Plato
Socrates's student, the author who shaped Western philosophy more than any other single writer.
Origin
Plato (c. 428–348 BCE) founded the Academy in Athens, the first sustained institution of higher learning in the West. He wrote in dialogues — Socrates is usually the lead speaker, which is why we have any Socrates at all. The Republic, the Symposium, and the Phaedo set the agenda for two thousand years of arguments about justice, beauty, love, and the soul. Alfred North Whitehead's line is the standard summary: 'the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.'
Modern usage
Invoked as the original abstract thinker — 'Platonic' love means non-sexual, 'Platonic ideal' means the perfect form behind imperfect instances. His cave allegory ([[platos-cave]]) is the most-cited philosophical image of the last decade thanks to The Matrix and 'simulation theory' takes.
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