GENERAL INTRODUCTION

In an era where the study of the human mind was still in its infancy, his logical and spiritual insights must have guided his closest students toward a revolutionary new way of understanding metaphysics A branch of philosophy that explores the fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter.. These close friends discovered, as they grew deeper in their shared bond and the light of understanding, that true happiness might be found beyond our interactions with the physical world, and that the human mind possesses rights and responsibilities far above the concerns of everyday politics.

Following the execution of Socrates in 399 BC, Plato spent approximately twelve years traveling and continuing his education. Initially, he may have stayed in Megara A neighboring city-state of Athens where several of Socrates’ followers fled for safety after his death., where his friend and former classmate Eucleides was establishing a school focused on dialectic The Socratic method of investigating the truth through logical question-and-answer discussion.. During this time, Plato may have written some of the six dialogues mentioned previously, which documented Socrates’ life in Athens. Towards the end of this period, he wrote the Protagoras, Meno, Euthydemus, and Gorgias to show how the Socratic method could challenge sophistic education A style of teaching by professional "Sophists" who focused on rhetoric and the art of persuasion, often for political gain rather than the pursuit of absolute truth.. These works demonstrate a much stronger grasp of storytelling and literary skill, as well as a more profound focus on logic.

The last of these works likely dates to after 387 BC—the year Plato returned to Athens after a nearly fatal attempt to improve the character of Dionysius Dionysius I, the ruler of Syracuse in Sicily. Plato’s attempt to turn the tyrant into a "philosopher-king" failed miserably, and legend says Plato was briefly sold into slavery before being ransomed by friends., the ruler of Syracuse. Now forty years old, he founded the Academy Considered the first university in the Western world, the Academy was a center for research and instruction in philosophy, mathematics, and science., where he ensured his teacher's memory would live on by continuing and expanding Socratic debates among the elite of the new generation.