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PlatoIon
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Key FiguresCharacter Analysis
Plato
Plato is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western philosophy. He was a student of Socrates and a teacher to Aristotle. His ideas about metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, and art have influenced countless other thinkers and are still widely discussed in many disciplines today, including law and religion.
Plato was born in Athens, Greece, and lived from about 428 BC until about 347 BC, dying around age 80. He was born into a wealthy and aristocratic family, studied mathematics, and dabbled in politics. At age 40, he founded the Academy, which would go on to become the foundation of Western thought, as it provided a model for what higher education should consist of.
Plato is credited with systematizing many aspects of philosophy. Plato defines knowledge as “justified true belief,” meaning that one can only know something if there is evidence for it (justified), it matches the objective world (true), and one holds the opinion that these things are the case (belief). Plato believes that the highest kind of knowledge is of the Forms, such as Goodness, Love, Justice, and Virtue. They can only be grasped by pure reason. For Plato, objects in ordinary experience are merely imitations or representations of these absolute truths and are therefore inferior to them. Because knowledge can only be grasped by pure reason, Plato is skeptical of art’s ability to reveal anything about reality. He believes art and the creative spirit oppose and exclude reason.
Socrates
While Socrates appears as a character in most Plato’s dialogues, the Platonic Socrates and the historical Socrates are not the same. Socrates was a real person in ancient Greece who taught philosophy by engaging the townspeople in dialogues about the nature of things. It can be difficult to tell when Plato is expressing Socrates’s view or his view. We know that Socrates was a historical figure because other students of his also wrote accounts of his life, such as of the trial that took place in 399 BC. Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the youth. As punishment, he was sentenced to commit suicide by drinking poison, which he did even though his friends offered to free him from jail. The life Socrates lived imbues Plato’s works with the sense that if one embarks on an honest quest for truth, then one’s life will be well lived even if it causes friction with people in positions of authority.
Ion
Ion is a rhapsode who has just won first prize at the festival of Asclepius in Epidaurus. He is believed to be a fictional character created by Plato. As a rhapsode, his job is to recite, perform, and interpret the poetry of Homer. Ion believes that Homer is the greatest poet and that he, Ion, can “speak more beautifully than anyone else” about Homer (938). He has a great memory for Homer’s poetry and can call up any line from the Iliad or the Odyssey on cue. When he recites Homer’s poetry, he captivates audiences and makes them laugh, cry, or become afraid simply by how he delivers his lines. However, Ion does not possess this talent concerning any other poet, and he wonders why this is the case. He can barely pay attention to the work of other poets, but he remains quite arrogant when it comes to his ability to speak about Homer. He overestimates his ability at times, conflating his skill for reciting poetry with knowledge of the subjects the poet wrote about. Just because he can recite lines that a doctor would say does not mean he has a doctor’s knowledge about the art of medicine. Ion struggles to understand what knowledge he does have as a rhapsode, and Socrates convinces him that he has no knowledge at all. He can recite and interpret Homer’s poetry because of divine inspiration rather than knowledge or skill.
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