Essay on Favorite Philosopher

Philosophy has been considered the mother of all disciplines in the academic field across the world. This follows the stomping principles for exploring the concept of human understanding. Philosophy governs every action that human beings engage in. My favorite philosopher that I will discuss in this paper is Plato. Platos works explored the Justice, beauty, and equality concepts of human understanding; thus, he was appropriate for my topic. In this paper, I will explore the life, contributions, famous quotes, and ideas of Plato.

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The name of my favorite philosopher is Plato who was born in the ancient Greece around 427 B.C.E (Nails 1). Plato was born in a family of the political and social elite. This provided him with the opportunity to get an education as few people were given such privilege in the ancient world. According to Nails, Debra in The Life of Plato of Athens, Plato was best known for wrestling in the isthmian games. Therefore, he studied various subjects until he was later adopted by his teacher or mentor, Socrates. It is not possible to talk about Plato and his ideas without involving his mentor, Socrates as well. Socrates is known and well-remembered by his controversial ideas and influence on his students that led to his execution in 399 B.C.E (Nails 4). Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth and failing to abide by the rules of the society including observing the deities. However, his influence on his students like Plato was mainly to challenge what people have thought to be truth and nature.

The contributions of Plato include the Academy he founded just outside the city walls in Athens after completion of his travels in Italy, Sicily, Egypt, and Cyrene (Nails 5). In his travels, Plato came in contact with various people including the great mathematician Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides. Nails in The life of Plato of Athens, asserts that the Academy was the earliest and organized learning institution in the Western civilization. Some of his famous quotes that I can remember include Never discourage anyone.who continually makes progress, no matter how slow, I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing, good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people wind a way around the laws. I am greatly inspired by the quotes of Plato as they provide me with a different perception of looking at challenging experiences in life.

I found Platos ideas of forms quite interesting especially when it comes to distinguishing reality from fiction and imagination. Platos ideas and thoughts revolved around what he referred to as the forms. He argued that reality is divided into two parts. The first part is what he called the ideal and the second part he referred to it as phenomena. In his famous works like Republic, Plato widely explored the two concepts distinguishing reality and perception (Khan 3). Platos mystical idealism of reality and truth tend to differ from the mainstream that truth exists more clearly in the peoples minds rather than the natural world. Platos idealism discourages the attempts to understand the concept of truth through an examination of the natural world. He, like his mentor, tried to explain that only those who have strong control of the philosophical are able to make proper decisions. I am, therefore, inspired by Platos idea that good decision makers need to be rational because the truth lies beyond the world we see through our senses. Through his concept of virtue, Platos concepts have influenced my perception of the rule of law. I have learnt that one does not need to do the right thing because there is punishment as a consequence, but because it instills virtue and prevent vice (Balot 372).

Works Cited

Balot, Ryan K., ed. A companion to Greek and Roman political thought. John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Accessed on 30th May, 2017 from file:///C:/Users/Hp/Downloads/Plato_on_the_Sovereignty_of_Law.pdf

Kahn, Charles H. Plato and the Socratic dialogue: The philosophical use of a literary form. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Nails, Debra. "The life of Plato of Athens." A Companion to Plato (2006): 1-12. Accessed on 30th May, 2017 from file:///C:/Users/Hp/Downloads/The_Life_of_Plato_of_Athens.pdf