Plato’s Enduring Influence: Western Thought and Philosophy
Plato’s Enduring Influence
Plato’s thought has resonated across many areas and eras. His academy exerted influence for a long time, remaining so until 529 AD when Emperor Justinian ordered its closure. Consider Plato’s dualistic conception of man, a being divided into a soul that looks upward and a body trapped in the world of things. This conception has marked all of Western thought and, especially, Christian anthropology. More generally, it has influenced the concept and vision that Western man has had of himself.
Until recently, everything related to the body was frowned upon, versus spiritual occupations. Plato’s idealism has been a prototype that has been repeated throughout history. The mathematician and philosopher Descartes reproduced it in the form of rationalism. Later, in Romanticism, Hegel recreated it in the form of absolute idealism.
The Platonic valuation of mathematics was reborn with Galileo Galilei, the protagonist of the scientific revolution. One can say that Galileo defined himself as Platonic by stating that “the book of nature is written in mathematical characters.” Thus, science is the way that Plato had established: knowledge you get past the politics of mathematics.
Plato’s proposal has been the model for projects under laudable measures. Some Plato imagines have been put into practice unfortunately in very different ways. The twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of totalitarian political orders where the common good is understood as the good of all, beyond individual happiness and interests. We speak of the totalitarian regimes of Nazism, which is the most terrifying. But Plato rigorously began work on almost all issues that have nourished philosophical activity. That’s why some authors believe that philosophy is still today a dialogue with Plato.
Relationship with Other Authors
Criticism of the Aristotelian Theory of Ideas
Some of the drawbacks that Aristotle noted in Plato’s theory are as follows: if the material world around us can be explained only as an imperfect copy of the ideas, is it logical to assume that everything that exists is a perfect model in the ideal world? Then, is there an idea of bad things? For Aristotle, the existence of perfect ideas for everything bad and negative in the world is inadmissible.
If everything that exists in the world is what it is because it partakes of the corresponding idea, it is natural to consider that the essence of each thing is the idea that it participates in. For Aristotle, the essence of a thing cannot exist apart from the thing itself.
Another major drawback that Aristotle sees in Plato’s theory of ideas is that this fails to explain or give reasons for that which is most characteristic of the material world and sensitive: movement and change.
Plato and Socrates versus the Sophists
Plato will object to the Sophists. Faced with the skepticism and relativism of the Sophists, who think that not every opinion is valid, that is true and false. Both opinions are based on the idea that it is necessary and possible to find the truth. That eternal truth for Plato is derived from knowledge of the essences of getting to know ideas. For this, we need a method: the dialectics of Plato, which is based on the Socratic dialogue.