Plato: Quick Facts


Facts

Born 428 BCE or 427 BCE • Athens • ancient Greece
Died 348 BCE or 347 BCE • Athens • ancient Greece
Founder Academy
Notable Works “Apology” • “Charmides” • “Cratylus” • “Critias” • “Crito” • “Epigrams” • “Euthydemus” • “Euthyphro” • “Gorgias” • “Hippias Major” • “Hippias Minor” • “Ion” • “Laches” • “Laws” • “Letters” • “Lysis” • “Menexenus” • “Meno” • “Parmenides” • “Phaedo” • “Phaedrus” • “Philebus” • “Protagoras” • “Sophist” • “Statesman” • “Symposium” • “The Republic” • “Theaetetus” • “Timaeus”
Subjects Of Study Demiurge • a priori knowledge • immortality • innate idea • justice • soul • the Good • virtue

Did You Know?

  • As a young wrestler Plato competed in the Isthmian Games, an athletic event similar to the Greek Olympics.
  • According to the 3rd century Greek historian Diogenes Laertius, Plato at birth was given the name Aristocles, after his grandfather. His more familiar name, refers either to his broad (platon) style of wrestling as a youth or to his broad forehead.

Photos and Videos



Marble bust of Aristotle with a beard and draped robe, showing detailed facial features and wavy hair, set against a dark background.
Aristotle
Greek philosopher
Profile portrait of Immanuel Kant facing right, framed by a green Ouroboros serpent forming an oval, with a geometric symbol below the frame.
Immanuel Kant
German philosopher
Socrates
Socrates
Greek philosopher
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
German philosopher
RenĂŠ Descartes
RenĂŠ Descartes
French mathematician and philosopher
default image
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
German philosopher
Engraved portrait of Benedict de Spinoza by Friedrich Roth-Scholtz, showing Spinoza in formal 17th-century attire with a circular symbol in the upper left corner.
Benedict de Spinoza
Dutch-Jewish philosopher
David Hume
David Hume
Scottish philosopher
Engraved portrait of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz with long curly hair, wearing a buttoned coat and cravat, facing forward.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
German philosopher and mathematician
default image
Epictetus
Greek philosopher
default image
T.H. Green
British educator and philosopher
default image
Bernard Bosanquet
British philosopher
default image
Speusippus
Greek philosopher
John Locke
John Locke
English philosopher
Justus of Ghent: Saint Augustine
St. Augustine
Christian bishop and theologian
Noam Chomsky wearing glasses and a dark sweater, looking slightly to the side during an interview.
Noam Chomsky
American linguist
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
British philosopher and economist
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
British logician and philosopher
Statue of AverroĂŤs (Ibn Rushd)
AverroĂŤs
Muslim philosopher
George Berkeley
George Berkeley
Irish philosopher