Plato

was by far the most gifted and accomplished of Socrates’ students. His thought was systematic, wide-ranging, profound, and extraordinarily influential, providing the foundation of ancient Neoplatonism and, through that school, guiding the development of early medieval philosophy and Christian theology. In later ages Platonic ideas influenced the development of 19th-century German idealism and 20th-century process philosophy. Since the late 19th century, Plato’s influence has been most pronounced in the philosophy of mathematics, where mathematical Platonism is a well-established tradition with many contemporary adherents. Plato’s foremost contribution to philosophy was his theory of Forms, which posited a realm of ideal, perfect, and changeless entities standing behind the world of ordinary experience. In addition to being a great philosopher, Plato was also a literary artist of the highest rank:



he is a major figure in the history of Western literature.

*Plato’s philosophical works were written as dialogues, in most of which the principal character and main speaker is “Socrates.”

*Plato himself never appears as a character in any of the dialogues.

*Plato’s philosophy is the source of many famous literary tropes and myths, including the notion of Platonic love, the philosopher-king, and the metaphor of the Cave (the world of experience is like a shadow cast on a cave wall by real but unseen objects).