Psychology is based on the contributions of various thinkers, writers, and philosophers, such as Plato (Regader n.d.). Although born into a wealthy family, Plato's life was marked by adversity, as he was forced to leave his hometown and face slavery as a result of the ravages of war (Montagud n.d.). Despite his difficulties, in accordance with Regader (n.d.), the influence of this prominent philosopher has endured over time, and his legacy continues to impact the field of psychology.
Biography
Plato, whose real name was Aristocles of Athens, was born around 428 BC in Athens, Greece (Tovar, 2020). However, some sources suggest that he may have also been born in Aegina, another Greek city. The name "Plato," by which he is known to this day, means "the broad-shouldered one" (Tovar, 2020). According to Imaginario (n.d.), his nickname was given by his gym teacher due to his physical appearance.
Coming from a wealthy and powerful family, his father Ariston believed that their wealth was due to their descent from Codrus, the last king of Athens, while his mother Perictone had connections to important figures in Greek history such as Critias and Charmides. From the marriage of Ariston and Perictone, two sons and a daughter were born alongside Plato: Glaucon, Adimantus, and Potone (Montagud, n.d.). After the death of Ariston, his mother remarried, this time to her uncle Pyrilampes, a politician of great importance in Greek history. According to Montagud (n.d.), from the union of Pyrilampes and Perictone, Plato's half-brother Antiphon was born.
As a member of the Athenian aristocracy, Plato received an education befitting the upper class, which primarily included gymnastics and poetry (Regader, n.d.). He began his philosophical studies as a disciple of Cratylus, a follower of Heraclitus, but it was with Socrates, whom he met in 407 BC, that he had a crucial encounter and became his teacher. According to Tovar (2020), at that time Socrates was 63 years old, and his teachings extended for approximately 8 years until his death.
After Socrates' death sentence, Plato was forced to flee to Megara to avoid unjust judgment (Montagud, n.d.). During his stay there, he associated with Euclides of Megara and the local school of philosophy (Montagud, n.d.). Subsequently, he traveled to Egypt, the region of Cyrene, and then to Italy, where he met Archytas of Tarentum, a polymath who claimed to be a mathematician, statesman, astronomer, and philosopher. However, according to Montagud (n.d.), there are sources that believe that after being in Cyrene, he traveled to Athens.
Around 388 BC, he traveled to Sicily, where he met Dion, the brother-in-law of the monarch Dionysius I, who invited him to his palace in Syracuse (Montagud, n.d.). However, for unknown reasons, Plato was expelled and became a slave in Aegina due to the war between Aegina and Athens. Montagud (n.d.) recounts that fortunately, he was rescued by Anniceris, a philosopher from the Cyrenaic school.
Plato returned to Athens around 387 BC and founded The Academy, a philosophical school that became a model for later universities (Montagud, n.d.). Plato returned to Athens in 387 BC and founded The Academy, a philosophical school that became a model for later universities (Montagud, n.d.). The Academy, located on the outskirts of Athens and named after Academus, had student residences, a library, classrooms, and specialized seminars (Montagud, n.d.). Aristotle was one of its members for 20 years (Meinwald, 2020). According to Tovar (2020), Plato was immersed in this dynamic for the next twenty years of his life.
In 367 BC, Dionysius I of Syracuse died, leaving the throne to his son Dionysius II (Montagud, n.d.). Dionysius decided that Plato should return to Syracuse to become the tutor of the new king. Despite being previously expelled, Plato accepted the offer and left Eudoxus in charge of The Academy (Montagud, n.d.; Tovar, 2020). However, according to Montagud (n.d.), Dionysius II distrusted Plato and Dion, considering them a threat to his throne, so he banished both of them.
Therefore, Plato returned to Athens and stayed there until 361 BC, when Dionysius II invited him again (Montagud, n.d.). This time, Plato was cautious and brought some disciples with him, leaving Heraclides Ponticus in charge of The Academy. Dionysius II saw Plato once again as a threat and tried to capture him, but he was rescued by Archytas of Tarentum. From then on, according to Montagud (n.d.), Plato dedicated himself fully to the leadership of The Academy until his death in 348 or 347 BC.
