ABSTRACT
Plato (429-347) is a constructive and systematic philosopher of astonishing range and depth. Unlike Socrates, he does not confine himself to matters of ethical conduct. Instead, he investigates issues in metaphysics; in epistemology; in philosophy of mind; in aesthetic theory; in morality, including moral metaphysics and moral epistemology; in political philosophy; and, in a new and abstract way, issues pertaining to philosophical method. So sweeping has Plato’s philosophical influence been that the eminent British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead was able to claim, with an evident and sincere reverence, “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”1 Here we begin an investigation into Plato’s most lasting contributions to philosophy, not by looking first to his astonishing influence, but by engaging his own texts directly in an effort to determine whether we should ourselves accept his principal philosophical doctrines as true. It is, of course, possible that we will come to regard some of his main contentions as false and indefensible. This much, though, would be giving Plato the treatment he seeks: it seems clear in reading Plato’s dialogues that he expects us to come to dissenting conclusions where they are warranted, but, by the same token, to join him where they are not.
