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101-525: The Tablet is now regarded as of Roman rather than Egyptian origin, dating to some time in the first century CE. Little is known of its subsequent history until after the sack of Rome in 1527 , when Cardinal Bembo acquired it from a certain locksmith or ironworker into whose hands it had fallen. After Bembo's death in 1547, the Tablet was acquired by the Gonzaga rulers of Mantua , remaining in their museum until

202-486: A Platonist or Pythagorean, in that such a one would have "the viewpoint of logical simplicity as an indispensable and effective tool of his research." British philosopher Alfred N. Whitehead is often misquoted of uttering the famous saying of "All of Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato." Many recent philosophers have also diverged from what some would describe as ideals characteristic of traditional Platonism. Friedrich Nietzsche notoriously attacked Plato's "idea of

303-493: A belief in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues end with long speeches imagining the afterlife . In the Timaeus , Socrates locates the parts of the soul within the human body: Reason is located in the head, spirit in the top third of the torso , and the appetite in the middle third of the torso, down to the navel . Furthermore, Plato evinces a belief in the theory of reincarnation in multiple dialogues (such as

404-459: A center of Italian High Renaissance culture and patronage, and the main destination for any European artist eager for fame and wealth, thanks to the prestigious commissions of the papal court. In the sack, Rome suffered depopulation and economic collapse, sending artists and writers elsewhere. The city's population dropped from over 55,000 before the attack to 10,000 afterward. An estimated 6,000 to 12,000 people were murdered. Among those who died in

505-400: A descendant of two kings, Codrus and Melanthus . His mother was Perictione , descendant of Solon , a statesman credited with laying the foundations of Athenian democracy . Plato had two brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus , a sister, Potone , and a half brother, Antiphon. Plato may have travelled to Italy, Sicily , Egypt, and Cyrene . At 40, he founded a school of philosophy,

606-489: A different doctrine with respect to Forms to Plato and Socrates. Aristotle suggests that Socrates' idea of forms can be discovered through investigation of the natural world, unlike Plato's Forms that exist beyond and outside the ordinary range of human understanding. The Socratic problem concerns how to reconcile these various accounts. The precise relationship between Plato and Socrates remains an area of contention among scholars. Although Socrates influenced Plato directly,

707-483: A fellow disciple of Plato. A variety of sources have given accounts of Plato's death. One story, based on a mutilated manuscript, suggests Plato died in his bed, whilst a young Thracian girl played the flute to him. Another tradition suggests Plato died at a wedding feast. The account is based on Diogenes Laërtius's reference to an account by Hermippus, a third-century Alexandrian. According to Tertullian , Plato simply died in his sleep. According to Philodemus, Plato

808-571: A few people were capable or interested in following a reasoned philosophical discourse, but men in general are attracted by stories and tales. Consequently, then, he used the myth to convey the conclusions of the philosophical reasoning. Notable examples include the story of Atlantis , the Myth of Er , and the Allegory of the Cave . When considering the taxonomic definition of mankind , Plato proposed

909-477: A participant in any of the dialogues, and with the exception of the Apology , there is no suggestion that he heard any of the dialogues firsthand. Some dialogues have no narrator but have a pure "dramatic" form, some dialogues are narrated by Socrates himself, who speaks in the first person. The Symposium is narrated by Apollodorus, a Socratic disciple, apparently to Glaucon. Apollodorus assures his listener that he

1010-515: A perceived Medicean golden age had passed. The city did not recover its population losses until approximately 1560. A power shift – away from the Pope, toward the Emperor – also produced lasting consequences for Catholicism. After learning of the sack, Emperor Charles professed great embarrassment that his troops had imprisoned Pope Clement. However, though he had wanted to avoid destruction within

1111-513: A perfectly normal name, and "the common practice of naming a son after his grandfather was reserved for the eldest son", not Plato. According to Debra Nails, Plato's grandfather was the Aristocles who was archon in 605/4. Plato was born in Athens or Aegina , between 428 and 423 BC. He was a member of an aristocratic and influential family. His father was Ariston, who may have been

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1212-470: A ransom was paid to the pillagers. Benvenuto Cellini , eyewitness to the events, described the sack in his works. It was not until February 1528 that the spread of a plague and the approach of the League forces under Odet de Foix forced the army to withdraw towards Naples from the city. Rome's population had dropped from 55,000 to 10,000 due to the atrocities, famine, an outbreak of plague, and flight from

1313-742: A threat to the papal power. Clement VII formed an alliance with Charles V's arch-enemy, King Francis I of France , which came to be known as the League of Cognac . Apart from the Pope and the King of France, the League also included the Duchy of Milan , the Republic of Venice , the Republic of Genoa , and the Florence of the Medici . The League began hostilities in 1526 by attacking the Republic of Siena , but

