Plato :: essays research papers

Few definite details argon know of Platos life. He was born in Athens c. 427 BC and was the youngest son of Ariston, of an sr. and wealthy family. It is claimed that his real name was Aristocles, with "Plato" (meaning "the broad") being a soubriquet given to him because of his wrestlers physique. He served in the last days of the Peloponnesian state of war between Athens and Sparta, and after democracy was restored in Athens in 403 BC he hoped to enter politics. However, the realities of political life as healthy as the execution of his mentor Socrates in 399 BC drove him to void this goal. After the death of Socrates, Plato left Athens and traveled in Italy, Sicily and Egypt, where he learned the function of a water clock. In Italy he came in contact with the ideas of Pythagoras, which gave him a new appreciation of mathematics. After serving everyplace again in the military, he returned to Athens in 387 BC and pieceed his Academy, which he presided over un til his death in 347 BC and which survived for nearly a thousand years after. His works include discussions of mathematics, ethics, science and philosophy, usually in the form of dialogues. whatsoever of the most famous be the Republic, Phaedo, and Symposium. Famous quotations by Plato     A electric ray is born among a hundred, a wise mankind is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.     All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto graven image is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.     Courage is a var. of salvation.     Courage is knowing what not to fear.     Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.     Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder and dispensing a sorting of equality t o equals and unequals alike.Democracy passes into despotism. Good people do not desire laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will scrape up a way around the laws. He was a wise man who invented beer.He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly tone of voice the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden. Honesty is for the most part less economic than dishonesty. Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.