Premium Essay

Plato Research Paper

In:

Submitted By vjenter
Words 1881
Pages 8
Research Paper on a Philosopher

Plato

Valerie Jenter

Centenary College

April 24, 2012

Abstract Many Philosophers made a difference in society but Plato is perhaps recognized as the most famous. His writings have had a profound effect on people, politics, and the philosophy throughout the centuries. He was a public figure and he made major contributions to society. Plato helped to lay the philosophical foundations of modern culture through his ideas and writings.

One of the most philosophical thinkers of Western civilization, Plato is the only author from ancient Greek times whose writings survive intact. His collection consists of thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters, though the authorship of some is contested. Plato was born in Athens, into a prosperous aristocratic family. His Father’s name was Ariston and his Mother’s name was Perictione. His relative named Glaucon was one of the best-known members of the Athenian nobility. Plato's name was Aristocles, his nickname Plato originates from wrestling circles, Plato means broad, and it probably refers either to his physical appearance or his wrestling style. “Plato is, by any reckoning, one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy,” (Kraut, 2009). Plato was born during the Golden Age of Athens’s which saw the birth of classical architecture, drama, arts and politics. However, as he was growing up he observed the decline of Athens as a cultural center. He witnessed instances of cruelty, disloyalty, and dishonesty and it was in clear violation of his values. It was also during this time that Plato fell under the influence of Socrates, who engaged the people of Athens in

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Plato Allegory Research Paper

...Its purpose is to simply benefit the puppeteer. After all, the government gives companies a lot of money to write books and create tests to aid students in learning. People not noticing this makes one wonder if the puppeteers of the present are far more sophisticated than the ones Plato conceived. Creating a cave within the cave and allowing people to exit the first one, would indeed prompt them to accept the second cave as the real world. If a bird escapes a cage, it would think that it is free, it wouldn’t think that the room is a prison on its...

Words: 700 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Plato's Infinate Wisdom

...Running head: PLATO’S INFINATE Plato’s Infinite Wisdom Student Paper February 23rd, 2008 The University of Montana-Western Plato’s Infinite Wisdom Plato was, and remains a very influential and relevant Greek philosopher that lived between (427 and 347 B.C.E) (Stevenson and Haberman, 2004). Plato was extremely diverse and accomplished in his lifetime achievements. His rise to fame began as a student of the great philosopher Socrates, but progressed into many other dignified positions. He is accredited with teaching another great philosopher and scientist named Aristotle, who later taught Alexander the Great. Plato also founded the worlds’ first formal university in Athens called The Academy (Brickhouse, 2006). Plato’s philosophical research was far deeper than anything previously explored and transcends 2500 years without losing modern applicability. His vast writings began with the study of human nature, ethics, morals, knowledge, and progressed into complex theories on reality, dualism, government and the human soul. The most famous of these dialogues, The Republic, but later works like The Laws and The Statesman are equally impressive. Plato believed education, knowledge, and truth were essential for society to become moral and just. The outcome of successful societies was stability and peace. Personally, Plato believed in a spiritual gain given to those who succeed, but his theories were not based on personal beliefs like the widely disputed and...

Words: 1121 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Descartes Discourse On Method And Plato's Phaedo

...In my research paper, I am going to use Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Plato’s “Phaedo” from the Five Dialogues to support my argument. I’m going to argue that while Descartes uses a geometric method to obtain knowledge and Plato’s method tended to be more spiritual, underneath these differences the two methods are similar in some interesting way. Descartes claims that the true method to obtain knowledge is to turn within to study the self. He uses reasoning, logic, and the scientific method to prove a clear reason for his beliefs and tries not to leave anything to doubt. An example of when Descartes uses the geometric method is when he uses doubt to prove that something is certain. His method instructs to take our beliefs and subject them...

Words: 362 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Truth Behind the Legend: Atlantis

...information on the legend just from hearing about it. An example of this would be the Legend of Atlantis! Known all over the world Atlantis is one of the most popular legends of all time. Its story dates back to around 420 BC maybe even before then. It was first told about by a philosopher by the name of Plato in his Critias and Timaeus dialogues, the first recorded references to Atlantis. (Atlantis – Lost Civilization) Plato claimed that Atlantis was a huge island in the Atlantic Ocean the size of North Africa. (Atlantis, the Antediluvian World, by Ignatius Donnelly, [1882]) He told of the people and that they were unusually educated and technologically advanced far greater than other cultures at the time. (Summary of the legend) According to Plato the result of a massive flood possibly bought on by a Earthquake or submarine volcanic explosion caused the great city to sink below the sea.(Summary of the legend) Now for thousands of years people have been debating whether Plato’s “lost city” was fact or fiction. Many Scientist such as Professor Charles H. Hapgood, of Keene State College at the University of New Hampshire believe that there could have been a lost city like the one Plato states even if they don’t believe in certain parts of...