1414-419: A tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the individual soul. The appetite/spirit/reason are analogous to the castes of society. According to Socrates, a state made up of different kinds of souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy (rule by the best) to a timocracy (rule by the honourable), then to an oligarchy (rule by the few), then to a democracy (rule by

1515-466: A two-footed altar, as in the Hieroglyphicks of the brazen Table of Bembus will hardly decline all thought of Christian signality in them." Kircher's speculations were used by several occultists, including Eliphas Levi , William Wynn Westcott and Manly P. Hall , as a key to interpreting the " Book of Thoth " or Tarot . Platonistic writer Thomas Taylor even claimed that this tablet formed

1616-493: Is a central figure in the history of Western philosophy . Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years—unlike that of nearly all of his contemporaries. Although their popularity has fluctuated, they have consistently been read and studied through the ages. Through Neoplatonism , he also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy . In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of

1717-815: Is already implicitly known, or at exposing the contradictions and muddles of an opponent's position." Karl Popper , on the other hand, claims that dialectic is the art of intuition for "visualising the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas, of unveiling the Great Mystery behind the common man's everyday world of appearances". During the early Renaissance, the Greek language and, along with it, Plato's texts were reintroduced to Western Europe by Byzantine scholars. Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive. In September or October 1484 Filippo Valori and Francesco Berlinghieri printed 1025 copies of Ficino's translation, using

1818-482: Is also referenced by Jewish philosopher and Talmudic scholar Maimonides in his The Guide for the Perplexed . The works of Plato were again revived at the times of Islamic Golden ages with other Greek contents through their translation from Greek to Arabic. Neoplatonism was revived from its founding father, Plotinus. Neoplatonism, a philosophical current that permeated Islamic scholarship, accentuated one facet of

1919-502: Is by no means universally accepted, though Plato's works are still often characterized as falling at least roughly into three groups stylistically. Plato's unwritten doctrines are, according to some ancient sources, the most fundamental metaphysical teaching of Plato, which he disclosed only orally, and some say only to his most trusted fellows, and which he may have kept secret from the public, although many modern scholars doubt these claims. A reason for not revealing it to everyone

2020-502: Is partially discussed in Phaedrus where Plato criticizes the written transmission of knowledge as faulty, favouring instead the spoken logos : "he who has knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words, which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth effectually." It is, however, said that Plato once disclosed this knowledge to

2121-412: Is recounting the story, which took place when he himself was an infant, not from his own memory, but as remembered by Aristodemus, who told him the story years ago. The Theaetetus is also a peculiar case: a dialogue in dramatic form embedded within another dialogue in dramatic form. Some scholars take this as an indication that Plato had by this date wearied of the narrated form. In most of the dialogues,

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2222-427: Is virtue. In the Republic , Plato poses the question, "What is justice?" and by examining both individual justice and the justice that informs societies, Plato is able not only to inform metaphysics, but also ethics and politics with the question: "What is the basis of moral and social obligation?" Plato's well-known answer rests upon the fundamental responsibility to seek wisdom, wisdom which leads to an understanding of

2323-535: The Gorgias and his ambivalence toward rhetoric expressed in the Phaedrus . But other contemporary researchers contest the idea that Plato despised rhetoric and instead view his dialogues as a dramatization of complex rhetorical principles. Plato made abundant use of mythological narratives in his own work; It is generally agreed that the main purpose for Plato in using myths was didactic. He considered that only

2424-538: The Laws features Socrates, although many dialogues, including the Timaeus and Statesman , feature him speaking only rarely. Leo Strauss notes that Socrates' reputation for irony casts doubt on whether Plato's Socrates is expressing sincere beliefs. Xenophon 's Memorabilia and Aristophanes 's The Clouds seem to present a somewhat different portrait of Socrates from the one Plato paints. Aristotle attributes

2525-614: The Academy . It was located in Athens, on a plot of land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus , named after an Attic hero in Greek mythology . The Academy operated until it was destroyed by Sulla in 84 BC. Many philosophers studied at the Academy, the most prominent being Aristotle. According to Diogenes Laërtius , throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of

2626-522: The Herculaneum papyri , corroborates the claim that Plato was named for his "broad forehead". Seneca the Younger , writing hundreds of years after Plato's death, writes "His very name was given him because of his broad chest." According to the traditional story, Plato was originally named after his paternal grandfather, supposedly called Aristocles; the name "Plato" was only used as a nickname; and

2727-613: The Imperial army (14,000 Germans , including Lutherans , 6,000 Spaniards and some Italians ) were largely unpaid. Despite being ordered not to storm the city, they broke into the scarcely defended city and began looting, killing, and holding citizens for ransom without any restraint. Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo after the Swiss Guard were annihilated in a delaying rear guard action; he remained there until