Platonic dialogues and the writings of Aristotle are the most important philosophical works in the Western world (Balmore, 2018). The narrative used by Plato allowed for the expression of Socratic thoughts and later, Platonic ideas (Tovar, 2020). In Athens, Plato began to lecture at the Academy Gymnasium and founded the famous Academy, which lasted until the 6th century (Guerri, n.d.). It was there that he started writing the Dialogues, which became the foundation of his philosophical doctrines (Guerri, n.d.). Among the ideas presented in the dialogues, perhaps the most important is Plato's Theory of Ideas or Forms (Balmore, 2018). However, he also addresses topics such as friendship, courage, piety, love, beauty, morality, among others.
Plato employs the term "dialectic" in his works to refer to a philosophical method based on dialogue and discussion (Meinwald, 2020). This approach, derived from the Greek term "dialegesthai," meaning to converse, reflects the central idea of the philosophical project (Meinwald, 2020). Unlike other forms of philosophical thinking, the dialogic method allows for the debate of different thematic perspectives with the aim of uncovering truth (Tovar, 2020). This technique challenges Plato's idealistic character by thoroughly exploring the raised topics. In line with Tovar (2020), this approach provided philosophy with a dialectical and narrative foundation, avoiding mere exposition of postulates and abstract ideas and allowing their application in reality.
According to Plato, reality is not absolute, and he based a significant part of his contributions on the theory of ideas (Tovar, 2020). Plato referred to forms or ideas as unchanging objects of knowledge (Regader n.d.). Therefore, each object has a corresponding form in language, such as "cat" or "round." For Plato, perceived objects are imperfect copies of these forms since they are constantly changing and depend on the perceiver (Regader n.d.). In other words, words refer to the ideal versions of things, not the things themselves (Tovar, 2020). As stated by Tovar (2020), it was the duty of each individual to strive for the ideal state of things through knowledge.
Plato associated the concept of ideas with universal elements representing permanent truths (Montagud n.d.). According to Plato, ideas are abstract and well-defined concepts, such as virtue, beauty, balance, and reality (Montagud n.d.). An example of this is the metaphor of the divided line in The Republic, which is divided into four unequal segments (Regader n.d.). As mentioned by Regader (n.d.), this line is divided into two major segments representing the world of appearances or the sensible world and the world of knowledge or the world of ideas.
The lower segment is shorter to indicate its imperfection (Regader n.d.). Plato divides the world of appearances into the world of imagination and the world of belief, where ideas are considered immutable and true (Imaginary, n.d.). Therefore, according to Montagud (n.d.), the world of ideas is eternal and reveals the true essence of reality, unrestricted by time or space.
The upper segment is parallelly divided into mathematical thinking and intelligence or knowledge (Imaginary, n.d.). For Plato, the sensible world is that which is perceived through the senses and is subject to change (Imaginary, n.d.). Hence, according to Montagud (n.d.), the sensible world is imperfect, ambiguous, unstable, and bound by the limitations of space and time.
For this reason, Plato belittles the value of the sensible world, considering it a mere copy of the idea and therefore falsehood (Imaginary, n.d.). Ideas are then the object of Platonic philosophy, in other words, true knowledge. Imaginary (n.d.) mentions that the opposition between the sensible world and the world of ideas gives rise to the conception of Platonic dualism that permeates his work.
The allegory of the cave is the best metaphor to understand the concept of duality expressed by Plato in his philosophy (Montagud, n.d.). This myth tells the story of men who are chained in a cave, facing shadows that represent different things (Tovar, 2020). Since the shadows are all they know, they take them as real. However, it is only when a man breaks free from the chains and exits the cave that he realizes the ideal state of everything that surrounds him. Therefore, according to Tovar (2020), the philosopher has the responsibility to return and teach others about what lies beyond.
The myth distinguishes between a place associated with ideas and another connected to the sensory world (Montagud, n.d.). Life in the cave represents the sensory world, while life outside is related to the world of ideas. For Plato, living in the cave means being in a dark world focused on worldly pleasures. The act of breaking free from the cave represents leaving behind the pursuit of pleasures and embarking on a quest for knowledge, prioritizing reason over impulsivity and pleasure. According to Montagud (n.d.), the further a person is from the cave, the more knowledge they have attained, and the closer they are to the truth.
