Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Plato |
PlatoNoun1. Ancient Athenian philosopher; pupil of Socrates; teacher of Aristotle (428-347 BC). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Plato" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "with broad shoulders". |
Date "Plato" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Plato His original name was Aristocles, but he was called Platon from the great breadth of his shoulders. The German Plato. Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743-1819). The Jewish Plato. Philo Judaeus, an Alexandrine philosopher. (Flourished 20-40.) The Puritan Plato. John Howe, the Nonconformist (1630-1706). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Plato (c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC) was an immensely influential classical Greek philosopher, student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. His most famous work is The Republic (Greek Politeia, 'city') in which he outlines his vision of "an ideal" state. He also wrote the Laws and many dialogues in which Socrates is the main participant.
"The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."
--Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929
Biography
Plato was born in Athens, into a moderately well-to-do aristocratic family. His father was named Ariston and his mother Perictione. An ancestor, Glaucon, was one of the best-known members of the Athenian nobility. Plato's own real name was "Aristocles". The nickname Plato originates from wrestling circles, that much is agreed on. Since Plato means "broad," it probably refers either to his physical appearance or possibly wrestling stance or style.
He founded the Academy, one of the earliest known organized schools in Western civilization, named after the spot it was founded on, holy to the hero Academus. Aristotle was a student there for many years. It operated until it was closed by Justinian I of Byzantium in 529 A.D.
Plato became a pupil of Socrates in his youth, and--according to his own account, anyhow--attended his master's trial, though not his execution. Unlike Socrates, Plato wrote down his philosophical views and left a considerable number of manuscripts (see below). He was deeply affected by the city's treatment of Socrates: much of his early work enshrines his memories of his teacher, and much of his ethical writing suggests a desire to found a society where similar injustices could not occur.
Plato was also deeply influenced by the Pythagoreans, whose notions of numerical harmony have clear echoes in Plato's notion of the Forms (sometimes thus capitalized; see below); by Anaxagoras, who taught Socrates and who held that the mind or reason pervades everything; and by Parmenides, who argued the unity of all things.
In Plato's writings one finds the heliocentric theory of the universe long before it was advanced by Aristarchus (and revived still later and given a scientific footing by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler). One finds debates concerning aristocratic and democratic forms of government. One finds debates concerning the role of heredity and environment in human intelligence and personality long before the modern "nature versus nurture" debate began in the time of Hobbes and Locke, with its modern continuation in such controversial works as The Mismeasure of Man and The Bell Curve. One finds arguments for the subjectivity--and the objectivity--of human knowledge which foreshadow modern debates between Hume and Kant, or between the postmodernists and their opponents. Even the myth of the lost city or continent of Atlantis originates as an illustrative story told by Plato in his Timaeus and Critias.
Work
Plato wrote his philosophy down mainly in the form of dialogues in which several characters discuss a topic by asking questions of one another. The early ones, where Socrates figures prominently and his own teaching style is used, are called the Socratic Dialogues. But the philosophy expressed in his dialogues changed a great deal over the course of Plato's life, and this makes it difficult to determine whether an opinion expressed in one of these dialogues is an idea of Socrates', or Plato's. (Plato himself appears only very briefly in two of the dialogues, and says nothing.) It is generally agreed that Plato's earlier works are more closely based on Socrates' thought, whereas his later writing increasingly breaks away with the views of his former teacher. In the middle dialogues, Socrates becomes a mouthpiece for Plato's own philosophy, and the question-and-answer style is more pro forma. The later dialogues are closer to being simply treatises, and Socrates is often absent or quiet.
