Is Plato a reliable source?

Nonetheless, his earliest works are generally regarded as the most reliable of the ancient sources on Socrates, and the character Socrates that we know through these writings is considered to be one of the greatest of the ancient philosophers.

In which Plato’s most reliable earliest work is mentioned?

Answer: Plato’s dialogues, along with “Apologia,” his written account of the trial of Socrates, are viewed by historians as the most accurate available picture of the elder philosopher, who left no written works of his own.

How accurate is Plato’s Apology?

The Apology is in one sense a historical account of Socrates’ defense of himself at the time of his trial. It is generally believed to be the most reliable record of the event that has been preserved. Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that there are certain limitations necessarily involved in all historical writing.

What is Plato’s impact on history?

His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of language. Plato founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first institutions of higher learning in the Western world.

How does Plato think a society should be best run?

Plato believed that philosophers would be the best rulers of society because they’re able to understand true goodness and justice in a way that other people cannot. Because they would understand that the greatest self-benefit is living virtuously, they would act out morally and not out of self-interest.

Did Plato believe in the afterlife?

In ancient Western philosophy, Plato affirmed both a pre-natal life of the soul and the soul’s continued life after the death of the body. The philosophical assessment of the truth of such matters continues on to the present, as does debate on the implications of whether we may survive death.

Did Plato idolize Socrates?

Socrates the Character “Socrates”, or various incarnations of him, are portrayed in many writers’ dramatic works, including Plato’s Apology, Crito, Phaedo, and Symposium, as well as in The Republic. However much Plato idolizes Socrates, other works paint a vastly different picture.

Is Socrates really Plato?

Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the three greatest figures of the ancient period of Western philosophy (the others were Plato and Aristotle), who lived in Athens in the 5th century BCE. He was the first Greek philosopher to seriously explore questions of ethics.

Why is Plato so important to Greek history?

Plato: Legacy and Influence The Athenian philosopher Plato (c.428-347 B.C.) is one of the most important figures of the Ancient Greek world and the entire history of Western thought. In his written dialogues he conveyed and expanded on the ideas and techniques of his teacher Socrates.

Are Plato’s dialogues historically accurate?

Even though Plato’s dialogues are not strictly historically accurate, however, I must stress that Socrates was definitely a real person. Plato did not just make Socrates up.

How accurate is Plato’s portrayal of Socrates in his writings?

Plato was a philosopher, not a historian, and he used Socrates as a character in his dialogues to essentially bounce ideas off of. On account of this fact, Plato’s portrayal of Socrates is not historically accurate in the sense that we would usually think of today.

How old was Plato when he founded his school?

Around 387, the 40-year-old Plato returned to Athens and founded his philosophical school in the grove of the Greek hero Academus, just outside the city walls. In his open-air Academy he delivered lectures to students gathered from throughout the Greek world (nine-tenths of them from outside Athens).