Plato

Western Philosophy Ancient philosophy Plato Name: Plato (Πλάτων) Birth: c. 428–427 BC, Athens Death: c. 348–347 BC, Athens School/tradition: Platonism Main interests: Rhetoric, Art, Literature, Epistemology, Justice, Virtue, Politics, Education, Family, Militarism Notable ideas: Platonic realism Influences: Socrates, Homer, Hesiod, Aristophanes, Aesop, Protagoras, Parmenides, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Orphism Influenced: Aristotle, Neoplatonism, Cicero, Plutarch, Stoicism, Anselm, Descartes, Hobbes, Leibniz, Mill, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Arendt, Gadamer and countless other western philosophers and theologians

This article is part of the series Plato Early life of Plato

Plato (ancient Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "wide, broad-shouldered") (c. 428/427 BC–c. 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient Greeks –Socrates, Plato, originally named Aristocles, and Aristotle– who between them laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world. Plato is widely believed to have been a student of Socrates and to have been deeply influenced by his teacher's unjust death.

Plato's brilliance as a writer and thinker can be witnessed by reading his Socratic dialogues. Some of the dialogues, letters, and other works that are ascribed to him are considered spurious. However, it is very probable that "everything Plato wrote for publication" has been passed along to us intact, thanks to many over thousands of years who considered his importance. Plato is thought to have lectured at the Academy, although the pedagogical function of his dialogues, if any, is not known with certainty; they have historically been commonly used to teach philosophy, logic, rhetoric, math, and other subjects about which he wrote.