Lectures on Plato by Dr. Akbar Jabbari

Aristocles, nicknamed Plato or Platon (428/427 BC – 348/347 BC), is the second of the three great Greek philosophers (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle). Plato is the first philosopher whose written works have survived. Many also consider him the greatest philosopher in history.

Plato was born in Athens in 427 BC into a politically powerful and aristocratic family. From childhood, he was exceptionally sharp-witted. He had two full brothers and one full sister, and two half-brothers, one from the first marriage of his mother's second husband and the other the offspring of that marriage. His father secured for him the best teachers of music, philosophy, gymnastics, and literature. Pythagoras greatly influenced him. At the age of twenty, to complete his education, he became a student of Socrates. This companionship and discipleship lasted for eight years. In 399 BC, Plato witnessed the forced suicide of his teacher Socrates by order of the Athenian court (the People's Court) and wrote about it that Socrates rejected the proposal to flee Athens and submitted to the court's ruling, which he knew was unjust, and drank the cup of hemlock so that respect for the judiciary, which is responsible for protecting people's rights, security, and tranquility, would be preserved. After Socrates' execution, Plato left Athens. He spent several years traveling in Greek cities and foreign lands. After a journey to Sicily in 387, at the age of forty, he returned to Athens and founded a philosophical school that became famous as the Academy. His teachings there were interrupted by two further trips to Sicily in 366 and 361. Plato died in 347 and left the leadership of the Academy to his nephew, who was also his student.

Plato's works are in the form of dialogues (debates), the most famous of which are the Republic, as well as the Apology and Gorgias. The most important book surviving from Plato is the treatise Republic. Some Plato scholars believe that Plato added sentences to this treatise and, in fact, expressed his own conversations and thoughts through the mouth of Socrates. In all of Plato's works, one can see Socrates' conversations with various individuals, precisely and with names mentioned. The treatise Republic best demonstrates art and beauty from the perspective of Plato and Socrates. This treatise is the result of Socrates' conversations with Glaucon (Plato's brother), Simmias, Hippocrates, and several other individuals.

Another work by Plato is the Symposium, which is a treatise on love. This treatise has a narrative and story-like quality, taking place at one of the parties in Athens where Socrates is also present. In his two important works, the Republic and the Symposium, Plato addresses two important principles: logic and emotion.

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