Out of these ideas about the fundamental nature of reality came certain views about government, most clearly expressed in Plato's greatest work, The Republic. There will always be people ruled by their bodies rather than by their minds, Plato believed. Therefore society should be controlled by those with the highest aims—those who are ruled by their minds, not their bodies. Thus he envisioned a class of philosophers who would also be kings, and kings who would also be philosophers.
In 367 B. C., it seemed he had his chance to put these ideas into practice when he went to tutor Dionysius the
Hypatia of Alexandria
One of the remarkable things about Plato was the fact that he treated women more or less as equals to men, a highly unusual idea in the Athens of his day. It is not surprising that the only known female philosopher of ancient times was a Neo-Platonist, Hypatia of Alexandria (hie-PAY-shuh; a. d. 370-415).
Hypatia became a teacher at the Neo-Platonic School in Alexandria. In a. d. 400 she was appointed director of the school. Though her writings did not survive, it was said that her lectures were lively, exciting events in which she wove together a number of subjects. She was also an inventor. Along with Synesius of Cyrene (suh-NEE-zhuhs; c. a. d. 370-413),
She apparently developed an astrolabe (as-truh-LABE), a device used for measuring the movement of bodies in the sky. They also worked together on several other inventions.
It was said that Hypatia was as beautiful and virtuous as she was wise. Not surprisingly, given her many good qualities—and the fact that she was a woman—she attracted enemies as well. One of these was powerful: Cyril (SEER-uhl, c. A. D. 375-444), Bishop of Alexandria. It is not clear how much influence Cyril had over the events leading to her death, but it is clear that in a. d. 415 she was brutally attacked and killed by a group of "Christians."
Younger, son of the tyrant who had once sold him into slavery. But Plato's experience was much like that of Confucius (see entry) with the Duke of Lu. Dionysius was more interested in drinking and revelry—pursuits of the body—than he was in learning. He readily believed a story by a jealous official that Plato's teaching was part of an Athenian plot to gain control of Sicily.
Plato packed up his things and returned to Athens, where he spent the remaining twenty years of his life teaching at the Academy. He would live on in part through Aristotle, the student whose system of thought was completely opposed to his, and through many Platonists and Neo-Platonists("new" Platonists) such as Hypatia [see sidebar]. His ideas would continue to hold appeal up to the present day. Various Platonist movements would rise and fall in the world of philosophy.
In the 1500s, the Englishman Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) wrote a book entitled Utopia (yoo-TOH-pee-uh), in which he envisioned an ideal state akin to Plato's Republic. “Utopia,” Greek for “no place,” became an English word for an ideal state. Many believed that the Russian Revolution of 1917, which established the Soviet system, would put in place a utopia. In fact what it established was a tyranny ruled by a group of educated Communist Party members. Some observers saw this as a terrifying outgrowth of Plato, but it is unfair to blame Plato for Soviet Communism. He was writing about politics in the Greek city-states. He could not possibly have imagined the effect his ideas would have on the world of the future.
World History