2828-531: The Meno , Socrates uses a geometrical example to expound Plato's view that knowledge in this latter sense is acquired by recollection. Socrates elicits a fact concerning a geometrical construction from a slave boy, who could not have otherwise known the fact (due to the slave boy's lack of education). The knowledge must be of, Socrates concludes, an eternal, non-perceptible Form. Plato also discusses several aspects of epistemology . In several dialogues, Socrates inverts

2929-452: The Phaedo and Timaeus ). Scholars debate whether he intends the theory to be literally true, however. He uses this idea of reincarnation to introduce the concept that knowledge is a matter of recollection of things acquainted with before one is born, and not of observation or study. Keeping with the theme of admitting his own ignorance, Socrates regularly complains of his forgetfulness. In

3030-663: The Protestant Reformation , which was spreading throughout Germany. Charles advocated for calling a Church Council to settle the matter. Clement opposed this, believing that monarchs shouldn't dictate Church policy; and also fearing a revival of conciliarism , which had exacerbated the Western Schism during the 14th–15th centuries, and deposed numerous Popes. Clement advocated fighting a Holy War to unite Christendom. Charles opposed this because his armies and treasury were occupied in fighting other wars. After

3131-665: The Renaissance , George Gemistos Plethon brought Plato's original writings to Florence from Constantinople in the century of its fall. Many of the greatest early modern scientists and artists who broke with Scholasticism , with the support of the Plato-inspired Lorenzo (grandson of Cosimo), saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for progress in the arts and sciences. The 17th century Cambridge Platonists , sought to reconcile Plato's more problematic beliefs, such as metempsychosis and polyamory, with Christianity. By

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3232-773: The Scholastic philosophers referred to Aristotle as "the Philosopher". The only Platonic work known to western scholarship was Timaeus , until translations were made after the fall of Constantinople , which occurred during 1453. However, the study of Plato continued in the Byzantine Empire , the Caliphates during the Islamic Golden Age , and Spain during the Golden age of Jewish culture . Plato

3333-627: The justified true belief definition in the Theaetetus , concluding that justification (or an "account") would require knowledge of difference , meaning that the definition of knowledge is circular . In the Sophist , Statesman , Republic , Timaeus , and the Parmenides , Plato associates knowledge with the apprehension of unchanging Forms and their relationships to one another (which he calls "expertise" in dialectic), including through

3434-457: The metaphysical tradition that strongly influenced Plato and continues today. Heraclitus viewed all things as continuously changing , that one cannot "step into the same river twice" due to the ever-changing waters flowing through it, and all things exist as a contraposition of opposites. According to Diogenes Laërtius, Plato received these ideas through Heraclitus' disciple Cratylus . Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary vision, arguing for

3535-435: The "twin pillars of Platonism" as the theory of Forms, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the doctrine of immortality of the soul. In the dialogues Socrates regularly asks for the meaning of a general term (e. g. justice, truth, beauty), and criticizes those who instead give him particular examples, rather than the quality shared by all examples. "Platonism" and its theory of Forms (also known as 'theory of Ideas') denies

3636-464: The 19th century, Plato's reputation was restored, and at least on par with Aristotle's. Plato's influence has been especially strong in mathematics and the sciences. Plato's resurgence further inspired some of the greatest advances in logic since Aristotle, primarily through Gottlob Frege . Albert Einstein suggested that the scientist who takes philosophy seriously would have to avoid systematization and take on many different roles, and possibly appear as

3737-571: The 1st century AD: Axiochus , Definitions , Demodocus , Epigrams , Eryxias , Halcyon , On Justice , On Virtue , Sisyphus . No one knows the exact order Plato's dialogues were written in, nor the extent to which some might have been later revised and rewritten. The works are usually grouped into Early (sometimes by some into Transitional ), Middle , and Late period; The following represents one relatively common division amongst developmentalist scholars. Whereas those classified as "early dialogues" often conclude in aporia ,

3838-728: The Basilica were massacred, and only 42 survived. This group of 42, under the command of Hercules Goldli, managed to stave off the Habsburg troops pursuing the Pope's entourage as it made its way across the Passetto di Borgo , a secure elevated passage that connects the Vatican City to Castel Sant'Angelo . After the execution of some 1,000 defenders of the Papal capital and shrines, the pillage began. Churches and monasteries, as well as

3939-608: The Catholic Church. However, by 1545, the moment for reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants – arguably a possibility during the 1520s, given cooperation between the Pope and Emperor – had passed. In assessing the effects of the Sack of Rome, Martin Luther commented: "Christ reigns in such a way that the Emperor who persecutes Luther for the Pope is forced to destroy the Pope for Luther" (LW 49:169). In commemoration of

