PLATO

the Greek philosopher, was born in B.C. 429. After the death of So crates, whose pupil he was, he travelled for a while, returning to Athens about B.C. 388, when he began to teach his system in a gymnasium called the Academy. He died in B.C. 347. Among his reputed works are the “ Letters,” but the latter are now regarded as not genuine. Like So crates, he held the great end of philosophic teaching to be to lead the mind of the inquirer to a discovery of truth, rather than to impart it dogmatically, and so he considered oral teaching superior to writing. Lie originated the distinction of philosophy into etlncs, physics, and dialectics, though the names were first used by his follower Xenocrates. The cardinal principle of his dialectical system is the doctrine of ideas and, having created the realm of ideas, he defined; its most excellent forms as beauty, justice, and virtue, and determined that the dominant principle of the whole must be the idea of The Good. The harmony of intelligence with goodne is the highest attainment of his philosophy.