Biography on Plato (Essay Sample)

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Biography on Plato
Plato was born in the year 427 BC in Athens, Greece. He was the youngest son of Ariston and Perctione. Both of his parents rose from wealthy families that lived in Athens for decades. While he was young, Plato’s father passed on, and his mother remarried to Pyrilampes. Mostly, Plato was raised in the Pyrilampes house. When young, he studied under the Cratylus, a student of Heracleitus, who is famous for his cosmology that is based on fire being the basic material for the universe. It is certain that Plato began associating with the Socrates when he was still young. Plato’s mother’s brother was a close friend of the Socrates, and so Plato began his friendship with the Socrates at his tender age (Olympiodorus & Michael 18).
Plato participated in the Peloponnesian war of between 431 BC and 404 BC that was fought between Athens and Sparta. He joined the military service from 409BC to 404 BC. At this time, he was more into a political career than the military service he was engaged. After the war had ended, in 404BC he joined the oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens that was established during that year. One of the group’s leader was his mother’s brother Charmides. However, he quickly left the group because of the continued group violent acts (Olympiodorus & Michael 22).
Following the 404 BC democracy restoration at Athens, Plato had a lot of aspirations in getting into the politics. However, following the excesses of Athenians in an attempt to enter into the same life, he gave up on his political ambitions. He could not put up with the political acts that were occurring in the city. Particularly, the execution of Socrates in 399 BC had much for him to learn. Finally, he concluded by giving up in politics of Athens (Verkamp & Bernard 76).
After the execution of the Socrates, Plato travelled in Egypt, Sicily, and Italy. While in Egypt, he was able to learn about a water clock that he introduced into later to Greece later. In Italy, he came into contact with the work of Pythagoras. Through the Pythagoras work, he appreciated the value of mathematics. To him, this event was of great importance because the ideas derived from the disciples of Pythagoras laid down a platform to the formation of his ideas. One of his notable expressions is one which he says that the reality of scientific thought that is underway must be expressible in mathematical terms. Mathematics is the most precise and definite kind of thinking of which we are capable. This idea has been of significance in the development of science from the first beginnings to the present day. It is clear that it’s from the work of Pythagoras that Plato began his ambition in mathematics (Young, Julian & Friedrich 30).
After travelling, Plato returned to Athens and established his Academy in Athens in the year 387BC. The academy was established on a land belonging to a man named Academos. It is from the name Academos that the name "Academy came from”. Today, the name is common. The Academy was an institution tasked with the researching and instructing in philosophy and sciences. Plato remained under the authority of the academy from 387 BC until his demise in 347 BC (Young, Julian & Friedrich 42).
The factor behind the establishment of the Academy was connected with his earlier political ambitions. He was against the standards displayed by the public officers and aspired to train the young men who would be future heads of state at various capacities. He gave the young people the values that he deemed to be of importance in improving the political leadership of the major cities in Greece. These values played a great role in restructuring the societies from their old look into a modern look (Strathern & Paul 103).
Plato’s major contributions are in mathematics, science and philosophy. It is not easy for one to discover the Plato’s philosophical views as one might expect. The reason behind is that he did fail to systematically treatise in writing his views. Instead, he wrote a couple of dialogues about thirty of them in conversational form. The pieces of his dialogue show the mastery of language, the power of indicating character, the keen eye for both its tragic and comic aspects and the sense of a situation. These have set Plato among the greatest writers of the world. He uses these to inculcate the lessons he wants to teach in full
Some of his publications include the following. The Charmides, or Temperance of 380BC. The persons in the dialogue are Socrates who is the narrator, Charmides, Chaerephon and the Crittias. The scene of the dialogue is at Palaestra of Taureas, which is found near the porch of the King Archion. The conversation is about the meaning of sophrosyne, a Greek word that is translated into English as temperance, self-control or restraint. The conversation does not satisfactorily arrive at the definition because this is typical of early Platonic dialogues. Nevertheless, the discussion raises many important points. This dialogue has so far been applied in various occasions. It has laid down a foundation and the development of the virtue of temperament (Olympiodorus & Michael 67).
Lysis or friendship publication was done in 380BC. The persons in the dialogue are Socrates as the...