Plato

Athenian philosopher, founder of the Academy, student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. The dialogues are the seam through which most of the Socratic question reaches us.

Works

• c. 375 BC

  Dialogue

  Republic

  Plato's central dialogue. A long argument about justice that becomes a long argument about everything: the soul, the city, education, art, and the form of the Good. The cave allegory sits in the middle of it.

• c. 370 BC

  Dialogue

  Phaedrus

  Plato's dialogue on rhetoric, love, and writing. Contains the famous critique of the written word — that writing weakens memory and gives the appearance of wisdom without the substance.