Plato

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Plato
Plato was an Athenian Greek and pre-eminent Greek philosopher who lived between 427 and 347 BC. He is well known for his dialogues and for founding the Academy north of Athens. Plato`s real name was Aristocles but he obtained the name Plato from wrestling circles (Nails 2). Plato, having come from an aristocratic family and well connected to the political class, he was expected to pursue a political career. However, he showed much interest in the arts. In his early youthful stage, he wrote plays and poetry.
Socrates`s teachings made Plato abandon his plan to pursue a poetic career as a playwright. As some of his writings indicate, he was a devoted follower of Socrates because some of his earliest writings were composed to defend Socrates until in his early twenties. One of the most notable articles is the Apology. The Apology claims to reproduce the speeches Socrates gave at his trial (Nails 7). There are some other dialogues which indicated Plato’s entry point to the philosophical career such as the charmides and the gorgias.
The name Plato cannot be discussed without highlighting the two major philosophical theories. The theory of the form and the doctrines of the Immortality of the Soul. In order to explain his metaphysical views, Plato used a number of analogies. They include the metaphor of the sun, the allegory of the cafe, and the divided line. The Form of the Good, is the backbone of knowledge, which has shed light on all the other forms (Woods & Ryan 19).

The world that appears to human beings as good is in some ways defective and filled with error. The analogy goes ahead to state that there is a more real and perfect realm occupied by entities called forms or ideas. These forms and ideas are external, static and in some sense archetypical in structure and character of the world presented to our sense. Some of the forms include goodness, beauty, equality, bigness, likeness, unity among others (Lovibond 10). We are urged to change our values by taking into consideration the greater reality of the forms and the shortfall of the human body.
The soul is a different sort of object from the body and that it does not depend on the existence of the body to perform its functions. Whenever the soul is separated from the body is can retain the ability to recollect and hold to the previous forms before birth. The lives humans live are said to be a reward or a punishment for the choices humans made in their previous existence (Lovibond 12). Plato believed that human beings were born into the world with a subconscious memory of the forms, however, in order to remember them considerable effort is required. An individual is needed to utilize a certain element of the Socratic Method. Plato believed that humans had different intelligence quotient because of the difference in abilities to remember the forms. According to Plato, ignorance of the forms resulted in evil and wrongdoing in the world (Woods & Ryan 23).
Although these prepositions form the large part of his philosophy, many scholars point out that some of his writings can accurately be described as unrealistic. Plato`s work shows a certain degree of incompleteness. The form of good, is a mystery whose reality is solitary and unknown to anyone at all. When Plato is compared to other philosophers such as Aristotle and Kant, he can be described as explorative, and slippery.
WorksCited
Lovibond, Sabina. “Plato’s theory of mind.” (2016).
Nails, Debra. “The life of Plato of Athens.” A companion to Plato (2006): 1-12.
Woods, Cathal, and Ryan Pack. “Socrates of Athens: Euthyphro, Socrates’ Defense, Crito and
the Death Scene from Phaedo.” (2016).