Socrates devoted his whole life to discussing wisdom with others, without writing a book, so we can only learn about Socrates' life and main ideas from Plato's works. Similarly, only by returning to Plato's works can we find the root of Aristotle's ideological system.
Most of the domestic books about Plato are translations of Plato's works, and the corresponding research works mostly analyze Plato's thoughts from a certain chapter of Plato's works or a certain angle of his thoughts. It can be said that there are very few books that comprehensively and systematically introduce Plato's thought, which is a great pity.
Fortunately, I met Professor Fu Peirong's Plato's Philosophy, from which we can get the long-awaited answer. At the beginning of this book, we introduce Plato's mental journey and let us know the motivation of Plato's ideological system.
The above information reflects Plato's mental journey between the ages of eighteen and forty. He did not aspire to be a philosopher at first, but pursued an ideal city-state, and then discovered the rational world in the process of pursuing, thus constructing a unique and eternal philosophical system.
Later, Professor Fu Peirong briefly introduced the works of Plato's Dialogues in four periods, which made readers have a general understanding of the content of each article.
Later, Professor Fu Peirong selected the contents of the first private prosecution book to elaborate. While appreciating this work, he explained why it was a turning point in Plato's thought.
Next, Plato's ideological system is expounded and demonstrated from different angles and contents, including knowledge, philosophy, soul, lust, gods, art, happiness, education, politics and so on.
It can be said that the concept of rationality is the core of Plato's philosophy. In his view, only reason is eternal and true, and the real thing is unchangeable, unreal and a reflection shadow. This is like the color in Buddhism, and the color book is empty. Only the other side of the world is real. The rational world is like the other side of the world.
But because of this, Plato's philosophy is inevitably contradictory and difficult to solve. In this regard, Professor Fu Peirong said this:
Plato's theory is a huge and subtle philosophical system, which contains many truths, such as the purely perceptual world is neither the only world nor the highest and most "real" world; But the undeniable fact is that his philosophy inevitably falls into the problem of "separation" because he does not regard the perceptible world as pure illusion or nothingness. Plato's philosophy encountered difficulties in dealing with "individuality"; However, although Aristotle wisely pointed out Bertrand's "separation" problem, it does not mean that Aristotle's own "* * * phase" theory is not difficult. These two great thinkers have their own views on the real world, and perhaps their views can only be understood through a more complete synthesis.
No matter how difficult Plato's philosophy is, it still cannot affect his position in the history of western philosophy. In this regard, the book concludes:
Plato's influence on western culture and philosophy is unparalleled. Later generations talk about western culture, and there is a famous saying: "When you talk about Greek culture, you will see Plato as soon as you turn your head." As for western philosophy, as Whitehead said, "Western philosophy of more than two thousand years is just a series of annotations of Plato's thought." Aristotle (384-32 BC1) studied in Plato's Institute for twenty years. When he recalled his teacher, he could not help but sigh: This is an outstanding man, whose name silences evil people, and no one else tells all beings with words and deeds: people with virtue will be truly happy. Alas, we mortals are inferior to him!
In a word, reading Professor Fu Peirong's books can help us fully understand Plato and restore Plato's true thoughts.
In this paper, readers are interested in the connotation of Plato's love and utopia, which is also an accurate and in-depth explanation.
If you want to learn western culture, you must never bypass Plato; If you want to know Plato, how can you miss the book Plato's Philosophy?