4040-460: The European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." There is a traditional story that Plato ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Πλάτων , Plátōn , from Ancient Greek : πλατύς , romanized :  platys , lit.   'broad') is a nickname . According to Diogenes Laërtius, writing hundreds of years after Plato's death, his birth name

4141-755: The Form of the Good. Plato views "The Good" as the supreme Form, somehow existing even "beyond being". In this manner, justice is obtained when knowledge of how to fulfill one's moral and political function in society is put into practice. The dialogues also discuss politics. Some of Plato's most famous doctrines are contained in the Republic as well as in the Laws and the Statesman . Because these opinions are not spoken directly by Plato and vary between dialogues, they cannot be straightforwardly assumed as representing Plato's own views. Socrates asserts that societies have

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4242-564: The Forms are the causes of everything else, he [i.e. Plato] supposed that their elements are the elements of all things. Accordingly, the material principle is the Great and Small [i.e. the Dyad], and the essence is the One ( τὸ ἕν ), since the numbers are derived from the Great and Small by participation in the One". "From this account it is clear that he only employed two causes: that of the essence, and

4343-626: The Forms were the truths of geometry , such as the Pythagorean theorem . The theory of Forms is first introduced in the Phaedo dialogue (also known as On the Soul ), wherein Socrates disputes the pluralism of Anaxagoras , then the most popular response to Heraclitus and Parmenides. For Plato, as was characteristic of ancient Greek philosophy, the soul was that which gave life. Plato advocates

4444-542: The Islamic context, Neoplatonism facilitated the integration of Platonic philosophy with mystical Islamic thought, fostering a synthesis of ancient philosophical wisdom and religious insight. Inspired by Plato's Republic, Al-Farabi extended his inquiry beyond mere political theory, proposing an ideal city governed by philosopher-kings . Many of these commentaries on Plato were translated from Arabic into Latin and as such influenced Medieval scholastic philosophers. During

4545-451: The Qur’anic conception of God—the transcendent—while seemingly neglecting another—the creative. This philosophical tradition, introduced by Al-Farabi and subsequently elaborated upon by figures such as Avicenna , postulated that all phenomena emanated from the divine source. It functioned as a conduit, bridging the transcendental nature of the divine with the tangible reality of creation. In

4646-737: The Swiss Guard's bravery in defending Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome, recruits to the Swiss Guard are sworn in on 6 May every year. Swedish power metal band Sabaton wrote the song "The Last Stand" about the defense of the Vatican and the Pope by the Swiss guards for their album The Last Stand . 41°50′N 12°30′E  /  41.833°N 12.500°E  / 41.833; 12.500 Plato Plato ( / ˈ p l eɪ t oʊ / PLAY -toe ; Greek : Πλάτων, Plátōn , born c.  428-423 BC, died 348 BC),

4747-661: The Tutelary spirits in the Bembine Table". Seventeenth century scholars of comparative religion such as Kircher and Browne attempted to reconcile the wisdom of antiquity with Christianity, the Bembine Tablet was interpreted as a vehicle for such syncretic thought; thus Browne proposes in his discourse: "Though he that considereth........ the crosse erected upon a pitcher diffusing streams of water into two basins, with sprinkling branches in them, and all described upon

4848-629: The altar before which Plato stood as he received initiation within a subterranean hall in the Great Pyramid of Giza . According to modern scholarly consensus, the Mensa Isiaca was made in the second half of the first century CE in Rome, perhaps as a decorative piece for the local Isis cult. The artist, who did not understand hieroglyphs at all, seems to have used parts of a real Greco-Roman period text; by changing signs and garbling sections of

4949-633: The capture of the city in 1630 by Ferdinand II 's troops. It then passed through various hands until the French conquest of Italy in 1797. Alexandre Lenoir mentioned in 1809 that it was on exhibition in the Bibliothèque Nationale . After Napoleon's downfall it was returned to Italy to become a central exhibit in what is now the Museo Egizio at Turin, where it has remained. The tablet was made of bronze with enamel and silver inlay,

5050-486: The causation of good and of evil". The most important aspect of this interpretation of Plato's metaphysics is the continuity between his teaching and the Neoplatonic interpretation of Plotinus or Ficino which has been considered erroneous by many but may in fact have been directly influenced by oral transmission of Plato's doctrine. A modern scholar who recognized the importance of the unwritten doctrine of Plato

5151-410: The central figure is recognisable as Isis , suggesting that the Tablet originated in some Roman centre of her worship. One of the earliest scholars to study the tablet was Pierio Valeriano Bolzani , who may have seen it before it became generally known after the sack of 1527. His Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Aegyptiorum litteris commentarii seems to have been composed earlier than that, although it

