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Plato
- Born in Athens in 428 B.C.E, Plato was the world's first true and probably the greatest philosopher.
- He devoted his life to one goal: helping people to reach a state of what he termed: Eudaimonia or fulfillment.
- He wrote 36 dialogues: beautifully crafted scripts of imaginary discussions in which Socrates is always allocated a starring role.
- He had four big ideas for making life more fulfilled.
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1. Think More
- Sometimes we just go along with 'Doxa' or popular opinions.
- Plato showed this common sense to be riddled with errors, prejudice, and superstition. "Fame is great", "Follow your heart", "Money is the key to have a good life".
- Popular opinions edge us towards wrong values, careers, and relationships.
- The key is to know yourself. Subject your ideas to examination rather than acting on your impulse. This kind of examination is called a Socratic discussion.
- If you strengthen your self-knowledge you don't get so pulled around by feelings.
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2. Let your lover change you
Plato says: "True love is admiration."
- The person you get together with should have very good qualities that you yourself lack.
- By getting close to this person, you can become a little like they are.
- The right person for us helps us grow to our full potential.
- In a relationship, a couple shouldn't love exactly as they are right now. They should be committed to educating each other- and enduring the stormy passages this inevitably involves.
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3. Decode the message of beauty
"Why do we like beautiful things?", Plato asked.
- We find things beautiful when we unconsciously sense in them the qualities we need but are missing in our lives. Gentleness. Harmony. Peace. Balance.
- Thus, they have a very important function. They help to educate our souls.
- Ugliness does the opposite. It parades dangerous and damaged characteristics in front of us. It makes it harder to attain good values.
- Plato sees art as therapeutic. It is the duty of artists to help us live a good life.
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4. Reform society
Plato wanted to know: how a society could get better at producing not military power but fulfilled people?
- Athenian society was very focused on the rich and sports celebrities. Plato wasn't impressed: It really matters who we admire, because that influences our outlook, ideas, and conduct.
- Plato wanted to replace celebrities with "Guardians" who were ideally wise and good people and could be the model for everyone's development.
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The Problem With Democracy
- Plato wanted to end democracy in Athens. He observed how few people think properly before they vote and therefor we get very substandard rulers.
- He didn't want to replace democracy with dictatorship; but he wanted to prevent people from voting until they had started to think rationally. That is, until they became philosophers.
- His ultimate goal was that politicians should become philosophers.
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IDEAS CURATED BY
Purvankit khadatkar's ideas are part of this journey:
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