Plato
The Original Academic
“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
— Alfred North Whitehead
Given that so much of what Plato did was a reflection of what Socrates did, it’s important to understand the life and times of the latter to appreciate that of the former. As such, if you haven’t already read my essay about Socrates then I strongly encourage you to do so before moving on to see what I have to say about Plato.
As of the time of this writing, the academic tradition traces back 2,406 years. More to the point, the first scholar in that rather long line of teachers and students was none other than Plato of Athens. He was the preliminary professor at the founding institute of higher education. It was known as the Academy, thus giving rise to the term “academic”. Simply put, there were already colleges centuries before the time of Christ, thanks to Plato, Aristotle, and other great thinkers from antiquity. The old informal oral tradition had given way to a new formal written tradition. It was history in the making. In many ways, Plato was really trying to right the wrongs of Athenian society, after Socrates was put to death for teaching the youth to think critically. Basically, Plato wanted the pupils in his school to become like his mentor Socrates had been. That’s why many of Plato’s early lectures and lessons pertained to Socratic teachings. Just as Plato had intended, the spirit of Socrates lived on in the hallowed halls of the Academy.
Plato, the son of Ariston and Perictione, was born circa 425 BCE. He came from one of the wealthiest, most politically active families in Classical Athens. Plato had two brothers, named Adeimantus and Glaucon as well as a sister named Potone. In his youth, Plato was instructed in subjects like grammar, music, and gymnastics by some of the most distinguished teachers and tutors alive at the time. He had top notch primary schooling in his teens, setting the stage for him to start the first form of secondary schooling as a middle-aged man. Plato was an amazing student and an even better teacher. The thing was that he lost his father when he was still just a boy, but he gained a new role model when he met Socrates years later. Although he was first educated in the Heraclitean doctrines, Plato became a devout disciple of Socratic principles in no time at all. For this and so many other reasons, he was destined to open the first university in history.
Throughout his prestigious academic career, Plato wrote dozens of scholarly works. This included the Republic, the Five Dialogues, and The Trial and Death of Socrates to name but a few. Among all of these great literary masterpieces, there are lots and lots of really good quotes. Following are what I consider to be some of the best lines Plato ever wrote:
“Education is teaching our children to desire the right things.”
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“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
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“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
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“A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.”
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“Never discourage anyone…who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.”
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“You should not honor men more than truth.”
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“There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.”
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“Man is a being in search of meaning.”
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“Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.”
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“Those who don’t know must learn from those who do.”
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“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
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“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”
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“There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.”
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“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”
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“Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.”
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“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
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“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
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“In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state.”
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“Character is simply habit long continued.”
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“Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another.”
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“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. ”
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“A house that has a library in it has a soul.”
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“The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.”
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“At the beginning of the journey to the next world, one’s education and culture can either provide the greatest assistance, or else act as the greatest burden, to the person who has just died.”
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“Death is not the worst that can happen to men.”
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“To be afraid of death is only another form of thinking that one is wise when one is not; it is to think that one knows what one does not know. No one knows with regard to death whether it is not really the greatest blessing that can happen to man; but people dread it as though they were certain it is the greatest evil.”
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“The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.”
In line with being an extremely talented author, Plato drew on the spiritual teachings of a number of ancient mystics, like the renowned numerologist Pythagoras. Most of the sages believed in what is known as metempsychosis, which is to say the reincarnation of the soul. As part of this, according to Plato’s cosmology and ontology, there are three levels of being. There is the world of Logos meaning “the study of” as well as “the good”. This is the domain of the divine, which is to say the spirit world. Then, below that is the world of ideal “forms”, which psychologists would call the archetypes of the mind. Below that is the physical world of material objects where immortal souls reincarnate in mortal bodies. As part of this, Plato thought that birth causes a kind of amnesia, such that life is a yearning for what he called “recollection”. Furthermore, Plato felt that wickedness is the result of an ignorance of good, not an inherent evil in the world. So, in more modern monotheistic terms, he believed in God but not the Devil. Ultimately, Plato felt that a life well lived would be one that is the most ideal and therefore doesn’t result in reincarnation, but rather a reunion of psyche with Logos.
The fact is that Plato of Athens was a very complicated man who had a lot of complex ideas, some of which were really good and others not so much. Just as one example, he hypothesized that the universe is dodecahedron shaped. Of course, his most daring idea was undoubtedly that of opening the first college in the Western world. History changed forever the day that school was first in session at the Academy. Little more than twenty-four centuries ago, Plato started nothing short of an educational revolution. Anyone with a degree in anything has Plato to thank for opening the door to that world. The whole of academia can be traced back to that one defining moment when he decided that people could do more. Plato was not just an academic, he was really “the academic”. Alfred North Whitehead was right about philosophy. It is all just “footnotes to Plato.” The man was and shall forever remain the original “old school” academic. Without Plato, our world would have turned out very differently. He was easily one of the most important philosophers to have ever lived if not one of the most important people. He is a core member of both the academic community and humanity. Long live the legacy of Plato!!!
Note that if you enjoyed learning about the life of Plato then you might also like my take on some of his work as well. I wrote the following essay a decade ago for a gender studies class in college. Then in an effort to give the piece a wider audience, I published the essay here on Medium a couple years ago. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Thanks for reading!
