Plato: The Student Becomes the Teacher

a singular figure in many regards the incomparable plato is often referred to in near deified air founder of the academy the first institution of higher learning in the western world and widely considered the single most influential figure in ancient greek and western philosophy the mythical status of plato puts him on a unique pedestal to talk only of his achievements and influence on humanity could occupy a video all on its own one man was behind this fabled figure of ancient greek thought because plato's life dates so far back into our past little is known about the society in which he lived much of what we do know comes from secondary or tertiary sources due to the sheer magnitude of time separating modern man from the ancient greek world that plato lived in to understand the context surrounding plato's life it is perhaps better to understand the men who influenced him and subsequently the men whom he influenced as well as examining the writers of plato himself one of plato's countless famed quotes states are as the men they grow out of human characters seems particularly applicable when questioning how best to understand the ancient world that allowed plato the freedom to express all of his magnificent ideas in reading between the lines of what plato and his contemporaries left behind we can piece together a better understanding of who plato the man really was and begin to peel back the layers of mystery surrounding this legendary figure [Music] as mentioned previously the two and a half millennia separating us from plato makes understanding his world exceedingly difficult little is known about plato's early life as the details have been lost time but a smattering of facts remain we do know that plato was born into an influential aristocratic greek family most scholars believe he was born sometime between 429 and 423 bc in athens approximately coinciding with the start of the peloponnesian war almost immediately the line between fact and fiction blurs some scholars of plato maintained that his father ariston of colitus was descended from codras the ancient king of athens pariktyon plato's mother boasted a lineage of equal pedigree prickeone's brother and uncle were both members of a powerful oligarchy called the thirty tyrant that ruled athens after its collapse following its defeat in the polypenisian war because plato comes from such a prestigious family on both sides it is widely agreed upon that plato enjoyed a privileged youth when compared to many fellow athenians and his noble status granted him access to learn from the top pedagogues of ancient greece plato once wrote the most important part of education is proper training in the nursery and his upbringing exemplifies this philosophy in the truest sense from a very young age plato was educated by the best thinkers of his era setting in motion a lifetime of seeking learning and ultimately spreading his education far beyond himself it is believed that plato had two brothers and a sister although some argue that the brothers may in fact be uncles as plato's mention of them in the republic doesn't specify ariston plato's father died during his childhood but the circumstances and year of ariston's death are unknown plato is not the famous philosopher's birth name aristocles is the name given to plato by his parents but sometime during his schooling the boy called aristocles adopted the moniker plato a shortened derivative of the greek word platon meaning broad while some speculate that his nickname was given in reference to his broad forehead or the breadth of his knowledge there are several accounts of plato's wrestling coach giving him the nickname in reference to his broad chest and shoulders plato excelled in all areas of his schooling and historical accounts describe him as bright yet modest even outside the classroom plato was a formidable figure as he wrestled competitively throughout his youth some even claimed that he competed at the isthmian games a competition on par with the ancient olympics held the summer before and after olympic years as part of the four-year olympiad cycle [Music] in order to understand plato as a philosopher we must first understand the other great thinkers who influenced his beliefs pythagoras appears to have had significant influence on plato's ideas when we think of pythagoras the pythagorean theorem from euclidean geometry is what first brings to mind most secondary school children have that theorem drilled into their brains but what we often overlook is that pythagoras was well-rounded and scholarly in several areas of study beyond mathematics pythagoras is one of the earliest greek proponents of the concept of metams psychosis the belief in transmigration of the soul and in particular its reincarnation after one dies pythagoras also asserted that everything is numbered and the cosmos can be explained through numerical principles both of these concepts are discussed at length in the writings of plato and most scholars believe plato was taught them by pythagoreans the disciples of pythagoras cicero the famous roman orator and philosopher went so far as to state they say plato learned all things pythagorean aside from plato's shared metaphysical beliefs with pythagoras plato was also an accomplished mathematics teacher one of plato's mathematics students was euclid the father of euclidean geometry euclidean geometry simply refers to the standard mathematics course geometry still taught in classrooms around the world to this day euclid also influenced the pythagorean theorem in his geometry another sign that plato learned from pythagoras and subsequently passed down his teachings to his students such as euclid plato was also influenced by heraclitus and pomenities two philosophers who veered away from the greek tradition of ancient mythology and instead focused on metaphysics metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that explores the fundamental truths of reality most commonly the relationship between mind and matter heraclitus was of the belief that all things changed continuously as exemplified best through his image of a river with ever-changing waters parmenides