Plato
428–348 BC
Platonic·Graecia
Student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle. Plato's philosophy rests on the distinction between the world of appearances and the world of Forms — eternal, perfect patterns of which physical things are imperfect copies. His theory of anamnesis holds that the soul, immortal and pre-existing, already knows all truth. Learning is not acquisition but recollection.
Key Ideas
01
Theory of Forms — the real is eternal and immaterial
02
Anamnesis — knowledge as recollection of what the soul already knows
03
The allegory of the cave — most people see only shadows
04
Eros as philosophical ascent — love as the path toward truth