Plato of Athens (424 or 423 to 347 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher whose work is considered so important that he may be called the inventor of philosophy as we understand the term today. Some people would want to reserve that honor for his teacher, Socrates, but since Socrates wrote nothing himself for publication, we only have the quasi-fictional descriptions of him and his work by Plato and Xenophon.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original article at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2241/life-of-plato-of-athens/.
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- Do you think Plato's ideas mattered more than his political work?
- Was it a good idea for Plato to start the Academy?
- Do you think Socrates had the biggest influence on Plato?
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