The Dialogue of Plato

Title : Dialogue of Plato

Writer : anonymous (edited by J.D. Kaplan)

Year : -

Language : English

This book contains all of Plato’s thoughts and philosophies. I love him so much for his ideologies and wise thoughts. These are his thoughts which amaze me:

1. Aristotle’s confession

He said to the king that he did not corrupt the youth of Greek at that time. He confessed that he was the smartest person in the world. Why? That was because he realized that he was the stupidest person in the world. It was like a paradox indeed. However, I think that it was the wisest and the most genius thing he’d ever said. I love that sentence. The point is that ‘we can be the smartest person, if we know and realize our stupidity’.

2. Cave Allegory

It is something which is quite absurd to say and to understand. When we are in a cave watching shadows of things outside the cave, then actually we are in the world of shadow itself, not in the world of reality. The real things are outside the cave, where the light pour up the things and shape their shadows. Thus, we can conclude that this world is actually not the reality of life, but the reality is there….in our mind.

3. Symposium

The best thing about love had been stated by Plato here. The first stage of love must have been love for physical beauty. However, because Plato thought that every body is beautiful, then we should not only put our love on someone based on physical beauty. We also have to love someone based on his/her heart and soul. Since heart and soul are abstract things, then we should love something that is more abstract. It can be personality, philosophy, and mostly….knowledge.

This book has inspired me to learn more about life and to shape my own ideology. It is a very interesting book that everyone should read and learn, not only talk about.

Rating : 4