關於
Plato (c. 428/423–348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher and, alongside his teacher Socrates and his student Aristotle, one of the founders of Western philosophy. After Socrates' execution he wrote dialogues that dramatized his teacher's method while developing his own metaphysics, and around the 380s BC he founded the Academy in Athens, a school that endured for centuries. His Theory of Forms holds that the changing physical world we perceive is a shadow of a higher realm of unchanging, perfect Forms — the target of the Republic's Allegory of the Cave, in which prisoners mistake shadows on a wall for reality itself. The Republic and the Symposium ask what justice, the good, and beauty really are beneath their appearances, treating philosophy as the discipline that pulls the mind from appearance toward the real. Almost uniquely among ancient authors, his complete works survive.
主要貢獻
- Founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first institutions of higher learning in the Western world
- Developed the Theory of Forms, positing an unchanging realm of perfect essences behind the changing physical world
- Wrote the Republic, using the Allegory of the Cave to distinguish mere appearance from underlying reality
- Wrote the Symposium, exploring the nature of beauty and love through competing speeches
- Preserved and dramatized Socrates' method of inquiry, shaping the dialogue form as a mode of philosophy
思想連結
蘇格拉底
受其影響雅典哲學家・提問者
我們以為自己知道的蘇格拉底，幾乎全都經過他的學生柏拉圖之手；柏拉圖讓他成為幾乎每一篇對話錄的發言者，徹底到學界把這團糾結稱為「蘇格拉底問題」。柏拉圖承接了那套方法——不斷追問「它究竟是什麼？」，直到篤定的答案自行瓦解——也承接了一個信念：哲學發生在兩個人之間，而不是紙頁上。蘇格拉底在哪裡結束、柏拉圖從哪裡開始，是「作者借角色之口說話」最古老、至今未解的案例。
en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org
Aristotle
影響了他/她Philosopher & Founder of the Lyceum
亞里斯多德十七歲進入學院，一直待到柏拉圖過世，前後將近二十年；之後他用一整個學術生涯，把理型從天上拉回地面。他對理型論最尖銳的一句話，同時也是最深情的一句：提出理型的人是我們的朋友，但為了真理，即使是親近之物也該捨棄。西方哲學的第一份重大遺產，是一位學生與老師的爭論，而爭的是：真實究竟在世界之上，還是就在個別事物之中。
plato.stanford.edu · Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics I.6, 1096a11–17
Plotinus
影響了他/她Philosopher & Founder of Neoplatonism
普羅提諾並不認為自己創立了什麼；「新柏拉圖主義」是現代人加上的標籤。他把自己的工作理解為詮釋：柏拉圖早已奠定了根本，哲學家的任務是把它們完整地展開。超越存有的「太一」、靈魂轉身回望其源頭、藉沉思而上升——這些都把《理想國》的「善」與《會飲篇》的階梯，讀成同一套形上學。
plato.stanford.edu
John Vervaeke
影響了他/她認知科學家與哲學家
韋爾維克直接點名——斯賓諾莎與柏拉圖是「對我影響極大的兩個人」——而這份債貫穿整個計畫。美諾悖論，你如何去尋找一個你還不知道該怎麼認出的東西，正是「相關性實現」被建構出來要回答的謎題；洞穴寓言提供了《從意義危機中醒來》從雅典一路追到當代的兩個世界圖像；對話錄則提供了方法：真理只能回顧地被知道，經由一段自我超越的過程。一位認知科學家，不把柏拉圖讀成教條，而讀成一套實踐的生態，然後試著把它重建起來。
youtube.com · youtube.com