add more on the dialogue form
Plato's Metaphysics: Platonism, or realism
One of Plato's legacies, and perhaps his greatest, was his dualistic metaphysics, often called (in metaphysics) simply "realism" or "Platonism." Whatever it is called, Plato's metaphysics divides the world into two distinct aspects: the intelligible world of "forms" and the perceptual world we see around us. He saw the perceptual world, and the things in it, as imperfect copies of the intelligible forms or ideas. These forms are unchangable and perfect, and are only comprehensible by the use of the intellect or understanding (i.e., a capacity of the mind that does not include sense-perception or imagination).In the Republic Books VI and VII, Plato used a number of metaphors to explain his metaphysical views: the metaphor of the sun, the well-known allegory of the cave, and most explicitly, the divided line. Taken together, these metaphors convey a complex and, in places, difficult theory: there is something called The Form of the Good (often interpreted as Plato's God), which is the ultimate object of knowledge and which as it were sheds light on all the other forms (i.e., universals: abstract kinds and attributes) and from which all other forms "emanate." The Form of the Good does this in somewhat the same way as the sun sheds light on, or makes visible and "generates," things in the perceptual world. (See Plato's metaphor of the sun.) But indeed, in the perceptual world, the particular objects we see around us bear only a dim resemblance to the more ultimately real forms of Plato's intelligible world: it is as if we are seeing shadows of cut-out shapes on the walls of a cave, which are mere representations of the reality outside the cave, illuminated by the sun. (See Plato's allegory of the cave.) We can imagine everything in the universe represented on a line of increasing reality; it is divided once in the middle, and then once again in each of the resulting parts. The first division represents that between the intelligible and the perceptual worlds. Then there is a corresponding division in each of these worlds: the segment representing the perceptual world is divided into segments representing "real things" on the one hand, and shadows, reflections, and representations on the other. Similarly, the segment representing the intelligible world is divided into segments representing first principles and most general forms, on the one hand, and more derivative, "reflected" forms, on the other. (See the divided line of Plato.) The form of government derived from this philosophy turns out to be one of a rigidly fixed hierarchy of hereditary classes, in which the arts are mostly suppressed for the good of the state, the size of the city and its social classes is determined by mathematical formula, and eugenic measures are applied secretly by rigging the lotteries in which the right to reproduce is allocated. The tightness of connection of such government to the lofty and original philosophy in the book has been debated.
Plato's metaphysics, and particularly the dualism between the intelligible and the perceptual, would inspire later Neoplatonic thinkers (see Plotinus) and Gnosticism) and other metaphysical realists. For more on Platonic realism in general, see Platonic realism and the Forms.
Plato also had some influential opinions on the nature of knowledge and learning which he propounded in the Meno, which began with the question of whether virtue can be taught, and proceeded to expound the concepts of recollection, learning as the discovery of pre-existing knowledge, and right opinion, opinions which are correct but have no clear justification.
A short history of Plato scholarship
Plato's thought is often compared with that of his best and most famous student, Aristotle, whose reputation during the Middle Ages so completely eclipsed that of Plato that the Scholastic philosophers referred to Aristotle as "the Philosopher."
One of the characteristics of the Middle Ages was reliance on authority and on scholastic commentaries on writings of Plato and other historically important philosophers, rather than accessing their original works. In fact, Plato's original writings were essentially lost to western civilization until their reintroduction in the twelfth century through the agency of Arab scholars who had maintained the original Greek texts of the ancients. These were eventually translated into Latin and later, into the local vernacular.
Only in the Renaissance, with the general resurgence of interest in classical civilization, did knowledge of Plato's philosophy become more widespread. Many of the greatest early modern scientists (e.g., Galileo) and artists (with the support of the Plato-inspired Lorenzo de Medici) who broke with Scholasticism and fostered the flowering of the Renaissance saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for progress in the arts and sciences.
Today, Plato's reputation is as easily on a par with Aristotle's. Many college students have read Plato but not Aristotle, in large part because the former's greater accessibility.
Works by Plato
A work is marked (1) if it is not generally agreed by scholars that Plato is the author of the work. A work is marked (2) if it is generally agreed by scholars that Plato is not the author of the work.
- Alcibiades (1)
- Apology
- Axiochus (2)
- Charmides
- Clitophon (1)
- Cratylus
- Critias
- Crito
- Definitions (2)
- Demodocus (2)
- Epigrams
- Epinomis (2)
- Eryxias (2)
- Euthydemus
- Euthyphro
- Gorgias
- Greater Hippias (1)
- Halcyon (2)
- Hipparchus (2)
- Ion
- Laches
- Laws
- Lesser Hippias
- Letters
- Lysis
- Menexenus
- Meno
- Minos (2)
- On Justice (2)
- On Virtue (2)
- Parmenides
- Phaedo
- Phaedrus
- Philebus
- Protagoras
- Rival Lovers (2)
- Republic
- Second Alcibiades (2)
- Sisyphus (2)
- Sophist
- Statesman
- Symposium
- Theaetetus
- Theages (2)
- Timaeus
External links
See also
- Platonism
- Neoplatonism
