Author · Greece · -428–-348
Plato
Dialogues that teach thinking; reason, myth, and civic life explored in living talk.
Plato was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.
Classification of Plato's Dialogues
Plato was quite prolific and his work was written in the form of dialogues. We can order his dialogues according to the degree of maturity of the philosopher in the following stages:
Period of youth (393 B.C.-389 B.C.)
Fully influenced by Socrates, the dialogues deal mainly with ethical concerns.
- Apology: Socrates' Speech at his trial
Transitional period (388 B.C.-385 B.C.)
Plato continues to reflect on political questions, in addition to dealing with the philosophy of language or introducing the Theory of reminiscence.
- Gorgias: On rhetoric, politics and justice
Maturity period (385 B.C.-370 B.C.)
Plato develops the theory of Reminiscence, introduces the Theory of Ideas and deals with various myths.
- Phaedo: On the immortality of the soul
- Symposium: On love
- The Republic: On politics and other matters
- Phaedrus: On love, beauty, and the destiny of the soul
Old age (369-347)
In addition to revising ideas from earlier stages, Plato introduces themes on medicine or nature. His pessimism grows in his later works and there is a greater presence of mystical-religious elements in his thought.
Think with Plato in 2026
Plato lets ideas move in conversation. Questions test pride and habit until better terms appear, and myth serves clarity rather than confusion. In quick debates his patience still instructs. Read him to argue well, to seek definitions, and to link private good with public duty.
