would become a member of Socrates' inner circle, meeting with Socrates and his other followers. Socrates, along with the [[sophist]]s of his day, challenged the prevailing focus of [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|Early Greek philosophy]] on Natural philosophy, and investigated questions of ethics and politics, examining the ideas of his interlocutors with a series of questioning called the [[Socratic method]].{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|pp=40-42}} 

Socrates' immense influence on Plato is clearly borne out in Plato's dialogues: Plato never speaks in his own voice in [[Socratic dialogues|his dialogues]]; every dialogue except the ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' features Socrates, although many dialogues, including the ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' and ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|Statesman]]'', feature him speaking only rarely. [[Leo Strauss]] notes that Socrates' reputation for [[irony]] casts doubt on whether Plato's Socrates is expressing sincere beliefs.{{sfn|Strauss|1964|pp=50–51}} [[Xenophon]]'s ''[[Memorabilia (Xenophon)|Memorabilia]]'' and [[Aristophanes]]'s ''[[The Clouds]]'' seem to present a somewhat different portrait of Socrates from the one Plato paints. Aristotle attributes a different doctrine with respect to Forms to Plato and Socrates.<ref>''Metaphysics'' 987b1–11</ref> Aristotle suggests that Socrates' idea of forms can be discovered through investigation of the natural world, unlike Plato's Forms that exist beyond and outside the ordinary range of human understanding.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Religion of Socrates |last=McPherran |first=M.L. |publisher=Penn State Press |year=1998 |page=268}}</ref> The [[Socratic problem]] concerns how to reconcile these various accounts. The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention among scholars.{{sfn|Vlastos|1991}}{{page needed|date=April 2023}}

===Thirty tyrants and Trial of Socrates===
{{see also|Thirty tyrants|Trial of Socrates}}
According to the [[Seventh Letter]], whose authenticity has been disputed, as Plato came of age, he imagined for himself a life in public affairs.<ref>Plato (?), ''Seventh Letter'', 324c</ref> In 404, Sparta defeated Athens at the conclusion of the Peloponessian war, leading to the election of the [[Thirty Tyrants]], which included two of Plato's relatives, Critias and Charmides.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=2-3}} Plato himself was invited to join the administration, but declined, and quickly became disillusioned by the atrocities committed by the Thirty, especially when they tried to implicate Socrates in their seizure of the democratic general [[Leon of Salamis]] for [[summary execution]].{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|p=65-66}}

In 403 BC, the democracy was restored after the regrouping of the democrats in exile, who entered the city through the [[Piraeus]] and met the forces of the Thirty at the [[Battle of Munychia]], where both Critias and Charmides were killed. In 401 BC the restored democrats raided [[Eleusis]] and killed the remaining oligarchic supporters, suspecting them of hiring mercenaries.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=4}}

As depicted in the many dialogues that are set between 401 and 399 BC, life largely returned to normal in Athens. However, [[Trial of Socrates|the prosecution of Socrates]] by Anytus put an end to Plato's plans for a political career.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|p=66}}

===Later philosophical development===
After the death of Socrates, Plato remained in Athens for roughly three years.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|p=71}} 
==== Heraclitus and Parmenides ====
{{main|Heraclitus|Parmenides}}
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| caption1 = ''Heraclitus'' (1628) by [[Hendrick ter Brugghen]]. Heraclitus saw a world in [[flux]], with everything always in conflict, constantly changing.
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| caption2 = Bust of Parmenides from [[Velia]]. Parmenides saw the world as [[Eternity of the world|eternal]] and unchanging, that all change was an illusion.
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In Athens, Plato studied with [[Cratylus]], a philosopher who followed the early Greek philosopher [[Heraclitus]], and also [[Hermogenes]], an [[Eleatic]] philosopher in the tradition of [[Parmenides]].{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} Heraclitus viewed all things as [[Impermanence|continuously changing]], that one cannot "step into the same river twice" due to the ever-changing waters flowing through it, and all things exist as a contraposition of opposites, while Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary vision, arguing for the idea of a changeless, eternal universe and the view that change is an illusion. Heraclitus's views are expounded by Cratylus himself in Plato's dialogue ''[[Cratylus]]'' and deconstructed in the ''[[Theaetetus (dialogue)|Theaetetus]]'' by Socrates. Plato would go on to depict both Parmenides and Parmenides' student [[Zeno of Elea|Zeno]] in the ''Parmenides'', and an "Eleatic Stranger" also appears in the ''[[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]]'' and ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|Statesman]]''.

In roughly 396 BC, Plato left Athens and studied in [[Megara]] with [[Euclid of Megara]], founder of the Megarian school of philosophy, and other Socratics.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|p=72}} 

==== Mathematics ====
Around 394 BC or earlier, he returned to Athens, where, as an Athenian male of military age he would have needed to be available to serve in the [[Corinthian war]], which Athens participated in from 395 to 386 BC.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|p=73}} Other than potential military service, Plato spent his time studying mathematics with [[Archytas of Tarentum]], [[Theaetetus (mathematician) | Theaetetus]], [[Leodamas of Thasos]], and [[Neoclides]] in the grove of [[Hecademus]],{{sfn|Nails|2006|pp=5-6}} named after an [[Attica|Attic]] hero in [[Greek mythology]], northwest of the city of [[Athens]], where he would later found his Academy.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023}} During this time, Plato likely began work on some of his earliest works; including the ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology]]'', possibly early drafts of the ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'' and ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' Book I, and an early form of the ''Republic'' books II-IV, in the form of a speech rather than a dialogue, which was ridiculed by Aristophanes in the ''[[Ecclesiazusae]]'' in 391 BC.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=6}} [[Speusippus]], the son of Plato's sister Potone, who took over the academy after Plato's death, joined the group in about 390 BC, and [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]], another early mathematician, arrived around 385 BC.{{sfn|Nails|2006|pp=5-6}}

