Reflections on Plato - Essay Example

In an attempt to analyze the life and ideas of Plato, this survey thus purposes to reflect on chapter 4 of the book “Living Philosophy: A Historical Introduction to philosophical ideas”.

Having been born around 428 BCE in Athens, Plato revolutionized the way of thinking both in Greece and the rest of the world. In his idea of rationalism, Plato regarded reasoning as the cornerstone source and test for knowledge. In his rationalism idea, Plato taught that there is the existence of certain truths that cannot be changed, and there is a need for intellectual understanding to identify the truths. These truths were thus believed to be the governing forces of humanity and the universe. Drawing an analogy with sleep to elaborate his viewpoint of Immortality, Morality, and the Soul, he understood immortality of the soul in terms of reincarnation. Just as a person can wake up after sleep, he believed the dead would wake up in another body (Vaughn, P. 52).

Among Plato's famous dialogues as depicted in the book “Living Philosophy: A Historical Introduction to philosophical ideas” is his notion of the Republic. He draws most of his inference of the Republic from the works of Socrates thus coming to an argument point that a republic is a society of people who are governed by justice and fulfillment in life in terms of happiness. Thus, members of the republic must all work together socially and economically to ensure every member is justly and fairly treated according to one’s contribution to the republic. Read More