![]() ![]() While Plato had high hopes that the Thirty Tyrants would restore stability, rationality, and intelligence to Athens, his hopes were dashed. So too, Plato’s great uncle, Critias, was a member of the Thirty Tyrants, an Athenian puppet government set up by Sparta after they finally emerged victorious from the Peloponnesian War. In fact, Plato’s father was a member of the oligarchic Council of 300 that, after the Athenians’ defeat at Sicily, overthrew the radically democratic assembly that was in power at the time. Being part of the powerful upper crust, they were suspicious of democracy, particularly the radical form of it encouraged by Pericles. Plato’s family and relatives were aristocrats and held prominent positions in the Athenian government. The dual scourges of war and disease destabilized an already chaotic Athens, leading to endless political power struggles, some of which involved his closest kin. Plato not only grew up witnessing the conflict between these two city-states, but also had a front row seat to the strife that roiled the citizens in his own backyard. All of Plato’s childhood and early adulthood passed under the shadow of this war, and it’s likely that Plato himself served as a cavalryman in one of its last battles. Around the same time, Athens and Sparta began the Peloponnesian War, which was waged until 404 BC. ![]() During the several years previous to his birth, a plague ravaged Athens, killing one-third of the population, including the great Athenian statesman and general, Pericles. Plato was born around 428/427 BC and entered a world in tumult. To understand Plato’s philosophy, it helps to understand his upbringing. ![]() The Political Background of Plato’s Youth While it is not exhaustive by design, it will allow those not familiar with him to gain a basic grasp of his big ideas, and enable them to better engage in the Great Conversation as it continues to unfold. For that reason, we offer this relatively short, accessible primer on Plato and his philosophy. Thus, to understand the world today, every modern citizen needs to have a basic understanding of this man who lived a couple millennia back. Over 2,000 years ago, Plato was plumbing those very same issues. And these lines of inquiry concern not just the ethical and political, but even questions cosmologists and physicists are still trying to figure out, like the nature of reality. Many of the big questions that we’re still grappling with today originated with Plato. Primogenitor of Western culture.Īs Alfred Whitehead put it so succinctly, all philosophy - all Western thought - is just “a footnote to Plato.” You can find attempts at answering these questions throughout the great works of Western philosophy, theology, and literature.Įvery conversation has a person who breaks the ice and starts the discussion, and the Great Conversation in the West is no different. What is love? What is courage? Does Truth exist? If so, how do you access it? Click here to buy.įrom antiquity to the modern day, society has been having a “Great Conversation” about the big ideas of life. This article series is now available as a professionally formatted, distraction free ebook to read offline at your leisure. ![]()
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