Plato was a philosopher from Athens who lived during the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, from approximately 428 to 348 BCE. He was born into an aristocratic Athenian family and came of age during the turbulent end of the Peloponnesian War. The execution of his teacher, Socrates, in 399 BCE deeply affected him and turned him toward a life of philosophy.
After traveling, he founded the Academy in Athens around 387 BCE, an institution dedicated to teaching and research that is often considered the first European university. Later in life, he traveled to Sicily in an unsuccessful attempt to advise a ruler there, an experience that reflected his political ideals.
Plato’s surviving works are almost all written as philosophical dialogues, with Socrates frequently appearing as the main speaker. Scholars traditionally group over thirty of these dialogues into early, middle, and late periods of his career. Among his most famous works are the Republic, which explores justice and proposes rule by philosopher-kings; the Symposium, which discusses the nature of love; and the Timaeus, which presents a cosmological account of the universe. All his major dialogues survive complete.
Plato is a foundational figure in Western thought. His establishment of the Academy created a lasting model for philosophical schools. Through his dialogues, he defined core areas of philosophy, including ethics, politics, metaphysics, and epistemology. Central ideas attributed to his philosophy include the Theory of Forms, which suggests that perfect, non-physical realities underlie the visible world, and the belief that the soul is immortal. His literary skill made complex ideas engaging and accessible. His work was the primary influence on the later tradition of Platonism and, through its engagement with Christian theology, profoundly shaped the intellectual history of Europe.