on the other hand argued in favor of the changeless being as he asserted that all change is just an illusion the contrasting concepts of change and permanence clearly influenced plato's writings best showcased in plato's theory of forms in two of plato's dialogues he portrays palmettis debating the nature of permanence and questions whether both motion and rest are or whether rest is but motion is not the most well-known teacher and influencer of plato is of course socrates while scholars debate the precise nature of the relationship between plato and socrates it is clear that a young plato was a devoted follower of socrates an interesting tidbit of note is that plato never wrote of himself in any of his writings and instead plato speaks through socrates in nearly everything he wrote since socrates was famed for his irony and the socratic method of dialogue plato used both irony and socratic dialogue to not only portray socrates in a realistic light but also as an effective means to communicate whatever subject he was writing on beta would also often portray socrates as ignorant yet inquisitive on a particular subject and in the cool and response dialectic style that plato wrote in he would juxtapose this ignorant portrayal of socrates against a student claiming to be an expert on a given subject in doing this socrates often asked leading questions or provided counter-arguments against the points that the students of plato were making in these dialogues thus allowing the student to further explain or rebuke the proddings of socrates some scholars criticize plato for this portrayal but since socrates left no written works behind it is impossible to say with certainty whether or not socrates would play the fool or devil's advocate in reality as a means to test his student's resolve or whether this was simply a writing device used by plato to clearly convey his message while it appears that plato was most strongly influenced by socrates in many facets of his philosophy their ideas did diverge on certain subjects aristotle plato's most famous student writes of these differences he suggests that while socrates's ideas about forms can be realized through investigating the natural world plato's forms exist in a realm outside the typical breadth of human understanding however in some of plato's writings that include socrates plato portrays his teacher discussing mystery religions and other mystical concepts because plato's writing seemingly contradicts aristotle's claims about the main difference between the philosophies of plato and socrates it is impossible to know what socrates really believed in this aspect of philosophy the relationship between plato and socrates has been questioned since ancient times by countless scholars but today there are four main schools of thought about plato's portrayal of his most influential teacher the theory with the most traction in modern times suggests that plato's writings evolved over time and that his earlier writings depicted socrates as plato really saw him and as plato aged he increasingly projected his own beliefs onto his portrayal of socrates the relationship between plato and socrates is so important to scholars because no writings from socrates himself have ever been discovered so our understanding of socrates comes almost exclusively from the way plato portrays socrates in his writings plato wrote about subjects in many areas but he always wrote in the same dialectic style his dialectic style was formatted in a call and response format and oftentimes a student debates with socrates in an intellectual dialogue plato used this method of communication to flesh out his ideas so that counter arguments rebuttals and details that might draw an emotional response were all highlighted the area plato devoted the most attention to was metaphysics metaphysics is a broad philosophical umbrella in which the philosopher attempts to explain the nature of reality and plato explored many areas within its vast expanses his most famous work is the theory of forms and in it he attempts to explain reality through the lens in which plato perceives it using socrates as his mouthpiece the lens through which plato attempts to understand the world has since been dubbed platonism and it can best be summarized as denial of reality of the material world where the world we can perceive as humans is only a surface image or a copy of the true world if this sounds somewhat heady or confusing here not alone as plato spent volumes extrapolating his interpretation of the world around him in every subject imaginable due to its inherent intricacies the first appearance of plato's explanation of his theory of forms first appears in the fido one of his most notable works in accordance with this theory of forms there exists two worlds an obvious world of concrete objects such as the ground we can see or other humans this world is constantly changing due to our perception changing as well the second world is purely conceptual and in it there are unchanging abstract objects that can only be understood through speculation or theoretical thought other scholars separate this understanding into three worlds the first is material objects the second is mental images and the third realm consists of the theoretical forms that plato advocates for if this is still a bit difficult to wrap your head around then fear not for scholars have spent countless hours attempting to simplify plato's theory of forms into a brief palatable explanation unfortunately it seems this has not been attainable for the infinite complex hypothetical situations that arise from this interpretation of the world have given many of history's greatest thinkers pause a useful analogy for this may be the theory of forms are a set of universals that present themselves as a solution to the problems with universals for example when someone says the word blue you have a vision in your head of what blue looks like your idea of blue may differ completely from the person who said blue to you but you both know what the other person is referring to furthermore there are countless shades and variations of blue say for instance the difference between a deep blue ocean