Plato: background
● Philosopher. Wrote dialogues (35 survive)
● Born around 425 B.C. to one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens.
● Died 347 B.C. (aged 80)
● He had 2 brothers and a sister, and his father died when he was quite young.
● He met the most influential person in his life in his teenage years: Socrates.
Works* customarily divided into four chronological groups
● EARLY: Apology, Charmides, Crito, Euthyphro, Hippias Minor, Hippias Major, Ion, Laches, Lysis, Menexenus
● TRANSITIONAL: Euthydemus, Gorgias, Meno, Protagoras
● MIDDLE: Cratylus, Phaedo, Symposium, Republic, Phaedrus, Parmenides, Theaetetus
● LATE: Timaeus, Critias, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus, Laws
● *Lucky that all seem to have survived!
● In the Socratic dialogues, Socrates is thought to be based to some extent on the historical Socrates; but also, increasingly the
mouthpiece for ideas that go well beyond Plato’s Socratic heritage. Philosophy here consists almost exclusively in the
philosophically pointed questioning of people about the conventionally recognised moral virtues.
Love and relationships from Plato:
● Material can be drawn from the Symposium, Phaedrus, Laws & Republic
● In the Symposium the nature of love is discussed
● In Phaedrus he deals with love, persuasion & philosophical enlightenment
, ● In Republic & Laws he considers the place of love & relationships in a perfect society
Socrates
Plato was about 25 when Socrates died. It is very clear that his death devastated Plato.
He never married and spent the rest of his life writing dialogues in which Socrates is (usually) the main character.
Plato writes in the same style that Socrates is thought to have conducted his philosophical discussions. This is called dialectic. Socrates would
continually question his companions (elenchus – sometimes called a ‘refutation’) on issues until they felt completely confused and could
no longer express their opinion (aporia - a state of puzzlement).
Terms in Plato:
Pandemian Eros Common desire for the body, rather than for the mind.
Uranian Eros Heavenly desire, specifically a male desire for other males.
Pederasty Sexual relationships between an Erastus and an Eromenos
Erastes Adult man in a pederastic relationship with an adolescent boy
Eromenos The younger member of a same sex relationship in Ancient Greece.
