Plato: Impact on Christianity

Drafty

Plato was born in 427 BC in Athens, Greece. He was born into a wealthy and aristocratic family with a political background. Plato's father claimed he was a descendent of Codrus, the last king of Athens; on his mother's side he was related to a Greek lawmaker by the name of Solon. Plato's father died when he was still young and the rest of his childhood was spent with his mother and her new husband Pyrilampes, an Athenian politician.

Although Plato had many political influences in his childhood, he chose not to serve in the same manner as his family had. Plato chose not to become associated with the declining Athenian politics, but rather he began writing poetry and competing in athletics. As Plato grew older he was introduced to pre-Socratic philosophical teachings concerning metaphysics and knowledge. Sometime early in his life, Plato met Socrates, an infamous Greek philosopher who was gathering a sizeable following.

Plato became a prominent follower of Socrates and adopted many ideas from his teachings. Plato is known to have accepted Socrates dialogue form of conversation and his striving to understand truth. Through time spent with Socrates, Plato eventually began developing his own ideas, theories and understandings of philosophy. In 399 Socrates was tried and convicted of many charges surrounding his teachings and actions, resulting in execution. Fearing for his life, Plato left Athens and began travelling the area of the Mediterranean.

Plato travelled throughout Egypt, Italy and Sicily in search of philosophers, religious leaders and astronomers with whom he could learn. During his travels Plato began to write his first dialogues. Using the conversational method of Socrates, he began recording theories of his own. In 387 Plato returned to Athens and established the Academy, what many consider the first university. Plato used the Academy to share his knowledge, experience and theories with young philosophers.

Through his teachings Plato influenced many young philosophers within the Greek society. Most of Plato's teaching occurred at the Academy. Plato continued to develop his philosophy and record it in writings while teaching others his theories. Although he taught many theories and subjects at the Academy, two theories held vast influence in his philosophy. The Divided Line theory and the Allegory of the Cave are Plato's main focus in teaching concerning forms and knowledge.

One of the foci of Plato's philosophy is his idea of forms. According to Plato a form is similar to an idea, it is only able to be seen by the mind and it has no physical structure. Forms are not of this world, but exist in a separate realm of forms; a Platonic heaven. Since forms are not worldly they are simply the essence behind worldly things. Plato teaches that forms are not limited to objects, but rather forms exist universally for all aspects of life.

Plato's Divided Line theory was a means of categorizing the forms and separating them from their opposing matter.

Plato subdivides the parallel classifications of types of being and types of knowing into two major subgroups. Images and ordinary objects belong to the visible world and are "known" through our sense organs. I put known in quotation marks because Plato claims that knowledge through senses is not properly knowledge at all, but only opinion. Mathematical and geometrical objects, together with forms, belong to the intelligible world and are known through the "eye of the mind." Such knowing results in knowledge in its proper sense. (Rice, pp. 68)

The Divided Line consists of four types of beings: images, ordinary objects, mathematics and forms. Those beings that are perceived through the senses are known as matter. An ordinary object is simple matter