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Plato."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Plato is a city located in McLeod County, Minnesota. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 336.Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²). 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 336 people, 144 households, and 99 families residing in the city. The population density is 381.6/km² (985.0/mi²). There are 145 housing units at an average density of 164.7/km² (425.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 98.81% White, 0.00% African American, 0.00% Native American, 0.60% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.00% from other races, and 0.60% from two or more races. 0.00% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 144 households out of which 29.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.1% are married couples living together, 7.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% are non-families. 22.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.33 and the average family size is 2.76. In the city the population is spread out with 22.6% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 94.0 males. The median income for a household in the city is $55,179, and the median income for a family is $62,917. Males have a median income of $36,250 versus $29,018 for females. The per capita income for the city is $24,434. 2.8% of the population and 0.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 0.0% are under the age of 18 and 7.1% are 65 or older.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Plato, Minnesota."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
PLATO | English | Photonic Links in ATM and Optical Systems | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Crosswords: Plato |
| English words defined with "Plato": Academical, Aristotle ♦ Benjamin Jowett ♦ Jowett ♦ Philosophy of the Academy, Platonic, Platonic love, Platonical, Platonize, Plato's Academy ♦ Socrates. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Plato": Academics, Apollodoros, Athenian Bee ♦ CATO, City of the Sun ♦ Flowing Philosophers, Frozen Words ♦ Gnostics ♦ Hetærism ♦ Idealists ♦ Philosophers, Pindar and the Bees, Plato and the Bees, Plotcock ♦ soul, sys-frog ♦ Xenocrates ♦ Zoilos. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Plato" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Cebuano (plate), Dutch (Plato), Esperanto (Plato), German (Plato), Papiamen (course, dish, plate, platter), Serbo-Croatian (plateau, tray), Spanish (course, disc, dish, disk, food, menu, pigeon, plate, plateful, platter), Turkish (plateau, platform, step, tableland). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates (The Princess Bride; writing credit: William Goldman) Plato, in Greek (Lady Jane; writing credit: Chris Bryant; David Edgar) Plato was gay. (Soap; writing credit: Jos Gevers; Jeroom Verten) If Plato is a fine red wine, then Aristotle is a dry martini (Kicking and Screaming; writing credit: Noah Baumbach; Oliver Berkman) | |
Clever | Truth is its own reward. (references; author: Plato) Even the gods love jokes. (references; author: Plato) A well begun is half ended. (references; author: Plato) Democracy passes in to despotism. (references; author: Plato) Friends have all things in common. (references; author: Plato) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Un Pato de primer plato (1969) De Grot van Plato (1990) Me como un plato De lengua (1990) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Plato, Minnesota. Farmer registering for Selective Service. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Obshchii vid Borzhoma s Torskago plato. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Vid na Borzhom po Chernoi riechkie s Vorontsovskago plato. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Liesnyia nasazhdeniia. Vid s Vorontsovskago plato. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Friedrich Nietzsche | Plato was a bore. |
Plato | Truth is its own reward. |
| Even the gods love jokes. | |
| A well begun is half ended. | |
| Democracy passes in to despotism. | |
| Friends have all things in common. | |
| Science is nothing but perception. | |
| The wisest have the most authority. | |
| All learning has an emotional base. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Plato, I believe, said that beauty is the splendour of truth |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SOUL, n. A spiritual entity concerning which there hath been brave disputation. Plato held that those souls which in a previous state of existence (antedating Athens) had obtained the clearest glimpses of eternal truth entered into the bodies of persons who became philosophers. Plato himself was a philosopher. The souls that had least contemplated divine truth animated the bodies of usurpers and despots. Dionysius I, who had threatened to decapitate the broad- browed philosopher, was a usurper and a despot. Plato, doubtless, was not the first to construct a system of philosophy that could be quoted against his enemies; certainly he was not the last. "Concerning the nature of the soul," saith the renowned author of Diversiones Sanctorum, "there hath been hardly more argument than that of its place in the body. Mine own belief is that the soul hath her seat in the abdomen -- in which faith we may discern and interpret a truth hitherto unintelligible, namely that the glutton is of all men most devout. He is said in the Scripture to 'make a god of his belly' -- why, then, should he not be pious, having ever his Deity with him to freshen his faith? Who so well as he can know the might and majesty that he shrines? Truly and soberly, the soul and the stomach are one Divine Entity; and such was the belief of Promasius, who nevertheless erred in denying it immortality. He had observed that its visible and material substance failed and decayed with the rest of the body after death, but of its immaterial essence he knew nothing. This is what we call the Appetite, and it survives the wreck and reek of mortality, to be rewarded or punished in another world, according to what it hath demanded in the flesh. The Appetite whose coarse clamoring was for the unwholesome viands of the general market and the public refectory shall be cast into eternal famine, whilst that