While the Platonic Academy is often seen as the prototype of a new kind of educational organization, it is important to note that it was just one of many such organizations established in fourth-century Athens. It is likely that Isocrates and Antisthenes established schools of some sort before Plato. Contemporary scholars often assign a founding date for the Academy between the dates of B. Plato was himself from the deme of Collytus, a wealthy district southwest of the Acropolis and within the city walls built by Themistocles.
While some scholars have thought that Plato somehow resided in the sacred precinct and gymnasium of the Academy or purchased property there, this is not possible, for religious sanctuaries and areas set aside for gymnasia were not places where citizens or anyone else could set up residency. Rather, as Lynch, Baltes, and Dillon have argued, Plato was able to purchase a property with its own garden nearby the sanctuaries and gymnasium of Academy. Plato was of aristocratic stock and of at least moderate wealth, so he had the financial means to support his life of philosophical study.
While the wills of Theophrastus Lives V. To get a sense of the topics discussed in the Academy, our primary sources are the Platonic dialogues and our knowledge of the persons present at the Academy. While it is tempting to talk of teachers and students at the Academy, this language can lead to difficulties.
While Plato was clearly the heart of the Academy, it is not clear how, if at all, formal status was accorded to members of the Academy.
It is also likely that the dialogues were circulated as a way to attract possible students Themistius, Orations Aristotle reportedly taught rhetoric at the Academy, and it is certain that he researched rhetorical and sophistical techniques there. It is very probable that Aristotle began writing many of the works of his that we possess today at the Academy Klein , including possibly parts of the biological works, even though biological research based on empirical data is not a line of inquiry that Plato pursued himself.
While the Platonic Academy was a community of philosophers gathered to engage in research and discussion around a wide array of topics and questions, the Academy, or at least the individuals gathered there, had a political dimension. As noted above, some of the discussions Plato held were on the public grounds of the Academy, while other discussions were held at his private residence.
While it is difficult to reconstruct how instruction occurred at the Academy, it seems that dialectical conversation, lecture, research, writing, and the reading of the Platonic dialogues were all used by individuals at the Academy as methods of philosophical inquiry and instruction. One occurrence, already mentioned, is from the Lysis , and it describes Socrates walking from the Academy to the Lyceum a. In B. Plato died at the age of approximately eighty years old.
Unlike the claim that Plato purchased property in the sacred precinct of the Academy, this assertion is possible, for the grounds of the Academy were used for burial, shrines, and memorials. The chronological succession of scholarchs after Plato, according to Diogenes Laertius, is as follows:. What seems clear from the various accounts is that, with Arcesilaus, a skeptical edge entered into Academic thinking that persisted through Carneades and Philo of Larissa.
The Mithridatic War of 88 B. Plutarch, Sulla XII. While the Platonic Academy can be said to end with the siege led by Sulla, philosophers including Cicero, Plutarch of Chaeronea, and Proclus continued to identify themselves as Platonists or Academics.
In C. Sometime in the fourth century C. Lynch , marks an end of the flourishing of Neo-Platonism in Athens. Lewis Trelawny-Cassity Email: lcassity antiochcollege. Sommerstein While The Clouds illustrates that the grounds of the Academy in the s had running tracks, a water source, sacred olive groves, and shady walks with poplar, plane, and elm trees, it is not clear whether the Academy was as free of sophistry as Aristophanes presents it, perhaps ironically, in his comedy.
Location and Funding Plato was himself from the deme of Collytus, a wealthy district southwest of the Acropolis and within the city walls built by Themistocles. The Academy after Plato In B. Xenocrates of Chalcedon was scholarch until B. Polemo of Athens was scholarch of the Academy until B. Crates of Athens, a pupil of Polemo, was the next scholarch. Arcesilaus of Pitane was scholarch until approximately B.
Lacydes of Cyrene was scholarch until approximately B. Telecles and Evander, both of Phocaea, succeed Lacydes as dual scholarchs. Hegesinus of Pergamon succeed the dual scholarchs from Phocaea.
Carneades of Cyrene succeeded Hegesinus. Clitomachus of Carthage succeeded Carneades in B. References and Further Reading a. Primary Sources Aelian, Claudius Aelianus 2nd-3rd cn. Historical Miscellany. Nigel G. Aristophanes c. Alan Sommerstein. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, While written too early to shed light on Plato, this text is crucial for understanding Athenian education, the sophists, and Socrates. It also contains the passage cited above that describes the grounds of the Academy in the s.
Aristotle B. The writings of Aristotle are a valuable resource for learning more about the philosophies of some of the individuals that were part of the early Academy.
Aristoxenus of Tarentum c. The Harmonics of Aristoxenus. Henry S. Oxford: Clarendon Press, The Deipnosophists. In Seven Volumes. Charles Burton Gluck. This lengthy work is a source of much information about antiquity. The Academy was also famed to have nurtured and tutored great philosophers such as Aristotle, Parmenides and Eudoxus of Cnidos. Those who enrolled in the school were simply referred to as junior members of the Academy.
Not much is known about how people got to enroll at the Academy. During its formative years, it is believed that Plato operated an open-door policy where all one needed to have was complete passion for philosophy and logical reasoning. Give or take, the Academy lasted for several centuries, even long after its founder Plato died.
However, the Neoplatonist philosophers of Rome re-booted the school in the early 5th century CE. Studies and learning continued for about three decades until the school was shut down.
In CE, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I — CE closed down the place because he considered the Academy a place of pagan worship and practices. When it was founded in the 4th century BCE, very few of the members knew that one day their works would come to form the DNA of modern philosophical and scientific thoughts.
Today, we all can strongly relate to the principles of higher learning and inquiry into the universe. The Academy played a vital role in popularizing philosophical studies and disciplines in ancient Greece.
Centuries later, those ideas came to serve as the fulcrum of our scientific inquiry and global progress. May 21, February 24, May 28, Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.
Email Address. This is why, ultimately, the word academy is adopted in our own vocabulary. During the Renaissance, a revival of interest in Greek philosophies, in general, led many to reexamine the old texts and teachings of the Greek philosophers and the academy. Some of the philosophies, such as Neoplatonism, also influenced Christian and later thought.
The academy's concepts began to influence the developing notion of science and philosophy in the West in the late Medieval period. This led to the eventual establishment of new or modern academies and influenced universities' development in later periods.
Although the Academy itself went through different philosophical leanings, the concept of gathering scholars to debate, teach, and learn became a profound influence on Western ideas of creating institutions of higher learning and knowledge.
Admin , Maltaweel and EricLambrecht. Redirected from What was Plato's academy and why did it influence Western thought? Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed. Guides for the Perplexed. Catan, and Giovanni Reale. Plato and Aristotle.
Albany, NY: State Univ. The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. From Aristotle to Augustine. Routledge History of Philosophy, v. The Philosophy of Antiochus. The Neoplatonists: A Reader. Classical Philosophy. First edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg. Albany, N. Related DailyHistory.
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