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Plato (Greek: ∏ λ? τ ν, English: Plato, about 427 BC-347 BC) is not only the ancient Greek philosophy, but also one of the greatest philosophers and thinkers in all western philosophy and even the whole western culture.

His original name was Aristokles, but later he changed his name to Plato because of his strong body and broad forehead (in Greek, Platus means "flat and wide"). Ranked fourth in the family. Plato was nicknamed by his PE teacher.

He was born in Athens, and after his parents were noble families, he received a complete education from an early age. In his early years, he loved literature, wrote poems and tragedies, and was interested in politics. After associating with Socrates around the age of 20, he became fascinated with philosophical research. In 399 BC, Socrates was tried and sentenced to death, which made him completely disappointed with the existing political system. The death of the teacher was a heavy blow to Plato. Like his own teacher, he opposes democratic politics and thinks that a person should do what is consistent with his status. Farmers only care about farming, craftsmen only care about work, businessmen only care about business, and civilians cannot participate in state affairs. Socrates' death deepened his prejudice against the civilian regime. He said that if we want to make a pair of shoes, we need to find a skilled person. If we are sick, we need to find a good doctor. Isn't it absurd to bid for such an important thing as governing the country to anyone?

Plato didn't want to stay in Athens after his teacher died. From the age of 28 to 40, he has been roaming overseas and has been to Egypt, Italy, Sicily and other places. He has been investigating and propagating his political views. In 388 BC, he went to the ancient city of Silla in Sicily, trying to persuade the rulers to establish an ideal country managed by philosophers, but his goal was not realized. Unfortunately, he was sold as a slave on his way back, and his friends spent a lot of money to redeem him.

In 387 BC, Plato returned to Athens and founded his own school-Akkademi (or Akkademi) near a garden and playground in the northwest corner of the city, in memory of the Greek hero Akkademi. The name of the college is related to the address of the college, and the location of the college is related to the legendary Greek Heroes College, hence the name. This is the earliest institution of higher learning in the West, hence the name Academy, which is the predecessor of the universities developed in the Middle Ages in the West. The college existed for more than 900 years until it was closed by Justinian the Great in 529 AD. The school is greatly influenced by Pythagoras, and its courses are similar to the traditional topics of Pythagoras school, including arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and acoustics.

In 367 BC, Plato traveled again. At this time, the college has been established for more than 20 years. He went to Sicily twice, trying to realize his political ambitions and put his ideas into practice, but he was forced into exile. In 360 BC, he returned to Athens and continued to give lectures and write in the college. Until 347 BC, Plato died at the age of 80.

Plato was a student of Socrates and Aristotle was a student of Plato, who had a profound influence on ancient Greece and later western thought and civilization.

Plato's major works

Plato's thinking was quick, he studied extensively and wrote a lot. There are more than 40 works in his name, and there are 13 letters. Plato's main philosophical thoughts are recorded in the form of dialogue. In Plato's dialogues, there are many dialogues in the name of Socrates, so it is difficult to distinguish Socrates' thoughts from Plato's. After painstaking and meticulous research by later scholars, 24 and 4 of them were identified as original works, mainly including:

Epicurus, Socrates' complaint, Kerry's whole article and Phaedo.

II "Clara", "Taiyada", "Wise Man" and "Politician"

Three. Parmenides, Philippas, Feast and Fidel.

Archibald's chapter, the second part of archibald's chapter and gorgias's chapter.

Wise men, politicians, Fiji and Libya, law and the Republic.

Plato's works are mostly written in dialogue genre, with vivid characters, vivid and interesting scenes, beautiful and gorgeous language, rigorous and meticulous argumentation and rich and profound content, which achieves a high degree of unity between philosophy and literature, logic and rhetoric, and has extremely important significance and value not only in philosophy but also in literature.

Plato's thoughts

Plato believes that if any philosophy wants to be universal, it must include theories about nature and the universe. Plato tried to grasp the eternal truth about the individual and nature, so he developed a natural philosophy that was suitable for and subject to his political and theological views.

Plato believes that tangible things in nature are fluid, but the "form" or "idea" that constitutes these tangible things is eternal. Plato pointed out that when we say "horse", we don't mean any horse, but any kind of horse. The meaning of "horse" itself is independent of all kinds of horses ("tangible"). It does not exist in space and time, so it is eternal. However, a concrete and tangible horse that exists in the sensory world is "moving" and it will die and rot. This can be used as a preliminary explanation of Plato's theory of ideas.

Plato believes that it is impossible for us to have a real understanding of those things that change and flow. We only have opinions or opinions about them. The only thing we can really understand is the "form" or "concept" that we can understand rationally. So Plato thinks that knowledge is fixed and certain, and there can be no wrong knowledge. But the view may be wrong.

Plato's Cave Metaphor In Plato's Republic, there is a famous cave metaphor to explain idealism: in a cave, there are a group of prisoners whose hands and feet are tied, and their bodies can't turn, so they can only turn their backs on the hole. There is a white wall in front of them and a fire burning behind them. On that white wall, they saw their own shadow and something between them and the fire. Because they can't see anything else, prisoners will think that shadows are real things. Finally, a man broke free from the shackles and groped his way out of the hole. He saw the real thing for the first time. He went back to the cave, trying to explain to others that the shadows were just illusory things and show them the bright way. But for those prisoners, this man seems to be more stupid than before he escaped, and announces to him that there is nothing in the world except the shadow on the wall.