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5252-491: The character of a writer were attributed to that writer even when the actual author was unknown. The works taken as genuine in antiquity but are now doubted by at least some modern scholars are: Alcibiades I (*), Alcibiades II (‡), Clitophon (*), Epinomis (‡), Letters (*), Hipparchus (‡), Menexenus (*), Minos (‡), Lovers (‡), Theages (‡) The following works were transmitted under Plato's name in antiquity, but were already considered spurious by

5353-560: The city and gave refuge to some Roman citizens in his palace. The Vatican Library was saved because Philibert had set up his headquarters there. After three days of ravages, Philibert ordered the soldiers to stop pillaging, but few heeded his words. In the meantime, Clement remained a prisoner in Castel Sant'Angelo. Francesco Maria I della Rovere and Michele Antonio of Saluzzo arrived with troops on 1 June in Monterosi , north of

5454-420: The city of Syracuse , where he attempted to replace the tyrant Dionysius , with Dionysius's brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse , whom Plato had recruited as one of his followers, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato. Plato almost faced death, but was sold into slavery. Anniceris , a Cyrenaic philosopher, bought Plato's freedom for twenty minas , and sent him home. Philodemus however states that Plato

5555-526: The city of Rome, which would damage his reputation, he had ordered troops to Italy to bring Clement under his control. Charles eventually came to terms with the Pope with the Treaty of Barcelona (1529) and the coronation of Bologna . This done, Charles molded the Church in his own image. Clement, never again to directly oppose the Emperor, rubber-stamped Charles' demands – among them naming cardinals nominated by

5656-519: The city swiftly to avoid the risk of being trapped between the besieged city and the League's army. On 6 May, the Imperial army attacked the walls at the Gianicolo and Vatican hills. The Duke was fatally wounded in the assault, allegedly shot by Benvenuto Cellini . He was wearing his famous white cloak to mark him out to his troops, which also had the unintended consequence of pointing him out as

5757-584: The city. The subsequent loss of the League army during the Siege of Naples secured a victory in the War of the League of Cognac for Charles V. The Emperor denied responsibility for the sack and came to terms again with Clement VII. On the other hand, the Sack of Rome further exacerbated religious hatred and antagonism between Catholics and Lutherans. The growing power of the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V alarmed Pope Clement VII , who perceived Charles as

5858-480: The city. Their cautious behaviour prevented them from obtaining an easy victory against the now totally undisciplined imperial troops. On 6 June, Clement VII surrendered, and agreed to pay a ransom of 400,000 ducati in exchange for his life; conditions included the cession of Parma , Piacenza , Civitavecchia , and Modena to the Holy Roman Empire (however, only the last would actually change hands). At

5959-484: The common man's intuition about what is knowable and what is real. Reality is unavailable to those who use their senses. Socrates says that he who sees with his eyes is blind. While most people take the objects of their senses to be real if anything is, Socrates is contemptuous of people who think that something has to be graspable in the hands to be real. In the Theaetetus , he says such people are eu amousoi (εὖ ἄμουσοι), an expression that means literally, "happily without

6060-547: The complete written philosophical work of Plato, based on the first century AD arrangement of Thrasyllus of Mendes . The modern standard complete English edition is the 1997 Hackett Plato: Complete Works , edited by John M. Cooper. Thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters (the Epistles ) have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, though modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of at least some of these. Jowett mentions in his Appendix to Menexenus, that works which bore

6161-410: The concept of form as distinct from matter, and that the physical world is an imitation of an eternal mathematical world. These ideas were very influential on Heraclitus, Parmenides and Plato. The two philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides , influenced by earlier pre-Socratic Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Xenophanes , departed from mythological explanations for the universe and began

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6262-487: The doctrines that would later become known as Platonism . Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas) , which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals . He was decisively influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras , Heraclitus , and Parmenides , although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself. Along with his teacher Socrates , and Aristotle , his student, Plato

6363-459: The famous Euthyphro dilemma in the dialogue of the same name: "Is the pious ( τὸ ὅσιον ) loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" ( 10a ) In the Protagoras dialogue it is argued through Socrates that virtue is innate and cannot be learned, that no one does bad on purpose, and to know what is good results in doing what is good; that knowledge

6464-422: The figures cut very shallow and the contours of most of them delineated with thin silver wire. The bases on which the figures sat were covered with silver, later torn away, and these sections are left blank in the engraved reproduction above. It is an important example of ancient metallurgy , its surface being decorated with a variety of metals including silver, gold, copper-gold alloy and various base metals. One of

6565-514: The garrison's remaining soldiers, made their last stand in the Teutonic Cemetery within the Vatican. Their captain, Kaspar Röist , was wounded and later sought refuge in his house, where Spanish soldiers killed him in front of his wife. The Swiss fought bitterly, but were hopelessly outnumbered and almost annihilated. Some survivors, accompanied by a band of refugees, fell back to the steps of St. Peter's Basilica . Those who went toward

