柏拉图(前428年～西元前347?年)

Plato，原名Aristocles。

希腊哲学家，其教学和着作成为西方哲学中的不可或缺的一部分。他的家族十分显赫，父亲自称是雅典最後一位国王的後裔，而母亲与西元前404年寡头恐怖政治的极端派领袖克里蒂亚斯和夏尔米德斯有亲属关系。柏拉图（此名意指他额头宽广，後亦指他知识广博）从幼年即认识苏格拉底。苏格拉底死後，他从雅典逃到麦加拉，接着在往後十二年到处旅行。西元前387年回到雅典，不久创立着名的哲学学校，称为学园，并在那里教导过亚里斯多德。他以苏格拉底的生活和思想为本，发展出深刻而浩瀚的哲学体系（参阅Platonism）。其思想包含逻辑、知识论、玄学各个方面，但许多基本的动机是道德的。其思想见於众多的对话中，其中苏格拉底大多扮演主角。亦请参阅Neoplatonism。

English version：

前428年～西元前347?年

Plato

Greek philosopher whose teachings and writings constitute an essential part of Western philosophy. His family was highly distinguished; his father claimed descent from the last king of Athens, and his mother was related to Critias and Charmides, extremist leaders of the oligarchic terror of 404. Plato (whose acquired name refers to his broad forehead, and thus his range of knowledge) must have known Socrates from boyhood. After Socrates' death, he fled Athens for Megara, then spent the next 12 years in travel. He returned in 387 and soon founded the famous school of philosophy called the Academy, where he taught Aristotle. Building on Socrates' life and thought, he developed a profound and wide-ranging philosophical system (see Platonism). His thought has logical, epistemological, and metaphysical aspects, but much of its underlying motivation is ethical. It is presented in his many dialogues, in most of which Socrates plays a leading role (e.g., Apology, Protagoras, Meno, Phaedo, Symposium, Republic, Sophist, Timaeus, and Laws). See also Neoplatonism.