==== Pythagoreanism ====
{{main|Pythagoreanism}}
[[File:Kapitolinischer Pythagoras adjusted.jpg|right|upright|thumb|The mathematical and mystical teachings of the followers of Pythagoras, pictured above, exerted a strong influence on Plato.]]
After the conclusion of the [[Corinthian War]], Plato travelled to southern Italy to study with [[Archytas]] and other Pythagoreans.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|p=112}} The influence of these Pythagoreans appears to have been significant. According to [[R. M. Hare]], this influence consists of three points:
# The platonic Republic might be related to the idea of "a tightly organized community of like-minded thinkers", like the one established by Pythagoras in Croton.
# The idea that mathematics and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for philosophical thinking as well as "for substantial theses in [[science]] and [[morals]]".
# They shared a "mystical approach to the soul and its place in the material world".<ref>R.M. Hare, Plato in C.C.W. Taylor, R.M. Hare and Jonathan Barnes, Greek Philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999 (1982), 103–189, here 117–119.</ref>

Pythagoras held that all things are number, and the cosmos comes from numerical principles. He introduced the concept of form as distinct from matter, and that the physical world is an imitation of an eternal mathematical world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calian |first=Florin George |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004467224/BP000010.xml |title=Numbers, Ontologically Speaking: Plato on Numerosity |year=2021 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-46722-4 |language=en |access-date=10 April 2023 |archive-date=7 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507230433/https://brill.com/display/book/9789004467224/BP000010.xml |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Later years: Syracuse and the Academy ===
====First trip to Syracuse====
When Plato was about 40 years old, he visited Syracuse. Many Ancient sources, including the collection of ''[[Epistles (Plato)|Letters]]'' attributed to Plato, tell how he became entangled with the politics of the city of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]. Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was under the rule of [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius]], in roughly 385 BC.{{sfn|Riginos|1976|p=73}} During this first trip Dionysius's brother-in-law, [[Dion of Syracuse]], became one of Plato's disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023}}

====Foundation of the Academy====
[[File:MANNapoli_124545_plato's_academy_mosaic.jpg|thumb|[[Plato's Academy mosaic]] in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in [[Pompeii]], around 100 BC to 100 CE]]
{{main|Platonic Academy}}
After his return from Syracuse, Plato founded his philosophical school, the Academy, near the sacred olive grove of [[Hecademus]], in roughly 383 BC.{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} At first, the property consisted of only a house with a garden, and during his lifetime, the work of the Academy itself likely took part an open area for study of philosophy and mathematics.{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} From 383 BC until about 366 BC, Plato primarily spent his time at the Academy, writing the majority of the dialogues during this time.{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=7}} Much like Socrates and his students had been parodied in [[Aristophanes]]' plays [[The Clouds]] and [[The Birds (play)|The Birds]], the students at the Academy seem to have been the target of their contemporaries in [[Middle Comedy]].{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} A fragment from a lost play of [[Epicrates of Ambracia|Epicrates]] depicts two students of the Academy engaged in a fierce debate over the [[genus]] of a [[pumpkin]], in a parody of the Platonic conception of [[diairesis]].{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} [[Aristotle of Stagira]], who would go on to become a philosopher as famous as Plato in his own right,{{sfn|Dillon|2003|pp=1–3}} arrived in 367 BC, shortly before Plato departed again for Syracuse.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=7}}

====Second and third trip to Syracuse====
After Dionysius I's death in 367 BC, Plato returned to Syracuse, likely early in 366 BC, at the request of Dion, in order to tutor [[Dionysius II of Syracuse|Dionysius II]] and guide him to become a [[philosopher king]]. Dionysius II seemed to accept Plato's teachings, but he became suspicious of Dion, his uncle. Dionysius expelled Dion, and Plato, after trying repeatedly to reconcile the two, gave up and returned to Athens.{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} 

Plato returned to Syracuse a third time in 361 BC, likely staying over the winter until 360 BC.{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} Dionysius kept Plato against his will, forcing Plato to appeal to his friend [[Archytas]] to intercede, at which point he returned to Athens.{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and ruled Syracuse for a short time in 357 BC up until 354 BC,{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=248}} when he was usurped by [[Calippus of Syracuse|Calippus]], an Athenian who Plato insists, in the Seventh Letter, had no connection with the Academy.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=10}}

==== Final years and death ====
After 360 BC, Plato returned to Athens, where he spent the remainder of his life.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023}}

At this point, he wrote or revised some of his final works, possibly including the ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', ''[[Critias]]'', ''[[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]]'', ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|Statesman]]'', ''[[Philebus]]'', and his longest work, the ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'', all of which exhibit similarity of language, philosophical themes, and style that indicate they were intentionally published together to present a unified viewpoint.{{sfn|Waterfield|2023|p=87}} At the time of his death, however, the ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' was still unfinished; this work was edited by a student at the Academy, [[Philip of Opus]], who is also generally believed to have written the ''[[Epinomis]]'', an appendix to the ''Laws''.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=11}} 

In 348/347 BC, Plato died and was buried in his garden in the [[Platonic Academy|Academy]] in Athens.{{sfn| Nails| 2002| p=249}} At the time of his death, Plato seems to have been self-sufficient, but not wealthy.{{sfn| Nails| 2002| pp=249-250}} A will preserved by one of the ancient biographers of Plato, which discusses his estate, does not mention the Academy, which suggests that he left a separate provision for it or possibly established an endowment.{{sfn|Nails|2002|p=249-250}} He was succeeded as the head of the Academy by [[Speusippus]], his nephew.{{sfn|Nails|2006|p=11}}