Plato was originally named Ali Stockler. It is said that his PE teacher called him Plato when he saw his strong body and broad forehead, and in Greek, "Plato" means broad. Plato had two brothers, Aderman Tito and Glaucon, who often appeared in Plato's dialogues. Plato also has a sister named Botoni, who is the mother of Spicibo, the heir of Plato's Academy. After Plato's father died, his mother remarried to her uncle (this is very strange, whose uncle is it, "he" or "she"? ) Pirilanpei, having a baby is safe and healthy. Pirilanpei has close ties with Pericles, the leader of Athens democracy. Plato mentioned his stepfather in the chapter of Karl Meade in an eulogizing tone.
The year Plato was born, the Peloponnesian War had entered its fourth year. Plato spent his childhood in his stepfather's house and received a good education. In his youth, he was keen on literary creation, wrote hymns and other lyric poems praising Dionysus, and was rich in literary talent. Around the age of 20, Plato followed the philosopher Socrates until Socrates was executed by the Athens authorities, which lasted about seven or eight years. During this period, a series of important events happened in Athens: the Peloponnesian War ended in the defeat of Athens; The "thirty tyrants" overthrew the democratic political system, but eight months later they were overthrown by the masses because of tyranny; Democracy was restored in Athens, but Socrates was executed on trumped-up charges. Socrates' death left an unforgettable impression on Plato and changed his lifelong ambition. From the seventh letter of his autobiography written at the age of 70, there is such a confession: "When I was young, I always thought that once I could work independently, I would join politics. Later, political changes affected my plan. At that time, the democratic regime was hated by ordinary people, and the revolution took place. 5 1 people led the revolution, of which 1 1 people were in the city and 10 people were in Piraeus port. These two management committees are responsible for managing the market and administrative affairs in these two regions. There is also a Supreme Council of 30 people, some of whom are my relatives. They invited me to attend, thinking that they would definitely get my sponsorship. I was young and naive at that time and always thought that the new regime would replace injustice with justice. I pay great attention to what they say first and then how to do it. Every move of these gentlemen suddenly turned the democratic regime they destroyed into a golden age! They actually ordered Socrates, my teacher and friend, to illegally arrest their political opponents. Socrates sternly refused, preferring death to surrender. I'm sure Socrates is the most upright man of our time!
When I saw these and other things, I was genuinely disgusted and decided to leave this shameful regime completely. The 30-member Committee lost the hearts of the people and was ousted. After a while, I relapsed, eager to try, although quietly, but also want to participate in political activities. At that time, the situation in Athens was chaotic, and private people retaliated against each other and fought everywhere. Generally speaking, the revived democratic regime is relatively moderate; However, some powerful bad guys falsely accused Socrates of blasphemy, and the jury was sentenced to death ... Later, as I grew older, I knew that if I want to make a difference in politics, I must first have friends and organizations. Such people are hard to find among politicians because they have no principles and traditional systems and disciplines. It is almost impossible to find new talents. Besides, the old laws and regulations have been lost in Athens. At that time, I was very ambitious about politics. Only when philosophers speak out and advocate true philosophy can they gain political power and become politicians, or politicians miraculously become philosophers, otherwise human disasters will always be inevitable. "
Plato is mainly a philosopher, but he can also be said to be a politician and a political thinker. Plato's political ambitions in his youth actually ran through his life, and his subsequent three trips to Sicily were to realize his political ideals. In his dialogue, there are many places to discuss political issues. Besides the country, there are politicians and critics. Cleopatra is Plato's last dialogue. Although it was only the beginning, Plato put forward an ideal "Atlantic island" in it, which became the prototype of utopia of later western thinkers. Bacon, a modern British philosopher, wrote a book, The New Atlantic Island.
After Socrates' death, Plato followed his teacher's instructions to travel abroad. He left Athens in 399 BC, traveled around the Mediterranean and visited the followers of Pythagoras school. He had a bad impression of Dionysus, the overlord of Syracuse in Sicily. He thinks he is immoral, unable to have wisdom, unable to govern the country and the people. But Plato met Dean, the son-in-law of the overlord of the place of Chu, and was very happy at first sight. In Plato's view, Dean is cool and good at philosophy. He is also a practitioner. After Socrates, Dean had the greatest influence on Plato.
In 387 BC, Plato returned to Athens at the age of forty, when the whole Greek world was dying. Plato, with the support of his friends, established a college in Acadmo, the northwest corner of Athens. This place used to be the graveyard of Attica hero Akadmo, with gardens and sports fields. This is the first school in European history to impart knowledge, conduct academic research, provide political advice and train scholars and political talents. Plato's academy site remained unchanged for a long time after its establishment, and it was not until 86 BC that Roman commander Sura besieged Athens that he was forced to move into the city. It remained there until it was closed by Justinian, the emperor of the East Rome, in 529 AD, and lasted for 900 years. Since then, major academic research institutions in western countries have adopted its name, Academy.
The establishment of the academy is the most important achievement of Plato's life. At that time, a large number of the most talented young people in Greece were attracted by it and came here. They gathered around Plato to engage in scientific research and academic discussions, which provided many unique insights for the later development of various natural and social sciences in the West. Plato spent all his time here except a short visit to Sicily, where most of his works were written. It can be said that Plato Institute initiated the tradition of western academic freedom and is the most important think tank and talent pool in the Greek world. It should also be mentioned that the academy established by Plato is also different from all kinds of pure academic research groups in western countries that follow this name. One of the purposes of Plato's Academy was to train governing talents for the city-states, which had political ties with many city-states at that time. Although Plato's political ideal has been reduced after hitting a wall many times in practice, his thought of governing the city-state according to the principle of philosophical justice has not given up. Although he devoted his whole life to philosophical research and took less and less part in political practice, he wanted to influence the city-state rulers with his own thoughts and pretend to be "the emperor's teacher", which was similar to China's Confucian tradition.
In order to practice his political ideal, Plato went to Sicily three times to deal with Dionysus I, the ruler of Syracuse, hoping to persuade the latter to formulate new policies and govern the country with the best laws, but all failed in the end. From then on, Plato gave up his participation in political practice and devoted all his energy to running the academy well.
In 347 BC, Plato died at the age of 80 while attending a wedding banquet, and was buried in the academy where he spent half his talents. Plato enjoyed a high reputation in the Athens world in his later years, and his image in people's minds at that time can be proved by his student Aristotle's eulogy: "It is impossible to be famous for winning by virtue." Light, wind and moon contain education and chastity. Have a recitation of its text and a foresight of its actions. Enjoy this prosperous time and be good at life. "
Aristotle has always respected his teacher Plato very much. Aristotle once said, "A despicable person is not even qualified to praise him."
When we look at Aristotle's achievements, we should not forget the achievements of his predecessors and other contemporary scholars, especially the influence of his teacher Plato. Plato is obviously familiar with some viewpoints in Aristotle's Poetics.
Plato's major works include Complaint, Chritton, protagoras, gorgias, Republic, Politician, Drinking and Law.
Plato's more than twenty dialogues are one of the highest realms of human wisdom. Dialogue itself is not a systematic truth, but a pursuit of problems. It didn't tell us the answer, but it triggered and induced the truth. Understanding the truth-seeking spirit in this dialogue is even more important than understanding a conclusion and viewpoint in the dialogue.
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