Page 9 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Unit 1: Plato’s Life, His Ideal State and Theory of Justice

Notes

Plato’s real name was Aristocles, which meant the “best and renowned”. He was
given the nickname “Plato”, derived from platys, because of his broad and strong
shoulders.

In 386 BC, on returning to Athens, Plato’s friends gifted him a recreation spot named after its local
hero Academus, or Hecademus. It was here that Plato established his Academy, which became a
seat of higher learning and intellectual pursuits in Greece for the next one hundred years. The
academy was not the first of its kind, for there were others, like the Pythagorean school of Crotona
established in 520 BC and the School of Isocrates in 392 BC, but it was perhaps the most well-
known.
The Academy was initially a religious group dedicated to the worship of Muses and its leader
Apollo. The academy, like the Pythagorean School admitted women. Mathematics which included
arithmetic and advanced geometry, astronomy, music, law, and philosophy were the main subjects
for study. The importance of mathematics was clear from the inscription at the portals of the
academy, “medeis ageometrtos eisito”, or “let no one without geometry enter here”. “It is
noteworthy that modern Platonists, with few exceptions are ignorant of mathematics, in spite of
the immense importance Plato attached to arithmetic and geometry, and the immense influence
they had on his philosophy”. The close link between mathematics and philosophy that Plato
began was followed by others, like Hobbes and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832).
The Academy concretized the possibility of a science of knowledge with which one could reform
the world. Plato saw in the academy a training school for future philosophic rulers. The Republic,
composed at this time, served as its prospectus. Teaching in the Academy was imparted through
lectures, Socratic dialectics and problem-solving situations. For Plato, the search for truth was not
through mere instruction and theoretical knowledge, but with the guidance of an advanced mind.
Through the academy, Plato kept alive the Socratic legacy. In course of time the Academy also
became the prototype for subsequent universities and institutions of higher learning.
The founding of the Academy is a turning point in Plato’s life and in some ways the
most memorable event in the history of European science. It was the culmination of
his efforts. It was a permanent institution for the pursuit of science by original research.
Plato devoted the bulk of his time and energies in organizing and managing the Academy. In 367
BC he visited Sicily on the invitation of Dion in order to make the late king Dionysius’ nephew
and heir, Dionysius II, a philosopher king. However, Dionysius resented Plato’s assertion that
geometry held the key to statecraft, forcing Plato to return home. In 361 BC Plato made another
visit, with a view to securing the recall of Dion, now in exile, and to bring about reconciliation
between Dion and Dionysius II. Plato was sold as a slave and was released only after the payment
of a ransom.
Plato spent the last years of his life at the Academy, teaching and instructing. He died in 347 BC
while attending the wedding feast of one of his students. As merry making continued past midnight,
Plato decided to catch up with some sleep, retiring to a corner in the house, never to wake up. In
the morning the revellers realized that he had died. On hearing the news of his death, the whole
of Athens came to pay respects to one of its most distinguished and erudite citizens.

1.2 The Republic

The Republic is the greatest and most well-known work of Plato. It was written in the form of a
dialogue, a method of great importance in clarifying questions and establishing truth. It was one
of the finest examples of the dialectical method as stated and first developed by Socrates. Though

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