Anamnesis
According to Plato, anamnesis is the soul's ability to remember past experiences and knowledge that are forgotten when leaving the human body and entering another (Tovar, 2020). For him, knowledge is based on memories acquired in previous stages and should be awakened in each individual to be easily accessible (Tovar, 2020). In other words, when the soul knows, it does not generate new information but remembers what it already knew in the world of ideas, a phase prior to physical life (Pérez & Merino, 2012). According to Tovar (2020), this form of knowledge would be an approach to the ideal form of each existing element.
Psychic Structure
Plato developed the theory of the three parts of the soul (Tovar, 2020). According to Regader (n.d.), these parts are: the immortal or rational soul, located in the head; the impulsive or spirited soul, focused on obtaining honor and glory, situated in the chest; and the passionate and appetitive soul, which seeks bodily pleasure, located in the abdomen.
Plato was influenced by the Eastern tradition, represented in the myth of the Three Wise Men, who gave the child three boxes to determine his nature: human, royal, or divine (Regader n.d.). According to Regader (n.d.), the contents of the boxes represent the material substance corresponding to each of these natures: myrrh - red gomorresin, gold, and incense.
According to Plato, the rational soul was superior and should control the desires of the other two, just as a charioteer controls two horses (Regader n.d.). In other words, it is related to intelligence and wisdom, and according to Plato, it was the philosophers who had developed it the most (Montagud n.d.). The rational soul is associated with intelligence and wisdom, primarily developed by philosophers. The spirited soul is linked to power, will, and ambition, while the appetitive soul is connected to the natural impulse to avoid pain and seek pleasure, needing to be controlled by reason (Montagud n.d.; Regader n.d.). According to Montagud (n.d.), the latter obstructs the pursuit of truth and the essence of things due to its attraction to material goods.
Motivation
Plato had a negative view of pleasure, as he believed that the body always sought pleasure and avoided pain, which hindered the contemplation of the good (Regader n.d.). In his later writings, Plato mentioned some healthy pleasures, such as the aesthetic pleasure of beauty, but he considered intellectual life to be limited. His conception of motivation was almost Freudian, as he believed that individuals had passionate desires that could be directed towards different parts of the soul, such as pleasure, personal achievements, or philosophical knowledge and virtue (Regader n.d.). According to Regader (n.d.), these impulses could motivate the pursuit of temporary pleasure or philosophical progress towards the world of forms.
References
Balmore, E. (2018). Resumen de Los Diálogos de Platón. Baneste.blogspot.com. Recuperado 1 May 2021, a partir de https://baneste.blogspot.com/2018/09/resumen-de-los-dialogos-de-platon.html
Guerri, M. Biografía de PLATÓN (427-347 a.C.). PsicoActiva.com: Psicología, test y ocio Inteligente. Recuperado 8 April 2021, a partir de https://www.psicoactiva.com/biografias/platon/
Imaginario, A. Todo sobre Platón: biografía, aportaciones y obras del filósofo griego. Cultura Genial. Recuperado 8 April 2021, a partir de https://www.culturagenial.com/es/platon/
Meinwald, C. (2020). Plato | Life, Philosophy, & Works. Encyclopedia Britannica. Recuperado 27 April 2021, a partir de https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato#ref281697
Montagud, N. Platón: biografía de este filósofo de la Antigua Grecia. Psicologiaymente.com. Recuperado 27 April 2021, a partir de https://psicologiaymente.com/biografias/platon
Pérez, J., & Merino, M. (2012). Definición de reminiscencia — Definicion.de. Definición.de. Recuperado 1 May 2021, a partir de https://definicion.de/reminiscencia/
Tovar, P. (2020). Platón: Biografía, Filosofía y Aportes. Lifeder. Recuperado 8 April 2021, a partir de https://www.lifeder.com/aportaciones-de-platon/
Regader, B. Los impresionantes aportes de Platón a la Psicología. Psicologiaymente.com. Recuperado 7 April 2021, a partir de https://psicologiaymente.com/psicologia/platon-historia-psicologia
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