Words: 1380 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

History of Modern Psychology

...The History of Modern Psychology PSY/310 Psychology is not something that came about over night. Through the years and centuries psychology has grown from simple ideals of philosophers into its own kind of science. There are not a lot of people who know very much about when psychology and philosophy first came together, which was during this century, “a period that to a large extent defined the philosophical-methodological distinctiveness of our psychological science in comparison to world psychology” (Abul'khanova & Slavskaia, 2007,p. 1). This paper will look at the early philosophers and the beginning of psychology. I will also research psychology and its development into a real science. One of the early philosophers was Plato, “Plato is one of the founding fathers of philosophy and has had a massive impact on the history of western thought” (In Great Thinkers A-Z, 2004, p. 1). Another early philosopher was Descartes, he believed that by using your own abilities to reason then the truth will come out (Goodwin, 2008). “Descartes identified the ‘thinking thing’ or mind, with the human soul or consciousness; the body, though somehow interacting with the soul, was a physical machine, secondary to, and in principle separable from, the soul” (The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide, 2009, p. 1). For centuries philosophers and psychologist have tried to figure out what the connection between the mind and body is and they...

Words: 728 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Alien Existence

...Everything from supplying life-giving chemicals and wiping out the dinosaurs with meteorites to influencing human culture and evolution. The whole world is full of evidence that aliens exist, even though it is usually denied and ignored by the government and academics. This paper will give a short investigation of extraterrestrial events and evidence. Ancient people, especially their huge structures and exciting grip of mathematics and astronomy, have always attracted human kind. For example, the Sumerians were aware of Pluto as early as 5,000 bce, seven thousand years before it was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh in 1930. The first written evidence of extraterrestrials was discovered in 1935 by Prof. Tsum Um Nui of the Academy of Prehistoric Research in Beijing who found a stone disk in the cave part of the Baian Kara Ula Mountains near Tibet. The stone disk was buried with a group of humans with delicate bodies and weird large skulls. At first they were thought to be apes, Prof. Um Nui was rumored to have said “Who ever heard of apes burying each other?” They ended up finding 716 disks but the Chinese government would not let any more research be done until a Russian, Dr. Saitsew, examined them and wrote a paper in 1968. When the stone disks were examined, they found that a long spiral of hieroglyphics was written on them. In one place it says literally: ‘The Dropa came down from the clouds with their air gliders. Ten times the men, women and children of the Kham hid in the caves...

Words: 2115 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

The Lost City of Atlantis

...Sammie Williams Ms. Janine Hornung OCEA & 101 12 October 2012 The lost City of Atlantis “Long ago there existed an island, populated by a noble and powerful race. This beautiful place was a domain of Poseidon, god of the sea, who had fallen in love with a mortal woman, Cleito. He created a magnificent palace for her in the centre of the island. The people of this land possessed great wealth thanks to the abundant natural resources of the island, which was also a centre for trade and commerce. The rulers held sway not just over their own people but over the Mediterranean, Europe and North Africa” (Menzies). The Greek philosopher, Plato, wrote the above description of Atlantis in 355 B.C. Plato had originally planned to write a trilogy of books on subjects such as the creation of the world, the nature of man, the story of Atlantis as well as other subjects. The first book, Timaeus, was completed, Critias, which contains the story of Atlantis, was incomplete, and Hemocrates, was never written (Levy). The story of Atlantis is one of the oldest myths of mankind, a lost paradise and the most popular of all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations. It’s location has been assigned to almost every possible place on earth including Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Israel, Sinai, Sweden, Bahamas, Bermuda Triangle, Japan and even Kumari Kandam (“Lost Continent”). In Plato's book, Timaeus, a character named Kritias tells an account of Atlantis that has been in...

