Editing Form of the Good (section)

==Influence==
Plato's writings on the meaning of virtue and justice permeate through the [[Western philosophy|Western philosophical]] tradition.<ref name="The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2013 Edition)">{{cite web|last=Frede|first=Dorothy|title=Plato's Ethics: An Overview|date=16 September 2003|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/plato-ethics/|access-date=28 April 2014}}</ref>  [[Plotinus]], the founder of [[neoplatonism]], had principles that were heavily influenced by the Good.  His concept of 'the One' is equivalent to 'the Good' because it describes an ultimate [[ontological]] truth.  'The One' is both 'uncaused' and the cause of being for everything else in the universe.  Plotinus compared his principle of 'the One' to an illuminating light, as Plato did with the Form of the Good.  As a result of Plotinus' school of [[neoplatonism]], the bulk of understanding of [[Platonic philosophy]] until the 19th century came through Plotinus' interpretation of it.  Many theologians and philosophers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam looked to the ideas of [[Platonism]] through the lens of Plotinus.<ref name="Stanford1">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plotinus/ ''Plotinus''].</ref>

Amphis, a comic playwright of Athens, has one of his characters say: "And as for the good that you are likely to get on her account, I know no more about it, master, than I do of the good of Plato."<ref>[[Diogenes Laërtius]] 3.27</ref> There is an ancient anecdotal tradition that Plato gave a public lecture entitled "On the Good" which so confused the audience that most walked out. At the end of the lecture Plato said to those hearers who remained: 'The Good is the One".<ref>Aristoxenus, ''Harmonics'' 30–31; see A. S. Riginos, ''Platonica'' (1976), pp. 124 ff., for further testimony.</ref>