6666-544: The good itself" along with many fundamentals of Christian morality, which he interpreted as "Platonism for the masses" in Beyond Good and Evil (1886). Martin Heidegger argued against Plato's alleged obfuscation of Being in his incomplete tome, Being and Time (1927). Karl Popper argued in the first volume of The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) that Plato's proposal for a " utopian " political regime in

6767-768: The idea of a changeless, eternal universe and the view that change is an illusion. Plato's most self-critical dialogue is the Parmenides , which features Parmenides and his student Zeno , which criticizes Plato's own metaphysical theories. Plato's Sophist dialogue includes an Eleatic stranger. These ideas about change and permanence, or becoming and Being, influenced Plato in formulating his theory of Forms. In Plato's dialogues, Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say on many subjects, including several aspects of metaphysics . These include religion and science, human nature, love, and sexuality. More than one dialogue contrasts perception and reality , nature and custom, and body and soul. Francis Cornford identified

6868-426: The influence of Pythagoras , or in a broader sense, the Pythagoreans, such as Archytas also appears to have been significant. Aristotle and Cicero both claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely followed the teachings of the Pythagoreans . According to R. M. Hare , this influence consists of three points: Pythagoras held that all things are number, and the cosmos comes from numerical principles. He introduced

6969-406: The latter; crowning Charles Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy at Bologna in 1530; and refusing to annul the marriage of Charles' beloved aunt, Catherine of Aragon , to King Henry VIII of England, prompting the English Reformation . Cumulatively, these actions changed the complexion of the Catholic Church, steering it away from Renaissance freethought personified by the Medici Popes, toward

7070-402: The leader to his enemies. With the death of their last respected leader, the common soldiery in the Imperial army lost any restraint when they easily succeeded in storming the walls of Rome the same day. Philibert of Châlon took command of the troops, but he was not as popular or feared, leaving him with little authority. In the event known as the Stand of the Swiss Guard, the Swiss, alongside

7171-446: The material cause; for the Forms are the cause of the essence in everything else, and the One is the cause of it in the Forms. He also tells us what the material substrate is of which the Forms are predicated in the case of sensible things, and the One in that of the Forms – that it is this the duality (the Dyad, ἡ δυάς ), the Great and Small ( τὸ μέγα καὶ τὸ μικρόν ). Further, he assigned to these two elements respectively

7272-734: The meaning, the author expressed doubts as to whether the images were at all meaningful. These doubts were subsequently proven well-founded. Later in the 17th century, the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher in Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652) used the tablet as a primary source for developing his translations of hieroglyphics, which are now known to be incorrect. His book was the source for the English physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne , who, in his discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) alludes to "the figures of Isis and Osyris, and

7373-497: The metals employed is black, made by alloying copper and tin with small amounts of gold and silver, and then "pickling" it in organic acid . This black metal is possibly a variety of the " Corinthian bronze " described by Pliny and Plutarch . Although the scenes are Egyptianising, they do not depict Egyptian rites. Figures are shown with non-customary attributes, making it unclear which are divinities and which kings or queens. Egyptian motifs are used without rhyme or reason. However,

7474-455: The military or financial resources to do so. To avert more warfare, Clement adopted a conciliatory policy toward Charles. The sack had major repercussions for Italian society and culture, and in particular, for Rome. Clement's War of the League of Cognac would be the last fight of some of the Italian city-states for independence until the nineteenth century. Before the sack, Rome had been

7575-405: The muses". In other words, such people are willingly ignorant, living without divine inspiration and access to higher insights about reality. Many have interpreted Plato as stating – even having been the first to write – that knowledge is justified true belief , an influential view that informed future developments in epistemology. Plato also identified problems with

7676-660: The other hand, if one derives one's account of something by way of the non-sensible Forms, because these Forms are unchanging, so too is the account derived from them. That apprehension of Forms is required for knowledge may be taken to cohere with Plato's theory in the Theaetetus and Meno . Indeed, the apprehension of Forms may be at the base of the account required for justification, in that it offers foundational knowledge which itself needs no account, thereby avoiding an infinite regression . Several dialogues discuss ethics including virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, crime and punishment, and justice and medicine. Socrates presents

7777-424: The palaces of prelates and cardinals, were looted and destroyed. Even pro-Imperial cardinals had to pay to save their properties from the rampaging soldiers. On 8 May, Cardinal Pompeo Colonna , a personal enemy of Clement VII, entered the city. He was followed by peasants from his fiefs, who had come to avenge the sacks they had suffered at the hands of the Papal armies. Colonna was touched by the pitiful conditions in

