Plato (427-347 BC)

William Dante Deacon looks at the life of a founding father of Western philosophy.

- William Dante Deacon

Among the many eulogies of Plato (real name Aristocles, 427-347 BC), it has become a common trend to reference A.N. Whitehead’s famous quote that a “general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” However, one need only to look to Whitehead’s student and collaborator Bertrand Russell to sour that grandeur. Russell treated the Athenian “with as little reverence as if he were a contemporary English or American advocate of totalitarianism” (A History of Western Philosophy, 1945).

This discrepancy of interpretations presents a problem to the modern reader. Plato’s presence will forever loom large in every philosophy department, but who was this man who inspires equal admiration and controversy, and what can we practically take from his life into our lives? For the answers, we will briefly delve into Plato’s education, his epistemology, and his political idealism, to reveal a body of ideas that involves stripping back the world of the senses and focusing instead on life’s pure moral essentials.

Portrait of an Illusive Dramatist

Of his early life we know few facts: his nickname ‘Plato’ was gained when he was a professional wrestler, due to his broad shoulders (‘Platon’ translates as ‘broad’). In his youth he pursued a career in either politics or poetry. The latter he is said to have discarded upon meeting Socrates in the 410s BC.