Final thoughts on an ideal constitution.
Plato, the great philosopher of Athens, was born in 427 BC. In early manhood an admirer of Socrates, he later founded the famous school of philosophy in the grove Academus. Much else recorded of his life is uncertain; that he left Athens for a time after Socrates’ execution is probable; that later he went to Cyrene, Egypt, and Sicily is possible; that he was wealthy is likely; that he was critical of “advanced” democracy is obvious. He lived to be 80 years old. Linguistic tests including those of computer science still try to establish the order of his extant philosophical dialogues, written in splendid prose and revealing Socrates’ mind fused with Plato’s thought.
In
Laches
,
Charmides
, and
Lysis
, Socrates and others discuss separate ethical conceptions.
Protagoras
Ion,
and
Meno
discuss whether righteousness can be taught. In
Gorgias
, Socrates is estranged from his city’s thought, and his fate is impending. The
Apology
(not a dialogue),
Crito
Euthyphro
, and the unforgettable
Phaedo
relate the trial and death of Socrates and propound the immortality of the soul. In the famous
Symposium
Phaedrus
, written when Socrates was still alive, we find the origin and meaning of love.
Cratylus
discusses the nature of language. The great masterpiece in ten books, the
Republic
, concerns righteousness (and involves education, equality of the sexes, the structure of society, and abolition of slavery). Of the six so-called dialectical dialogues
Euthydemus
deals with philosophy; metaphysical
Parmenides
is about general concepts and absolute being;
Theaetetus
reasons about the theory of knowledge. Of its sequels,
Sophist
deals with not-being;
Politicus
with good and bad statesmanship and governments;
Philebus
with what is good. The
Timaeus
seeks the origin of the visible universe out of abstract geometrical elements. The unfinished
Critias
treats of lost Atlantis. Unfinished also is Plato’s last work,
Laws
, a critical discussion of principles of law which Plato thought the Greeks might accept.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Plato is in twelve volumes.