which firmly through civilly insisted on ortolans, caviare, terrapin, anchovies, pates de foie gras and all such Christian comestibles shall flesh its spiritual tooth in the souls of them forever and ever, and wreak its divine thirst upon the immortal parts of the rarest and richest wines ever quaffed here below. Such is my religious faith, though I grieve to confess that neither His Holiness the Pope nor His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury (whom I equally and profoundly revere) will assent to its dissemination." |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Plato" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 99.02% of the time. "Plato" is used about 305 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 99.02% | 302 | 16,684 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.98% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 305 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "Plato" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Plato | Last name | 300 | 28,487 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| "Plato" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "with broad shoulders". | |||
| The following table summarizes names related to "Plato." | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Related Name |
| Platon | Male | Ancient Greek | Plato |
| Plato | Male | Ancient Greek (Latinized) | N/A |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Country | Name |
| USA | Plato Learning, Inc. |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
1. Plato, MN (city, FIPS 51460) 2. Plato, MO |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Plato": plato-like. | |
Ending with "Plato": CIM-PLATO. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
plato | 1,340 | dana plato naked | 17 |
dana plato | 601 | socrates plato | 16 |
dana plato nude | 107 | plato software | 16 |
plato republic | 101 | greek philosopher plato | 15 |
plato text | 54 | cave plato | 15 |
plato quote | 51 | plato center il | 14 |
loan plato | 42 | plato education loan | 14 |
plato learning | 33 | dana plato playboy | 14 |
allegory cave plato | 32 | plato student loan | 13 |
the philosophy of plato | 28 | dana plato pic | 12 |
plato atlantis | 27 | aristotle plato vs | 12 |
symposium of plato | 25 | cabinet plato | 12 |
apology plato | 21 | justice plato | 11 |
biography plato | 20 | mall plato | 11 |
plato and aristotle | 20 | dana movie plato | 11 |
picture plato | 19 | critias plato | 11 |
philosopher plato | 19 | closet plato | 10 |
by plato republic | 18 | dana image plato | 10 |
dana plato porn | 18 | plato product | 9 |
dana plato picture | 17 | dana plato photo | 9 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "Plato"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 柏拉图. (various references) | |
Dutch | Plato. (various references) | |
Esperanto | Plato. (various references) | |
Farsi | افلاطون . (various references) | |
Finnish | CIM-järjestelmäsuunnittelun työkalulaatikko (CIM system planning toolbox, CIM-PLATO). (various references) | |
French | Platon. (various references) | |
German | Plato. (various references) | |
Greek | λάτωνασ, λάτωνοσ, λάτων. (various references) | |
Hungarian | Plátó (platonic, to platonize). (various references) | |
Italian | Platone. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | atoplay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | platão. (various references) | |
Russian | Платон, платон. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | platon. (various references) | |
Spanish | Platón. (various references) | |
Swedish | Platon. (various references) | |
Turkish | Platon, Eflâtun (Amaranth, lavender, lilac). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | Платон. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "Plato": platonic, platonically, platoon, platooned, platooning, platoons. (additional references) | |
Words containing "Plato": contemplator, contemplators. (additional references) | |
| |
"Plato" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Lato, Palchok, Palito, Patob, Pelado, Pelayo, Pilato, Pladjoe, Platta, platto, platu, Platus, Plaxton, Playto, Pliko, Polatom, Polyatom. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-l-o-p-t" | |
-1 letter: alto, atop, lota, opal, plat, plot, tola. | |
-2 letters: alp, alt, apt, lap, lat, lop, lot, oat, opt, pal, pat, pol, pot, tao, tap, top. | |
-3 letters: al, at, la, lo, op, pa, ta, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-l-o-p-t" | |
+1 letter: laptop, patrol, pelota, portal, postal, tapalo. | |
+2 letters: apostil, apostle, caltrop, capitol, coalpit, flattop, galipot, haplont, laptops, marplot, naphtol, optical, optimal, outleap, outplan, outplay, paletot, patrols, pelotas, pivotal, platoon, polecat, polenta, portals, postals, potable, potlach, prolate, tadpole, talipot, tapalos, taphole, topical, topsail. | |
+3 letters: allopath, allotype, allotypy, antelope, antipole, anviltop, apholate, apostils, apostles, blacktop, calotype, calthrop, caltrops, capitols, clodpate, coalpits, compleat, conepatl, copulate, dioptral, diplomat, flattops, galipots, gallipot, gantlope, goalpost, haplonts, hospital, lakeport, lamppost, lipomata, marplots, naphthol, naphtols, oppilant, oppilate, optional, outleaps, outleapt, outplans, outplays, paletots, palmetto, palpator, pantofle, pastoral, patronal, patronly, patulous, pectoral, pentanol, petalody, petaloid, petalous, petiolar, petrosal, pilotage, plankton, plastron, platform, platonic, platoons, plethora, plottage, poetical, polarity, polecats, polentas, polestar, polymath, ponytail, populate, portable, portably, portaled, postally, postanal, postoral, postural, potables, potlache, potlatch, preallot, pulsator, shoptalk, spoliate, tabletop, tadpoles, talapoin, talipots, tapholes, temporal, toeplate, topsails, tripodal, troopial, tropical, troupial, uprootal. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Names: Derived from | 13. Names: Company Usage 14. Cities 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Abbreviations 19. Acronyms 20. Derivations | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
