Plato ( 427- 347 B.C.E.)

Plato ( 427- 347 B.C.E.)

_ Plato laid the foundations of western philosophy. 

_Plato says that the qualities of any object in the physical world r derived from the ideal forms.for example an object in the physical world is beautiful bcoz it partakes of the ideal form of beauty which exist in the higher realm. 

- In the Ion Socrates points out that the rhapsody like the poet himself,  is in a state of " divine possession " and speaks not with his own voice which is merely a medium through which a God speaks. 

- poetry in its very nature is steeped in emotional transport and lack of self possession. 

- " each one man must perform one social service in the state for which his nature was best adapted.

- He elaborates his famous triad we find three beds , one existing in nature which is made by God,  another which is made by carpenter , and third which is made by painter or poet .

- He inscribed the words over the door of his Academy " let no one enter here who is ignorant of mathematics. "

- what we know is not learned but recollected. 

- However the souls memories of its life r washed clean in the River Lethe the soul then returns as the soul of another person to live a new life from birth .

- What Socrates hoped his listeners would understand was that what they saw through sight was less clear n further from the truth than what they were able to see in their minds eye or understanding. 

- In the beginning human had three types that were each composed of two people conjoined in a spherical shape female n female,  Male n Male,  Male n female.  These creatures were strong n tried to storm Heaven itself.  The God didn't want to destroy them but something had to be done.  Zeus's solution was to weaken them by cutting each of the being in half.  The result is that every human being is in search of their missing half . Men n women who were conjoined as hermaphrodites seek each other . Lesbians seek other women to compete themselves,  n men who were joined to men r attracted to other men . Both Diotima n Aristophanes explanation of love clearly involves sexual consumption n r not Platonic. 

- He served in military campaigns in the war against Sparta n was probably in the cavalry. 

- He never married n when he died at the age 81 he was poor.