Life and activity of Plato / part 5/

Dionysius II realized that he had lost a wise and renowned counselor and friend, and by letters and messengers he had inclined him to return. He promised to restore Dion and to continue the reforms. That is why in 361 Plato traveled for Syracuse for the third time. Here, however, the intrigues were again triumphant, and he fell into disgrace, his life was endangered. Thanks only to the intervention of prominent Pythagoreans headed by Archid, who took diplomatic measures in his defense, he was preserved and returned to Athens. Here he continued to work until 347 when he died.

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His academy inherited materially the son of his sister Spurs, since Plato was not married and had no heirs. As Vindelband says, he died, revered by his contemporaries, and glorified in the centuries as a hero. No doubt he was a perfect Greek and great man. He united in himself all the highest qualities of physical, mental, moral strength and enlivened the wonderful life of the Greeks, giving him a spiritual depth that for millennia has ensured its significance in the history of human philosophy. Both in antiquity and in modern times there were no speeches that it was of a peculiar, puzzling, impractical and irresponsible nature.

This, as Vindelband says, is due to the mutual controversy and disgrace between the Socratic schools, and it is understood by the enthusiastic feedback of the most well-known and well-known by its objectivity Aristotle. However, at the end of his life, Plato was quite struck by the Pythagorean mysticism, and Aristotle was increasingly devoted to positive science, their relationship cooled. As for some newer opponents of Plato, they are either ideological opponents of his idealism, or most often ignorant critics of his political views.The best feature of Plato's personality is given to us by his writings, which, thanks to their long-term use and multiplication, drafted in the Academy, have reached us in their fullness. They are high-artistic works. All but the "Apocrypha of Socrates" are written in the form of a dramatic conversation between two or more persons, so they are called "dialogues". They are scientific works in the ordinary sense of the word. Although the heroes are historical faces, Socrates is the most prominent hero, though they advocate a doctrine close to the historical, yet everything is freely given, processed, idealized and typified by the means of literature.

Here even mythological sketches, legends, folk wisdom, and so on, are intertwined freely, but on the other hand their conceptual completeness is such that they synthesize the entire philosophical thought of the past. And here, in his writings, Plato reveals himself to us extremely devoted to his vital work-philosophy. In it, it exhibits unique conceptual depth and strict consistency, dialectical analytics, purposefulness, and moral heights. From Plato they have reached us all 35 essays. There is no reason to believe that some of his work is lost. On the contrary, it was positively found that he was attributed to a number of works, which in some cases did not belong to him. Therefore, starting from Schleiermacher, who in this respect is making an epoch with his research, much has been debated, which exactly belongs to Plato and what not: the question of the authenticity of his writings. Much has been dealt with in the order of his writings in writing, as this is related to the ideological development of the philosopher Plato himself. Despite the unity and integrity of his basic doctrine, he is a man who is constantly learning from life and others, so the process of his development is particularly important.

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part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4