Plato in his Time and Place

Bibliographic Data

ID23201540
AuthorsMalcolm Schofield (0000-0001-9676-0896, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2009
Pages36-62
Publication date2009-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Oxford Handbook of Plato (Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy) (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195182903.003.0002
OpenAlexW2622328636
ISBN9780195182903
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited291

This article traces the circumstances, which led to Plato becoming a great philosopher. Gradual unraveling of the article brings out more of young Plato and how he became a part of Socrates' circle. Doing philosophy meant trying to understand how to live the life of a just person: getting rid of illusions about what we know or what we think we want, and coming to see what living well really consists of. That is the manifesto Socrates enunciates in his speech to the jurors in the Apology. That is the theme Plato makes him elaborate and defends on a massive scale in the Republic, the longest and most complex of all his works. Fundamental in what he took from Socrates is the idea that philosophy is an inquiry, and inquiry best pursued in conversation with someone else.

Aesthetics · Conversation · Epistemology · Illusion · Manifesto · Political science · SOCRATES · Theme (computing) · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Law · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy · Psychology

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