Leonardo da Vinci
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Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen (Wikimedia Commons user Jastrow), 2009, CC BY 2.5; Roman copy after Silanion, Capitoline Museums, Rome · Marble bust of Plato, a Roman copy (dated to the 1st century AD on the Commons page) of a portrait attributed to the sculptor Silanion (about 370 BCE, made for the Academy), Capitoline Museums, Rome (Centrale Montemartini), inventory MC 1377. Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen, 5 September 2009, her own work. The bust is an ancient sculptural portrait made about a century after the sitter's lifetime, so it is a later depiction and not a likeness. The file is the original 2400 x 3600 Commons photograph downscaled to 800 x 1200 with no upscaling. · CC BY 2.5 (photograph); the ancient sculpture itself is in the public domain
philosopher · Ancient
Plato
428 BCE–347 BCE
Known For
historicaleducationalliterary
Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.
Key Achievements
He wrote philosophical dialogues, among them the Republic, the Apology and the Phaedo, that are read as foundational texts of Western philosophy and set out his theory of Forms.
He founded the Academy, a school in a grove outside Athens, where he taught for the rest of his life and where Aristotle studied; the word 'academic' derives from its name.
His writing on the immortal soul, on love as a ladder of ascent and on art as imitation shaped later philosophy and Western culture.
Moments That Reveal Them
Scholars reconstruct an Academy curriculum from the Republic in which arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and harmonics prepared students for dialectic, with Plato setting problems and criticising methods rather than directing research himself.
This is consistent with a teacher who treated mathematical training as a route to philosophical inquiry. Mastery Orientation
According to Allan, his late dialogues absorb scientific ideas, such as a physiology in the Timaeus and Eudoxus's astronomy in the Laws, and use them for moral and theological arguments.
This is consistent with a thinker whose philosophical work drew on several fields of inquiry. Cross-Domain Range
Turning Points
After Socrates was executed in 399 BCE he left Athens and travelled, and on his return around 387 or 380 BCE he founded the Academy, which remained his base for the rest of his life.
This is consistent with a shift from an apprentice of Socrates to the head of his own teaching institution. Mastery Orientation
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Sources
- Plato (Q859), verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-10-31): label 'Plato', description '4th-century BCE Greek philosopher', birth given as 427, 428 and 429 BCE and death as 347 and 348 BCE (year precision), citizenship ancient Athens, Korean label 플라톤, image the Capitoline bust photograph. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 'Plato' (biography and writings sections), read in the biographical, Academy and influence sections. CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE: dates c. 428-427 to 348-347 BCE 'not entirely certain'; wealthy, politically active Athenian family; after Socrates' death he left Athens and may have visited Cyrene, Italy, Sicily and Egypt; he founded the Academy, named after a grove outside the city walls, which became his base apart from two more Sicilian trips, and the word 'academic' derives from it; he taught Aristotle; Diogenes Laertius is 'notoriously unreliable' and the Seventh Letter is the most likely letter to be authentic but is one source among others; Socratic dialogue was already a genre (Xenophon, Antisthenes) and Plato is praised for dialogue, characterisation and dramatic setting; the theory of Forms and his critique of the arts as imitation influenced later thought. Scholarly institutional reference; the praise of influence is retrospective.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 'Plato' (Richard Kraut), read through a fetched summary of the entry (the full text was not opened line by line): Plato was an Athenian citizen of high status, about 28 when Socrates was killed, Aristotle studied with him, nearly all his writings are dialogues (the Apology is the main exception, a speech of Socrates), Socrates is in nearly all of them, he 'does not himself affirm anything in his dialogues', the thirteen letters are of disputed authenticity, the division into early, middle and late dialogues is itself disputed, and philosophy as a subject 'can be called his invention'. Scholarly reference; the strongest claims are retrospective praise and are NOT scored as behaviour.
- World History Encyclopedia, 'Plato', read in full (via fetched summary): born in Athens probably c. 424/423 BCE on Waterfield's argument or traditional 428/427; aristocratic family; Diogenes Laertius 'often unreliable'; present at neither the trial nor the death of Socrates, with the Phaedo narrated by Phaedo and a report that Phaedo said Plato invented material; travels c. 398-380 BCE and later Syracuse visits; founded the Academy, 'traditionally considered the first university in the Western world' but a wooded garden near his home rather than a modern university; Aristotle his student; Speusippus succeeded him; tradition says the school lasted to Justinian's closure; critics include Diogenes of Sinope ('elitist snob' per the page) and, in modern times, Karl Popper on the Republic. Popular reference and the counter-voice source; hedged claims are not scored.
- Luc Brisson (Encyclopedia of Religion, 2005) and D. J. Allan (Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography), 'Plato', via Encyclopedia.com, first 100,000 characters read: Academy founded near a park outside Athens c. 387 or 380 BCE (date uncertain), organised as a religious fraternity of the Muses with common meals; a curriculum sketched from the Republic in which mathematics (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, harmonics) prepares for dialectic; Plato 'seems to have set problems and criticized methods rather than directly directing research'; Theaetetus, Eudoxus of Cnidus and Aristotle (from 367 BCE) in the Academy; nephew Speusippus named successor; the inscription over the Academy door is traced only to Philoponus and is doubted; late works absorb scientific ideas (Philistion's physiology in the Timaeus, Eudoxan astronomy in the Laws); works survive but their order is uncertain and the letters only partly accepted. Independent scholarly voice and the main source for the Academy's activities.
- Diogenes Laertius, 'Life of Plato' (Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 3, R. D. Hicks translation, Perseus Digital Library), read in full: a late (about 3rd century CE) compilation reporting family, name, pupilship to Socrates, journeys, the Academy, a classification of his dialogues, his will, burial in the Academy and a list of disciples including Speusippus, Xenocrates and Aristotle. Mixed with dream, name-origin and slave-sale anecdotes that are NOT used. Used only for the plain items (the Academy as his school, the will, the disciples) that scholars treat as reportage rather than legend; late and second-hand.
- Plato (attributed), 'Seventh Letter' (Perseus Digital Library, first 100,000 characters read): a first-person account of his disillusion with Athenian public life, his Sicilian journeys and his statement that he has written no treatise on his central doctrines. Authenticity is disputed (the IEP rates it the letter most likely to be genuine; the SEP says authenticity is a matter of great controversy), so it is self-report of uncertain authorship and is used only as corroboration, never as sole support for a row.