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Plato

Plato was one of the largest Greek philosophers, being behind anybody more than its master Sócrates. Plato was born in Athens, in the year of 427 B.C., and he also died in Athens in the year of 347 B.C. He was part of a noble family of its native city and, to the twenty years, he met its master Socrates, with who lived together until its twenty-nine years, when this was condemned to the death.

Plato was a person that traveled a lot for the civilizations of Mediterranean, having gone by Greece, Egypt, Cirene, south of Italy and Siracusa. He had as its first philosophical written work a speech in defense to its master, where he counts that Sócrates spoke the jury that condemned it. Starting from there, our great philosopher didn't stop of writing plus, and, to disclose its ideas and philosophical reflections, he made use of dialogues writings involving Socrates or even other people of its daily intellectual. Knowledge is had today that the work of Plato counts with 28 authentic considered dialogues, and, in some of them, he tried to define ideas as the lie (Smaller Hípias), the duty (Críton), the courage (Hair spray), the human nature (Alcibíades), the wisdom (Cármides), the pity (Eutífron), the friendship (Lísis), and the rhetoric (Górgias, Protágoras). Between 387 and 361 B.C. he/she wrote Menexeno, Ménon (on the virtue), Eutidemo (on the erística), Crátilo (on the justeza of the names), THE banquet (about the love), Fédon, THE republic (about the justice), Fedro, Teeteto (about the science) and Parmênides. The dialogues of the maturity are already THE Quibbler (on being), THE politician, Timeu (on the nature), Crítias (on Atlantida), Filebo (on the pleasure) and The Laws.

The reason of Plato to have so much works attributed to its person he links to the fact that he founded its own school, where he/she became trained philosophy, mathematics and gymnastics, and, all this was surrounded by the frequent dialogues and discussions that happened in such school. The school of Plato was installed close Athens, in a well-known forest for the name of the Greek hero Academos, and, thanks to that forest, that school was known as academy, the Academy of Plato, founded in 387 B.C. and, they say that its facade brought the following demand: " That here doesn't enter who doesn't go geometra ".

Plato had as base of its studies and reflections the search of something in the nature or even in the morals and in the society that was eternal and unalterable, that is to say, he wanted to find a reality, so to speak, that was eternal and unalterable. Thus, the ideas of Plato left of the point that, actually, they existed two different realities that they involved everything, being them well-known as the World of the Ideas and the World of the Senses. For we could understand that philosopher's theory easily, I will count one of the works writings now for Plato, known as The Allegory of the Cave. For that, imagine a cave. Now, imagine that, in front of her entrance there is a lit bonfire that illuminates its interior and, imagine that, inside of the cave several people that are chained in the way ground exist they be she arrested looking at for the fund of the same, without could turn to look at in way some the entrance of the cave, being like this destined to see such a fund for the rest of its lives. But, between the bonfire and the entrance a wall exists and, behind of that wall, between him and the bonfire, a highway exists. During the whole day, people go on top by that highway with several statuettes and representations of animals and other things of its heads, so that only those representations appear of the other side of the wall, the side that is turned for the entrance. With that, those representations form shades that are projected in the fund of the cave, where the people are arrested. Well then, those people that are arrested they can only see the shades of the things that are projected and, since they are there arrested the whole life, for them, those shades are the reality. But, in a certain day, one of those arrested people is gotten to loosen of the currents that he arrests it and, finally, he leaves the cave. In a first moment, its eyes are obscured by the strong sunshine, but, little by little, that person gets used with the light and she starts to notice and to observe the world that existed outside, that was much more perfect and beautiful than the reality of the shades that the people of the cave lived. Amazed with everything that saw and with the conclusion that took that was the true reality, that person decides to return to the cave to count its discoveries and to show the truth for the people. But, when counting his discoveries and conclusions, the other people that there lived since they were born they don't accept what that person said and they end up killing it.

