Plato

Plato.
By Michael McDaniel

Plato was the best known of all the great Greek philosophers. Plato's
original name was Aristocles, but in his school days he was nicknamed Platon
(meaning "broad") because of his broad shoulders. Born in Athens circa B.C.
427, Plato sought
out political status. But during the Athenian democracy, he did
not actively
embrace it. Plato devoted his life to Socrates, and became his
disciple in B.C. 409. Plato was outraged when Socarates was executed by the
Athenian democrats in B.C. 399. He later left Athens convinced democracy
wouldn't make it.

Years after Plato romed the Greek cities in Africa and Italy absorbing
philosphical knowledge and then returning to Athens in B.C. 387. There he later
created the first University on the ground of famous Greek Academus, which was
later called the Academy. He remained at the Academy for the remainder of his
life omitting 2 brief periods. He visited Syracuse and Greek Sicily to serve as a
tutor for the new king, Dionysis II. Which ended out very badly when the King
acted like a king, instead of a philosopher
. Perhaps Plato's worse student.

He later returned to Athens and died in his early 80's, circa   B.C. 347.
Plato's work is argueably the most popular and influential of it's kind ever
published. His most popular work are transcripts, or dialogues between the great
Socrates and himself. These dialogues are the basis of our general knowlege
between Socrates' views and Plato's views.

Plato was much like Socrates, in that he was mostly interested in moral
philosophy and overlooked science [natural philosophy]. He considered the
natural science as an inferior knowledge, not worthy of his time.

Plato loved mathematics mainly because, back then, it idealized
abstractions and separated
from the material world. Plato thought mathematics
was the purest form of thoughts, and had nothing to do with everyday life. That
doesn't nessacarily apply to the matters of... [continues]

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