Men of Influence Erin Wall p.2

429–347 B.C.E. One of Socrates’ Greek philosophical students After Socrates died, Plato carried on many of his work Soon after, Plato founded his own school, The Academy, in 385 B.C.E. Originally, Plato followed the philosophy of Socrates, questioning basic ethics

His fundamental aspect was the theory of “ideas” or “forms” He was stumped by the question of change in the physical world His most famous dialogue, The Republic, dealt with how to live a good life

Covers all the main points of Plato’s thought Nature of Justice Justice is what the strongest decide it is Nature of an Ideal Republic A state which might embody the four great virtues: courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice Allegory of the Cave and the Divided Line Prisoners of the cave and his abstract presentation of the divided line

According to Plato, “human beings live in a world of visible and intelligible things” The visible world is what surrounds us: what we see, what we hear, what we experience; this visible world is a world of change and uncertainty The intelligible world is made up of the unchanging products of human reason: anything arising from reason alone, such as abstract definitions or mathematics, makes up this intelligible world, which is the world of reality

Plato said the visible world and intelligible world were divided in the middle The lower part of the line consists of the visible world and the upper part of the line makes up the intelligible world Each half represents different type of knowledge In the visible world, we can only have opinion In the intelligible world we achieve "knowledge"

“A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” “All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.” “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.” Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”

“How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?” “Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” “I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.” “Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.”

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