7878-650: The papal capital as a target for religious reasons. Numerous outlaws, along with the League's deserters, joined the army during its march. The Duke of Bourbon left Arezzo on 20 April 1527, taking advantage of chaos among the Venetians and their allies after a revolt broke out in Florence against Pope Clement VII's family, the Medici. His largely undisciplined troops sacked Acquapendente and San Lorenzo alle Grotte , and then occupied Viterbo and Ronciglione , reaching

7979-547: The people), and finally to tyranny (rule by one person, rule by a tyrant). Several dialogues tackle questions about art, including rhetoric and rhapsody. Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses , and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the Phaedrus , and yet in the Republic wants to outlaw Homer's great poetry, and laughter as well. Scholars often view Plato's philosophy as at odds with rhetoric due to his criticisms of rhetoric in

8080-462: The philosopher could not have been named "Plato" because that name does not occur previously in his family line. Modern scholarship tends to reject the "Aristocles" story. Plato always called himself Platon . Platon was a fairly common name (31 instances are known from Athens alone), including people named before Plato was born. Robin Waterfield states that Plato was not a nickname, but

8181-469: The primary speaker is Socrates, who employs a method of questioning which proceeds by a dialogue form called dialectic. The role of dialectic in Plato's thought is contested but there are two main interpretations: a type of reasoning and a method of intuition. Simon Blackburn adopts the first, saying that Plato's dialectic is "the process of eliciting the truth by means of questions aimed at opening out what

8282-586: The printing press  [ it ] at the Dominican convent of San Jacopo di Ripoli  [ it ] . The 1578 edition of Plato's complete works published by Henricus Stephanus ( Henri Estienne ) in Geneva also included parallel Latin translation and running commentary by Joannes Serranus ( Jean de Serres ). It was this edition which established standard Stephanus pagination , still in use today. The text of Plato as received today apparently represents

8383-420: The processes of collection and division . More explicitly, Plato himself argues in the Timaeus that knowledge is always proportionate to the realm from which it is gained. In other words, if one derives one's account of something experientially, because the world of sense is in flux, the views therein attained will be mere opinions. Meanwhile, opinions are characterized by a lack of necessity and stability. On

8484-613: The public in his lecture On the Good ( Περὶ τἀγαθοῦ ), in which the Good ( τὸ ἀγαθόν ) is identified with the One (the Unity, τὸ ἕν ), the fundamental ontological principle. The first witness who mentions its existence is Aristotle, who in his Physics writes: "It is true, indeed, that the account he gives there [i.e. in Timaeus ] of the participant is different from what he says in his so-called unwritten teachings ( Ancient Greek : ἄγραφα δόγματα , romanized :  agrapha dogmata )." In Metaphysics he writes: "Now since

8585-695: The reality of the material world, considering it only an image or copy of the real world. According to this theory of Forms, there are these two kinds of things: the apparent world of material objects grasped by the senses, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of Forms, grasped by reason ( λογική ). Plato's Forms represent types of things, as well as properties , patterns, and relations , which are referred to as objects. Just as individual tables, chairs, and cars refer to objects in this world, 'tableness', 'chairness', and 'carness', as well as e.g. justice , truth , and beauty refer to objects in another world. One of Plato's most cited examples for

8686-649: The religious orthodoxy exemplified by the Counter-Reformation . After Clement's death in 1534, under the influence of Charles and later his son King Philip II of Spain (1556–1598), the Inquisition became pervasive, and the humanism encouraged by Renaissance culture came to be viewed as contrary to the teachings of the Church. The sack also contributed to making permanent the split between Catholics and Protestants . Previously, Charles and Clement had disagreed over how to address Martin Luther and

8787-532: The sack were papal secretary Paolo Valdabarini and professor of natural history Augusto Valdo. Many Imperial soldiers also died in the aftermath, largely from diseases caused by masses of unburied corpses in the streets. Pillaging finally ended in February 1528, eight months after the initial attack, when the city's food supply ran out, there was no one left to ransom, and plague appeared. Clement would continue artistic patronage and building projects in Rome, but

8888-543: The sack, Clement acceded to Charles' wishes, agreeing to call a Church Council and naming the city of Trent, Italy as its site. He did not convene the Council of Trent during his lifetime, fearing that the event would be a dangerous power play. In 1545, eleven years after Clement's death, his successor Pope Paul III convened the Council of Trent. As Charles predicted, it reformed the corruption present in certain orders of

8989-536: The same time Venice took advantage of this situation to conquer Cervia and Ravenna , while Sigismondo Malatesta returned to Rimini . Often cited as the end of the Italian High Renaissance , the Sack of Rome impacted the histories of Europe, Italy, and Christianity, creating lasting ripple effects throughout European culture and politics. Before the sack, Pope Clement VII opposed the ambitions of Emperor Charles V. Afterward, he no longer had