and a light blue sky these are both blue yet they are quite different but saying blue is an umbrella term that encompasses anything within the color spectrum we have deemed blue scholars have interpreted plato's theory of forms through innumerable other analogies and metaphors and it seems each generation of thinkers has a fresh iteration of understanding plato's theory we could go on and on in regards to this matter but for the sake of brevity let's just depart from the topic if you're still interested in learning more about plato's theory of forms there are literally hundreds of scholarly interpretations of plato's works that are available for free in public libraries and in scholarly articles socrates and plato were alike in that they both believed in the immortality of the soul and in the existence of an afterlife applying logic to this concept of an afterlife socrates believed it is safe to assume there must be a before life as well because the chances of this current life being your first life are nearly non-existent applying this concept to the idea of wisdom plato writes of socrates as often claiming he knows nothing plato goes on to explain that socrates and himself believe that wisdom does not come from the world around oneself and rather it is the result of divine insight knowledge is the remembrance of before one is born instead of the intuitive understanding that we commonly hold in which knowledge is the result of life experience understanding and study in fact socrates takes this concept to the extent of claiming that reality is unattainable to those who use their earthly senses plato famously has socrates assert he who sees with his eyes is blind as a facetious reaction to those who claim that only what can be perceived through their five senses is real in true socratic irony socrates often exclaimed that he knows nothing and he refutes all the assertions plato students offer while giving no explanation of his own plato is perhaps best known for his allegories stories meant to teach a lesson through metaphor if you have ever taken a philosophy class then you're likely familiar with at least one of these such as the allegory of the cave the allegory is frequently associated with the theory of forms as an analogy used to explain the theory in this tale of the cave a series of prisoners are tied up in a cave and forced to stare at a wall with a perpetual fire casting shadows on the wall for them to see a group of free men display various objects that cast shadows on the cave wall but the prisoners do not see the shadows of the men themselves the men also speak to one another but they never present themselves to the prisoners because the prisoners cannot see the men but can see the shadow of the objects they hold and the prisoners can only hear the men's voices but again cannot see them the prisoners are made to assume that the noises are coming from the objects casting shadows on the wall rather than the free men who are effectively invisible to the prisoners this represents plato and socrates's shared philosophy that the world cannot be accepted for the way it is perceived and true reason is the only way to understand the world the other most popular allegory is the ring of jaiji's the ring of jijis allows the wearer to become invisible at will a series of ethical dilemmas is posed the wearer of the ring of jai jis but the common theme among them is questioning whether an ordinary just person would still act morally without fear of negative repercussions or gaining a bad reputation [Music] plato did not date his writing so it is impossible to know for certain the chronology of his works we also are totally unsure of if plato traveled to study and unsure as to which lands if he did travel some scholars infer from his writing that plato traveled in italy and in present-day libya and egypt but no empirical evidence supports these claims similarly we can only estimate when plato founded his school the academy likely around age 40. this school and plato himself would educate many of ancient greece's other influential thinkers that succeeded plato such as euclid and aristotle the academy is largely credited as the first western institution of higher learning in the world and it's set in motion a tradition of higher institution learning that persists through modernity in ancient times the average life expectancy was much shorter than today due to the lack of modern medical knowledge and technology however a few wealthy individuals were said to have lived much longer than we would expect because of their increased access to the limited health care of the time plato was one of these such individuals and most accounts of plato's life recount him living into his 80s while his exact age of death is disputed we can say with reasonable certainty that plato lived between 81 and 84 years old the definitive explanation is lacking for how a man with such primitive medical care outlived his contemporaries by decades but access to better health care and sanitation due to his aristocratic status is likely the culprit 23 centuries after his life ended plato's legacy is undeniable as well as directly influencing the generation of ancient greek thinkers immediately succeeding him like aristotle plato's impact on western society and the subsequent generations is incomparable plato has been studied by scholars and enlightened despots continuously since his death many of his ideas are still hotly contested among philosophers and seekers and many of the same lessons plato taught his students in the academy are taught in western institutions of higher learning to this day it may seem hyperbolic to claim that plato is western humanity's single most influential thinker but from mathematics and metaphysics to religion and ethics plato's philosophy has molded the minds of millions for incomprehensible lengths of time and trickled down into nearly all aspects of western society so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and as always thank you for watching you

Channel: Biographics

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Length: 17min 36sec (1056 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 19 2020