Plato
From a video by The School of Life: Plato is considered the world's first true and greatest philosopher. He wrote thirty six books, mostly showcasing Socrates philosophy, but many think the ideas expressed were his own. His spent his life trying to help people reach fulfillment - eudaimonia. He had four ideas how to reach this goal. 1. Think more. This meant to spend time in reflection and make our own choices rather than go along with popular opinions that are commonly filled with errors, prejudice, and superstitions that push us towards the wrong values, careers, and relationships. Thus his most famous quote was "know thyself". This meant thinking things through rather than acting impulsively. This questioning perspective became the Socratic discussion or method.
2. Let your lover change you. Here he said true love is admiration. He believed we should find someone who had qualities that we lacked so we could learn from them as we endure the stormy times this inevitably involves. 3. Decode the message of beauty. He believed beautiful things are whispering important truth to us about the good life like generosity, modesty, selflessness, gentleness, harmony, balance, and peace. They educate our souls. Conversely ugliness makes it harder to be wise, kind, and calm. Artists, poets, painters, novelists, and designers help us live a good life.
4. Reform society. He saw the great war power Sparta as an effective and productive society but he wanted one that would help people become fulfilled. He reasoned that our heroes affected our outlook, ideas, and conduct so he didn't hold wealth and power in high esteem. Rather good and wise people who were distinguished for their public service, modesty and simplicity. He called them guardians.
He also didn't like democracy because people who vote don't always make the best choices so influential despots could rise to power. Rather he thought people should be educated and become philosophers before they could vote. To this end he started a school in Athens called the Academy which went on for 300 years Where people learned math and spelling but also how to be good and kind. He said that "the world will not be right until kings become philosophers or philosophers kings"
Plato, in a dialogue, Phaedrus uses the Chariot Allegory to explain his view of the human soul. He does this in the dialogue through the character of Socrates, who uses it in a discussion of the merit of Love as "divine madness"."First the charioteer of the human soul drives a pair of horses, and secondly one of the horses is noble and of noble breed, but the other quite the opposite in breed and character. Therefore the driving is necessarily difficult and troublesome."
The Charioteer represents intellect, reason, or the part of the soul that must guide the soul to truth; one horse represents rational or moral impulse or the positive part of passionate nature, while the other represents the soul's irrational passions, appetites, or concupiscent nature. The Charioteer directs the entire chariot (soul), trying to stop the horses from going different ways, and to proceed towards enlightenment.
There are many excellent videos on Plato, you may access some here.
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a
harder battle.”
“Every heart sings a
song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing
always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”
“We can easily
forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men
are afraid of the light.”
“Only the dead have
seen the end of war.”
“The price good men
pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
“Do not train a child
to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their
minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar
bent of the genius of each.”
“The heaviest penalty
for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
“According to Greek
mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head
with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts,
condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”
“I am the wisest man
alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
“Never discourage
anyone...who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.”
“Love is a serious
mental disease.”
“One of the penalties
of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by
your inferiors.”
“Good people do not
need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way
around the laws”
“The measure of a man
is what he does with power.”
“Ignorance, the root
and stem of every evil.”
“If women are
expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”
“I'm trying to think,
don't confuse me with facts.”
“...and when one of
them meets the other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of
youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and
friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other's sight, as I may
say, even for a moment...”
“There is truth in
wine and children”
“Those who tell the
stories rule society.”
“Human behavior flows
from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ”
“The madness of love
is the greatest of heaven's blessings.”
“Education is
teaching our children to desire the right things.”
“There are three
classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.”
“Courage is knowing
what not to fear.”
“In politics we
presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city
or a state. When we are ill... we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or
the most eloquent one.”
“You should not honor
men more than truth.”
“There are two things
a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.”
“When men speak ill
of thee, live so as if nobody may believe them.”
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”