Plato used this story to tell us that "form" is actually something real in the sun, and all our sensory world can feel is the shadow on the white wall. Compared with the bright world of reason, our nature is dark and monotonous. People who don't understand philosophy can only see those shadows, while philosophers see external things in the sunshine of truth.

Plato's Republic also depicts an ideal utopia for us. Plato believed that countries should be ruled by philosophers. Citizens in Plato's ideal country are divided into three categories: patriots, soldiers and ordinary people. The defenders of the country are the few elites who manage the country. They can be inherited, but excellent children from other classes can also be trained as patriots, and the descendants of patriots may also be reduced to the ordinary class. The task of defending the country is to supervise the formulation and implementation of the code. Plato has a complete set of theories to achieve this goal. His utopia requires everyone to have his special function in society to meet the overall needs of society. But in this country, men and women enjoy equal rights and are completely equal. When it is in the public interest, the government can lie. Everyone should do his own thing and should not disturb others. Today, Plato's utopia is a terrible totalitarian country. But "the ideal country is actually the view of scientists who manage the country in the right way", Plato himself did not try to realize the state machine in the ideal country.

Plato pointed out in the Law that a "constitutional country" is the best country after an ideal country. He also pointed out in the book that women and men should receive the same respect and training.

Plato tried to make astronomy a branch of mathematics. He believes: "Astronomy, like geometry, can be studied by asking questions and solving problems, regardless of the boundaries of celestial bodies." Plato believed that the beginning of the universe was an indistinguishable chaos. This chaotic development is the result of the activities of supernatural gods. Plato believes that the most important feature of the universe from chaos to order is that the creator has made a rational plan for the world; The mechanical process of putting this plan into practice is a natural event.

Plato's cosmology is basically a mathematical cosmology. He imagined that there were two kinds of right-angled triangles at the beginning of the universe, one was half of a square and the other was half of an equilateral triangle. From these triangles, four kinds of regular polyhedrons are reasonably produced, which constitute particles of four elements. Fire particles are regular tetrahedrons, gas particles are regular octahedrons, water particles are regular icosahedrons, and soil particles are cubes. The fifth regular polyhedron is a dodecahedron formed by a regular pentagon, which is the fifth element of matter in the sky and is called the ether. The whole universe is a sphere, because the sphere is symmetrical and perfect, and any point on the sphere is the same. The universe is also alive and moving, and a soul fills all the spaces. The motion of the universe is circular, because circular motion is the most perfect, and no hands or feet are needed to push it. The quantities of the four elements in the universe are as follows: the ratio of fire to gas is equal to the ratio of gas to water and the ratio of water to soil. Everything can be named by a number, which is the proportion of the elements they contain.

Plato's position in the west

In the west, Plato received more respect and attention than his student Aristotle. Because his works are the basic documents of western culture. Among the schools of western philosophy, it is difficult to find a school that has not absorbed his works. In later philosophers and Christian theology, Plato's thought maintained great radiation. Some historians of philosophy believe that it was not until modern times that western philosophy gradually got rid of the control of Plato's thought.

Before the12nd century, Aristotle's theory had been rejected by the Vatican, and even Aristotle's works were no longer circulated in Europe. At that time, Plato's theory was dominant, because St. Augustine borrowed and transformed Plato's thought to serve theological teachings. Until13rd century, Thomas Aquinas used Aristotle's theory to explain religious teachings and established a complicated and huge scholasticism. Aristotle was re-valued.

Plato is in China.

Plato's idealism was regarded as idealism by China people after 1949. However, his enlightenment to western philosophy is generally recognized and respected because of his outstanding personality.

What exactly is "Platonic Love"?

Plato and Aristotle were the most influential philosophers in ancient Greece, among which Plato had a great influence on later generations. Plato wrote a book in the mouth of his teacher Socrates, saying that when the mind abandons the body and longs for truth, then thought is the best. When the soul is infected by the sins of the body, people's desire for truth will not be satisfied.

In Europe, there has been platonic love called "spiritual love" by China people for a long time. This kind of love thinks that the combination of flesh is impure and dirty, and love and lust are two opposite States. Therefore, when a person really falls in love, he can't think of physically combining with the object he loves.

In today's people's eyes, Plato's view of love is incredible. On the other hand, an American scholar put forward a new view on Plato's love as understood by modern people. Ella Rice, president of the American Society of East-West Sociology and author of American Family System, believes that the spiritual love advocated by Plato actually refers to a kind of love between the same sex, that is, "homosexuality"! The ancient Greeks believed that the process of homosexuality was more spiritual communication and spiritual communication than physical communication. In ancient Greek society, women received little education, and it was difficult for men to find spiritual opponents from women. This is why Plato emphasized the love between people. Plato firmly believes that "true" love is a lasting emotion, only time is the touchstone of love, and only extraordinary love can stand the test of time.

American sociologists have different opinions on whether Platonic love is pure love with only spiritual communication or elegant love with physical communication but emphasizing spiritual communication. But one thing is certain, that is, Plato believed that love can sublimate people. He said that for a person who lives a noble life, it is not blood, honor and wealth that guide his behavior, but love. There is no emotion in the world so deeply rooted in people's hearts as love. If a person in love has committed disgraceful acts and is seen by his father, friends or anyone else, he will not look as pale as his lover.

Love is undoubtedly the power to make people better.