9090-456: The so-called "middle dialogues" provide more clearly stated positive teachings that are often ascribed to Plato such as the theory of Forms. The remaining dialogues are classified as "late" and are generally agreed to be difficult and challenging pieces of philosophy. It should, however, be kept in mind that many of the positions in the ordering are still highly disputed, and also that the very notion that Plato's dialogues can or should be "ordered"

9191-492: The term "featherless biped", and later ζῷον πολιτικόν ( zōon politikon ), a "political" or "state-building" animal ( Aristotle 's term, based on Plato's Statesman ). Diogenes the Cynic took issue with the former definition, reportedly producing a recently plucked chicken with the exclamation of "Here is Plato’s man!" (variously translated as "Behold, a man!"; "Here is a human!" etc.). Plato never presents himself as

9292-603: The text, this resulted in an incomprehensible, purely decorative piece, of which only a few sign groups can be recognized. Sack of Rome (1527) 20,000+ (mutinous) The Sack of Rome , then part of the Papal States , followed the capture of Rome on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , during the War of the League of Cognac . Charles V only intended to threaten military action to make Pope Clement VII come to his terms. However, most of

9393-576: The time. Aside from some 6,000 Spaniards under the Duke of Bourbon, the army included some 14,000 Landsknechte under Georg von Frundsberg ; some Italian infantry led by Fabrizio Maramaldo , the powerful Italian cardinal Pompeo Colonna , and Luigi Gonzaga ; and some cavalry under the command of Ferdinando Gonzaga and Philibert , Prince of Orange . Though Martin Luther himself was against attacking Rome and Pope Clement VII, some who considered themselves followers of Luther's Protestant movement viewed

9494-403: The undertaking proved to be a failure and revealed the weakness of the troops at the Pope's disposal. The Imperial Army defeated the French army, but funds were not available to pay the soldiers. The 34,000 Imperial troops mutinied and forced their commander, Duke Charles III of Bourbon , to lead them towards Rome, which was an easy target for pillaging due to the unstable political landscape at

9595-412: The walls of Rome on 5 May. The imperial troops were 14,000 Germans, 6,000 Spanish, and an uncertain number of Italian infantry. The troops defending Rome were not very numerous: only 5,000 militiamen led by Renzo da Ceri and 189 Papal Swiss Guards . The city's defenses included the massive Aurelian Walls , and substantial artillery, which the Imperial army lacked. Charles of Bourbon needed to conquer

9696-406: Was Aristocles ( Ἀριστοκλῆς ), meaning 'best reputation'. "Platon" sounds like "Platus" or "Platos", meaning "broad", and according to Diogenes' sources, Plato gained his nickname either from his wrestling coach, Ariston of Argos, who dubbed him "broad" on account of his chest and shoulders, or he gained it from the breadth of his eloquence, or his wide forehead. Philodemus , in extracts from

9797-495: Was Heinrich Gomperz who described it in his speech during the 7th International Congress of Philosophy in 1930. All the sources related to the ἄγραφα δόγματα have been collected by Konrad Gaiser and published as Testimonia Platonica . Plato's thought is often compared with that of his most famous student, Aristotle , whose reputation during the Western Middle Ages so completely eclipsed that of Plato that

9898-636: Was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy , and was the founder of the Platonic Academy , a philosophical school in Athens where Plato taught

9999-514: Was buried in the garden of his academy in Athens, close to the sacred shrine of the Muses. In 2024, a scroll found at Herculaneum was deciphered, that confirmed some previous theories. The papyrus says that before death Plato "retained enough lucidity to critique the musician for her lack of rhythm", and that he was buried "in his designated garden in the Academy of Athens". Plato never speaks in his own voice in his dialogues ; every dialogue except

10100-399: Was published much later. The work covered the whole field of the meaning of hieroglyphics, but lacked the scholarly rigour of the antiquarian Laurentius Pignorius (1571–1631), whose Characteres Aegyptii, hoc est Sacrorum, quibus Aegyptii utuntur, simulachrorum accurata delineatio et explicatio of 1608 investigates the origin of the tablet as an archaeological object. Avoiding interpretation of

10201-609: Was sold as a slave as early as in 404 BC, when the Spartans conquered Aegina, or, alternatively, in 399 BC, immediately after the death of Socrates. After Dionysius's death, according to Plato's Seventh Letter , Dion requested Plato return to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II , who seemed to accept Plato's teachings, but eventually became suspicious of their motives, expelling Dion and holding Plato against his will. Eventually Plato left Syracuse and Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and rule Syracuse, before being usurped by Callippus ,

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