Plato
Learning to see beyond appearances.
A philosopher and writer of dialogues, Plato puts thought on stage. Justice, love, knowledge and education become questions explored with speakers who do not always agree. His texts resist being reduced to a collection of final answers.
How can we recognise truth and justice beyond what seems obvious?
Biography
Born into a privileged Athenian milieu, Plato saw war, political upheaval and Socrates’ condemnation unsettle his city. He made dialogue a major literary and philosophical form and founded the Academy. His life is unevenly documented: anecdotes and letters attributed to him need to be treated with caution.
02 /Philosophy
An opinion can be true without its holder being able to give an account of it. The dialogues explore what makes knowledge secure: justification, intelligibility and its relationship to its object. This inquiry develops differently across the texts and does not always reach a settled definition.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
Leaving the cave, returning to the city
Connect the famous image of the cave with Republic’s political project. The question is not only who sees truly, but what that understanding obliges someone to do.
RepublicWhat desire makes us seek
Read Symposium as a conversation with several voices rather than a single formula about love. Eros brings lack, beauty, education and the wish to endure into speech.
SymposiumThinking about the soul through argument
Enter Phaedo through its proposed proofs, objections and dramatic setting. Socrates’ serenity does not replace examination of what he claims.
Phaedo