Words: 1210 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Cognitive Psychology Paper

...Cognitive psychology today has a huge influential role in determining how people think and how we learn. Cognitive psychology has been in existence since about the 1600’s. There are many interesting milestones in the development of cognitive psychology throughout the years. In the following paper I will discuss some of these milestones as well as discuss the importance of behavioral observation in cognitive psychology. According to Kendra Cherry (2012) “Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, remember and learn”. Cognitive psychology dwells heavily in how people acquire, process and store information. This branch of psychology has several forms of treatment, which help to improve memory, decision making accuracy as well as enhancing learning (Cherry, 2012). Plato and other early Greek philosophers were created the foundation for what would be known as cognitive psychology (Anderson, 2005). Plato's principles of rationalism described how reality should be viewed. Plato states that reality is not in the concrete objects we perceive but in abstract forms that the objects represent (University of Arizona, 2008). Plato also believed that logical analysis is how knowledge is found. Aristotle had the same thought process with his belief that reality lies only in the concrete world of objects that our body can sense (University of Arizona, 2008)." Aristotle also believed that knowledge could be obtained through...

Words: 846 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Clinical Psychology Paper

...Clinical Psychology Paper The great evangelist D.T. Niles once said, “Christianity is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread” (Niles, 2010). At its most basic level, clinical psychology is the enterprise of one educated, licensed person using their knowledge of human behavior to address, assuage, or otherwise moderate the troubles and concerns of another person’s life—whether they be relational, affective, or physiological. Strictly speaking, clinical psychology is, “the assessment, treatment, and understanding of psychological and behavioral problems and disorders” (Plante, 2005, p. 7). Clinical psychology is a scientific endeavor, utilizing the instrument of the scientific method to inform the practice, procedures, and treatments used to address human problems. There is an interplay that exists between treatment outcome research and psychotherapy in clinical psychology—the science informs the art and the art informs the science (Plante, 2005). The point of this paper is to catalogue and compare the history and evolving nature of clinical psychology as well as to consider the specific case of counseling within the framework of clinical psychology. History Hippocrates—the original author of the Hippocratic Oath—formed the first complete, if naïve, physiological explanation of disease and dysfunction (Plante, 2005). He proposed that imbalances in the mixture and quantity of four fluids: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood, caused several emotions...

Words: 1130 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Ethics

...3:00-3:25PM & W. 6:00-6:25 Office TBD Course Description. The practice and study of philosophy constitute one of the most distinctive strands of Western intellectual tradition. In order to understand-even simply recognize-the deepest assumptions we make as a culture we must turn to philosophy and to those thinkers whose ideas have shaped our assumptions. We will approach the study of philosophy as a conversation among the greatest thinkers of all the time, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre. Our focus will be on each philosopher’s ideas and their impact on Western Civilization. We will also delve briefly into the cultural and historical context of each philosopher, evaluate weather their ideas are still relevant and some of their argument remain compelling. Course outline. The approach of this class is hybrid. The first part following an historical and chronological sequence, the second part follows a topical approach. Part I (a), Ancient philosophy, with our main focus on Plato and Aristotle. Part 1 (b) Late Renaissance and to Kant. Part II Empiricism and Positivism and part II (b) Existentialism. We will wrap the class pointing to some recent issues in philosophy: Postmodernism, Feminism and Philosophy of Mind. Required Textbooks: Lawhead, William F. The Voyage of Discovery: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy ISBN-13:978049512796. Vaughn, Lewis. Writing Philosophy, Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford, 2006. ISBN...

Words: 1207 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Is Google Making Us Stupid

...Carr achievement with the use of rhetorical appeal and serious tone to obtain the reader attention and persuade them that in today’s society, the internet causes many problems. The article’s tittle brings a tough question to mind of readers. By using a movie scene and arguments embedded with imagery and metaphor “someone or something that tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.” (226). He also provides research on how other writers had agreed with him on the subject to help support his strategies of logos. He states that even as a writer his mind struggle to keep focus on a book. One example that he spoke about the research program done by the British Library in UK consortium for five years. People use “a skimming activity” (228) reading on the Internet doesn't let them read the entire article, users research sites power browse and skim through titles and selects to look for information that seems as if it might be important. Another appeal to logos that Carr makes comes from the philosopher Plato. In Plato’s...

