PLATO 



originally named, was born two 

 years after the death of Pericles, 

 and the world in which he grew up 

 was one possessed by a desire to 

 correct and restore the distracted 

 social and political system of 

 Hellas. That system culminated 

 in the city state of Athens, a 

 thoroughgoing democracy. Plato 

 set himself to understand Hellenic 

 society in all its extent and depth, 

 with the practical object of point- 

 ing out weaknesses and indicating 

 reforms. In so doing he struck 

 out a system of philosophy based 

 on contemporary experience, de- 

 signed to set forth the principles of 

 life and conduct exhibited therein. 

 The note of his conclusions every- 

 where is idealistic, and the whole 

 question of the interpretation of 

 Platonism depends on an under- 

 standing of these " ideas." 

 Theory of Knowledge 



In discussing logical and meta~ 

 physical problems, Plato took over 

 certain results attained by his pre- 

 decessors, including Socrates. His 

 primary task here was the refuta- 

 tion of various logical heresies 

 advocated by famous philosophers 

 or sophists, these comprising the 

 leading educators of the period, 

 in which sense Socrates himself 

 was a sophist. To take an example : 

 There was a treatise by Gorgias, 

 written to maintain the dis- 

 concerting thesis nothing is ; if 

 anything is, it cannot be known ; 

 if anything is and can be known, it 

 cannot be expressed in words. As 

 against this nihilistic doctrine, 

 Plato built up a theory of know- 

 ledge that would account for the 

 fact that men know and reason 

 and act intelligently in a world 

 not wholly incomprehensible. 



Plato's argument starts from 

 certain assumptions, of which three 

 are often combined to form the 

 outline of a logical theory, more or 

 less consistent. First, it is plausible 

 to hold that the world of things is 

 composed of particular objects, 

 all existing independently, despite 

 mutual action and re-action ; 

 secondly, within the world of 

 knowledge we are aware of a 

 collection of thoughts each differ- 

 ent from all the rest ; again, par- 

 ticulars in the external world, 

 objects in space, appear to have an 

 existence of their own, separate 

 and independent of thoughts about 

 them. Plato, in his long series of 

 dialogues, forces to the front the 

 truer view : first, that the multi- 

 tude of objects in space, while 

 each is separate and individual, yet 

 possess each a character which is 

 shared by other objects ; secondly, 

 that the simplest thoughts, al- 

 though they occur as particulars, 

 are likewise each recognizable as 



6191 



more or less the same as other 

 thoughts; thirdly, that things in 

 space not merely correspond to 

 thoughts in the mind, but that 

 they are capable of being known. 



Particular things and particular 

 thoughts are, he holds, what they 

 are because, somehow, they em- 

 body a universal nature or form. 

 As to particular objects in space, 

 we are easily led to allow that 

 there are such " universals," which 

 enable us to recognize instance 

 after instance of the same object in 

 the external world. Further, we 

 admit readily that thoughts in the 

 mind may exhibit a sameness which 

 in this region too compels us to con- 



Plato, Athenian philosopher 



cede these universals. But, when 

 we are asked to admit that there is 

 a common ground or character as 

 between objects in space and 

 thoughts in the mind, we are far 

 from unanimous. The vast 

 majority of philosophers part from 

 Plato here, and diverge into the 

 numerous forms of nominalism, 

 sensationalism, and materialism 

 which deny the ultimate identity of 

 thought and things. 



Particulars and Universals 

 The effort to expound the true 

 relation of universals to particulars 

 absorbs a great deal of Plato's 

 energy. It speedily led him to lay 

 stress on thought as the active 

 principle in the world which we 

 know. Ideas, he argues, are in the 

 last analysis the substance of the 

 world which we experience, and 

 much of his language lends itself 

 to the popular picture of this 

 system as one which confused 

 ideas with solid realities, and 

 maintained that ideas were real 

 and things unreal. This picture of 

 Platonism ignores his strenuous 

 search into the true relations 

 between particulars and universals, 

 facts and ideas. It cannot be said 

 that Plato quite satisfied himself 



as to his exposition of that rela- 

 tionship. He tried " imitation," 

 '' communion," " participation," 

 as explanations, and found none of 

 them adequate. His conclusion, 

 however, is not far removed from 

 that summed up in a modern 

 formula like " identity in differ- 

 ence." Plato's dictum " what is 

 wholly real is wholly knowable, 

 and what is utterly non-existent 

 is completely unknowable," an- 

 swers to the modern assertion 

 of " the unity of the intelligible 

 world with itself and the mind that 

 knows it." 



His Idea of the Good 



In the region of ethics and 

 politics, Plato was the first thinker 

 to offer a satisfying account of the 

 principles that form and govern 

 conduct and character. Socrates 

 had dealt with the fluid and con- 

 fused conceptions about right and 

 wrong, vice and virtue, by persis- 

 tent questioning of all who were 

 thrown in his way. By exposing the 

 contradictions involved in popular 

 opinions about these matters, 

 Socrates gradually moved towards 

 a solution of his own perplexities ; 

 and the most remarkable of his con- 

 clusions is the familiar " virtue 

 is knowledge." The intellectual 

 aspect of morality implied by this 

 definition, indeed, is frequently 

 arraigned as a prejudice infecting 

 Greek ethics in general. It is too 

 much a matter of the head, too 

 little of the heart ; and the stress 

 in that respect is differently placed 

 in Christian ethic. But in Plato 

 morality is far from being intel- 

 lectual in the sense of abstract at 

 any rate. Plato's " justice " is the 

 virtue of the good citizen, and his 

 idea of the good is to be realized in 

 the life of the commonwealth. In 

 the Republic it is from the larger 

 life of the justly organized state or 

 society that he reads off the feat- 

 ures of the good life of the in- 

 dividual. Here is the embodiment, 

 the actuality, even if imperfectly 

 attained, or the idea of the good, 

 which for Plato solves the riddle 

 of the universe. In this idea of the 

 good, which corresponds to the 

 Christian God, he finds not merely 

 the end of life, but the groun'd and 

 cause of all existence. 



The influence of Plato is to be es- 

 timated by the numberless thinkers 

 and poets who have drawn inspira- 

 tion from him. Plato was succeeded 

 by disciples who undertook to carry 

 on his teaching; but his true suc- 

 cessor was Aristotle, who developed 

 Platonism on more scientific lines. 



bibliography. Works, Complete 

 Latin Text with Notes, 10 vols., G. 

 Stallbaum, 1858-60; J. Burnett, 

 6 vols., 190.">-13; Eng. trans., 4 

 vols., B. Jowett, 3rd ed. 1892 ; 

 Dialogues with Eng. notes, Phaedrus, 



