CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Plato—Pagan Fountainhead of Innate-Immortality Streams

When one approaches the study of Plato’s postulates on the immortality of the soul, two background facts should be borne in mind: (1) Several Greek philosophers had preceded Plato in holding to Immortal-Soulism in varying forms and degrees—that his was a synthesis, as well as an advance; and (2) the concept of Innate Immortality was not the popular or general view current in Greece. Rather, it was the teaching of a small group, chiefly of philosophers, with Plato pre-eminent.CFF1 558.1

PLATO (427-347 B.C.), famous Greek philosopher of Athens, is generally recognized as one of the greatest thinkers of all antiquity. In sheer massive speculative thought and logical reasoning he is considered unsurpassed among all pagan philosophers. Of distinguished family and the highest training, he was first interested in poetry, then in statecraft. But when he became a pupil of Socrates the current of his life changed.CFF1 558.2

His close acquaintance with Socrates (until the latter’s death) brought him under the spell of philosophic teaching, and turned him from poetry and public life to the pinnacle of philosophy. And he, in turn, became the teacher of the celebrated Aristotle. Thus the main development of Greek philosophy flows from Socrates through Plato and Aristotle. The sequence and overlap looks somewhat like this:CFF1 558.3

Socrates (470-399 B.C.)
PLATO (427-347 B.C.)
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Plato stands without a peer among the men of genius in the philosophical world. He was the founder of the Older Academy at Athens, which continued without a break until dissolved eight centuries later, in A.D. 529, by Emperor Justinian. Indeed, the founding of the Academy was the turning point in Plato’s career and a memorable event in Western European history. It was the first permanent institution for the prosecution of scientific learning by research, with pure mathematics as the core of the curriculum—the progenitor of the medieval university.CFF1 558.4

Picture 1: Socrates:
From Socrates the Main Development of Greek Philosophy Flowed On Through Plato and Aristotle.
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The tragic end of Socrates made a profound impression upon the youthful Plato. He felt a sense of destiny, driving him on to devote his life to the development of philosophy on an independent basis and to commit his teaching to writing for generations to come. In preparation he traveled for ten years, acquainting himself with the philosophies of his day. He studied in Egypt, Cyrene, Sicily, and greater Greece. His wide travels, his acquaintance with Socrates, his return to Athens, and his establishment of the Academy, were the preliminaries of his remarkable career, with its amazing influence upon the thinkers of subsequent centuries.CFF1 559.1