Words: 1126 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Examination of Clinical Psychology Paper

...Examination of Clinical Psychology Paper Tammy Poe PSY 480 University of Phoenix April, 23, 2012 Ross Seligman Examination of Clinical Psychology Paper Clinical psychology is a branch of psychology that involves the concern with assessing and treating abnormal behavior, mental illness, and other psychiatric disorders. Clinical psychology is the science of psychology. Clinical psychologists treat young children to the elderly, individuals or families, thus, an individual’s socioeconomic status is not an issue in the decision-making process of whether or not an individual should receive treatment. There is a broad range of specialties that clinical psychologists deal with, such as individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, or individuals coping with his or her personal issues, such as going through a divorce or losing a job. Clinical psychologists allow patients the opportunity to express his or her anger or frustrations while assisting the patient in understanding and controlling his or her situation in a healthy manner. Psychologists have the knowledge and skill in using a variety of methods developed to help patients, depending on the psychologist’s area of expertise. History of Clinical Psychology Established in the 1800s, psychology has been known since 2500 B.C. During this time, the approach to examining mental health involved holistic, supernatural, medical, and religious aspects. The father...

Words: 1583 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

A History of Modern Psychology

...310-History and Systems of Psychology October 7, 2013 Abstract Philosophy has been said to be the mother of all disciplines. Philosophy is the oldest disciplines studied and has influenced modern science. Natural and social science have their roots in philosophy. Modern sciences are influenced by philosophy and are similar to philosophical questions. Understanding the way problems are addressed by philosophers is essential to understanding the science of psychology. Philosophers paved the way for modern psychology. Aristotle was a very famous philosopher and was called the father of psychology. Aristotle created idealism which believes that the mind and reasoning cannot exist without the body. Plato was also a philosopher. He taught theories based on the behaviors of humans like impulses and reasoning. Rene Descartes, another philosopher determined that psychology is an actual discipline. There are several philosophers that have influenced 19th Century philosophy. Edward Hitzig and John Locke are respected 19th Century philosophers, just to name a few. These philosophers have had an impact on 19th Century philosophy like no other. Their discoveries provide a different perspective on modern psychology. ("Understanding Learners", n.d.). Psychology as a Discipline According to "Understanding Learners" (n.d.), “Psychology as a discipline aims to describe behavior, explain behavior, predict behavior and control or modify some...

Words: 911 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Extraterrestrial Intellihence

...Extraterrestial Influence  All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike and yet it is the most precious thing we have. -Albert Einstein  INTRODUCTION  There are many things in this world that go unexplained. Not anymore, it was all aliens, everything you can’t figure out like, “Where does one sock go when I do the laundry?”, and “How do you get the caramel into the Caramilk bar?” Aliens. Earth has been profoundly impacted by extraterrestrials in its short history. Everything from supplying life-giving chemicals and wiping out the dinosaurs with meteorites to influencing human culture and evolution. The whole world is filled with evidence of extraterrestrials, though it is usually denied and ignored by governments and academics. This essay will provide a brief analysis of extraterrestrial events or evidence thereof the were especially significant.  THE BEGINNING OF LIFE  Evolutionary theory suggests that life on earth has been developing for millions of years into more and more complex organisms. These organisms evolved from inorganic molecules through the release of UV, heat and electrical energy in the atmosphere of early Earth. This theory was found to be valid by Stan Miller in 1953, who through a series of tests managed to create some hydrocarbons and amino acidsout of chemicals that were present on earth 3.5 billion years ago. These hydrocarbons and amino acids are very susceptible to oxidation and would not exist for very long in an...

Words: 2734 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Love

...What is Love? A Conceptual Analysis of "Love", focusing on the Love Theories of Plato, St. Augustine and Freud Nico Nuyens GRIPh Working Papers No. 0901 This paper can be downloaded without charge from the GRIPh Working Paper Series website: http//www.rug.nl/filosofie/GRIPh/workingpapers What is love? A Conceptual Analysis of “Love”, focusing on the Love Theories of Plato, St. Augustine and Freud CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 1. FORMAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE............................................................................... 3 2. SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF LOVE........................................................................... 6 3. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF LOVE....................................................................... 9 3.1 ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY: PLATO ..................................................................... 11 3.2 CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY: SAINT AUGUSTINE............................................................ 18 3.3 MODERN PHILOSOPHY: FREUD ................................................................................. 27 4. COMPARATIVE EVALUATION............................................................................ 37 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................. 40 REFERENCES....................................................................

Words: 19634 - Pages: 79