Starting from that allegory, we can notice the differences between The World of the Ideas and the World of the Senses. The World of the Ideas, in the case of the allegory, is where the world the fugitive of the cave it was. That world is also known by world of the perfect, eternal and unalterable ideas. It is in that world that they are the calls " images pattern " or " perfect " ideas of all the things that exist in the world of the senses, that because all the things that exist in the world of the senses were made starting from the perfect ideas of whole to existent things in the World of the Ideas. He said that, those existent ideas in that world are eternal and unalterable, because they always existed and they will always exist, since they are perfect and they are starting from them that all the other things are made in the physical world in that lived.

Already the World of the Senses, also well-known as World of the Shades, in the allegory, it is nothing else than the cave and the images projected in the fund of the same. Already if referring to our reality, that world would be the world in that lived, that it is formed of imperfect, not well defined things, as shades of a true reality. Thus, the things of that world flow and they are not eternal and unalterable, since they are done of matter, they are physical bodies, that wear away or they die one day, and, such things are nothing else than copies infidels of its perfect, eternal and unalterable ideas that existed in the World of the Ideas.

Giving an example on the thought of Plato on those two worlds, it is enough to say that, for example, the horse that see it is a physical body that flows, therefore it is born, it grows and it dies. But, that horse was made starting from a perfect idea of horse (existent in the World of the Ideas), that is to say, he was already made starting from a form defined of horse.

A position, or same conviction, that Plato took and that is extremely coherent to its theory of the ideas it was of trusting just in the reason and never in the senses. That because the knowledge and the information that we arrived starting from the senses are imprecise and they vary of person for person, thus, to find and to feel is imprecise things. What already became aware with base in the reason it doesn't vary of person for person, but they are the same, because the reason is the same for all the people, since she is eternal and universal. To explain better, it is enough to say that can only have uncertain opinions on that that we felt or we noticed with the senses, but we can have a safe position on that that we determined starting from the reason.

Starting from that position of Plato it is easy to understand that he liked so much of mathematics because, to solve it, it is always used the reason, and its answers are always necessary and common for all the people, being also eternally the same ones.

Another thought of Plato was that the man, as the reality, was a to be dual, formed by two different parts. One of them is the physical body, that flows and that is endowed with senses, that, I eat we already saw, they are imprecise. Thus, that body is intimately linked to the World of the Senses. The other part of our body is already our soul, that, second Plato is immortal, because she would have come from the world of the ideas, and it is lived of the reason and, for all this and also for not being material, the soul is gotten to communicate as world of the Ideas.

Following that theory of the immortal soul of Plato, he said that our soul, that had come from the world of the ideas, brought with her the perfect ideas of that world, but, when this vineyard for the World of the Senses, she forgot about the whole knowledge that had gotten in that other world. But, in the form of an extraordinary process, second Plato, as the people went entering in contact with the things of the nature, its soul went recollecting of the perfect ideas of the respective things that one day knew, what woke up it a " loving " desire to come back its habitation, of coming back to the World of the perfect thing. Thus, Plato said that that happened with the philosophers' soul that, after recollecting of some perfect ideas, he fell in love with the knowledge and he did with that the philosopher of that wings its soul, for like this to fly in search of the knowledge, in the longing of the soul of returning its habitation. Already the common people, unlike the philosophers, did with that its souls if they habituated with the things of the sensitive world, and, like this, not waking up in its souls the will of coming back its habitation and being alienated in a false reality.

Well, Plato, besides being interested for philosophy and mathematics, was also interested in politics. Its main ideas in that field were the one of the creation of a State based on the organization of a body and the one of the woman's position in the society. About the creation of a republic, Plato thought this should be structured as the human body so that she worked well. Thus, the head would seriate the rulers, that should be philosophers; the chest would already be them sentries, the guards, the army; The workers would already be the low-womb of that republic, that everything determined starting from the part of the body, proceeded by the virtue of the same and for its performance in the a man's soul, as it is demonstrated below in the table:

Already on the women, Plato thought they were the same right that the man, that is to say, they had the same mental capacities that the man and, that, being enough them to receive the same formation that the man and that were liberated of the domestic works. Besides, since they would be the same as the men, they could govern a State in the same way that them.

Well, dear friends, that was Plato, other great philosopher of the history of our world (it is him eternal, imprecise, unalterable or imperfect!!!!).

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