Abstract
Plato came to be one of the most influential theorists of education in Western philosophy, in addition to playing a pivotal role in the history of higher education. This chapter discusses Plato’s education and life to provide context for his educational theory and practice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The precise dates for Plato’s biography (including his birth and the founding of the academy) and the biographical details of others individuals I discuss have not been firmly fixed and are often controversial. Sometimes no evidence has survived and scholars have been forced to conjecture; sometimes conflicting evidence survives. In the case of Plato’s birth, for example, some have placed it about four years earlier than the date I provide. In this book I use the dates that Nails (2002) establishes. Readers who are interested in the controversies should consult her analysis of the relevant evidence.
- 2.
One Platonic dialogue is set in Dionysius’ school (Riv. 132a). However, some scholars have raised the concern that an ancient biographer might have inferred a relationship from the teacher’s name in the dialogue, rather than Plato invoking Dionysius because of his own experience as his student (see Griffin 2014, pp. 163–164. It is also possible that “Dionysius” became a stock name for schoolteachers; see Nails (2002, s.v.). For an overview and evaluation of the anecdotes about Plato’s youth and education, see Riginos (1976, pp. 39–59).
- 3.
Some of this biographical evidence must be read skeptically. Many key sources were written long after Plato’s own life. Diogenes Laertius, for example, lived about six centuries after Plato’s death, though he had access to earlier sources that are now lost.
- 4.
See below Chap. 5, “Was Socrates a Teacher?”.
- 5.
Some scholars have questioned whether Plato penned the 13 letters that are part of the Platonic corpus. Scholars generally agree that, if Plato had not written the Seventh Letter himself, it was likely written by someone close to Plato. Either way, it is a valuable historical source. The authenticity of some of Plato’s dialogues that I will discuss in this book have been called into question as well. See Note 30.
- 6.
The account appears in Apology 32c–d as well as the Seventh Letter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mintz, A.I. (2018). Plato as Student, Plato as Teacher. In: Plato. SpringerBriefs in Education(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75898-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75898-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75897-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75898-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)