Plato's World View Analysis

Plato, a greek philosopher, is best known for calling himself a lover of wisdom. He took great pride in being an elite philosopher as oppose to a philodoxer, which is a lover of belief (Republic, Book V 480a). When reading Plato, his vast wisdom regarding many essential worldview questions is unpacked and explained on a deep level. Throughout Plato’s writings, the reader can see evidence that his worldview was based on the ability to be a good man, a positive belief of death, the importance of just actions, the absolute beauty of the soul, and the significance of having a king who was wise. To begin, Plato believed that a man’s tendency was to believe pleasures to be good in contrary to true knowledge which is what the more refined believed (Republic, Book VI 505b). In this belief, Plato wanted the people to know that the status of good is more honorable than even truth and knowledge. He expressed this belief when he said, “Both knowledge and truth are beautiful things. But if you are to think correctly, you must think of the good as other and more beautiful than they,” (Republic, Book VI 508e). In …show more content…
First, it is essential to note that Plato did not fear death because he believed, “a man who has truly spent his life in philosophy is probably right to be of good cheer in the face of death and to be very hopeful that after death he will attain the greatest blessings yonder,” (Phaedo 63e-64a). However, Plato also stated that those who do not love wisdom, righteousness, courage, freedom, and truth but instead love the body, wealth, or honors should resent death (Phaedo 68b-68c, 115a). Another way to view this is to say those who loved worldly materials should fear death but those who lived a life of goodness as well as justice have a future after death. To sum up Plato’s worldview on death, he believed their was a better future for the good versus the wicked (Phaedo