Book 1: Chapter 13, The Sources of Plato's Opinions Summary and Analysis

The most influential philosophers were Plato and Aristotle, but Plato held a greater influence. Aristotle was influenced by Plato himself, who included his views in Utopia, theory of ideas, support of immortality, cosmogony, and the concept of knowledge. He was born in 428-7 BC during the early Peloponnesian War, was prosperous, and witnessed the defeat of Athens, which he attributed to the prevailing democracy. He was the pupil of Socrates and thought Sparta was the ideal commonwealth. He was influenced by Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Socrates in favour of Sparta. He was religious, believed in Orphism derived from Pythagoras. His belief in eternity and timelessness was inspired by Parmenides, and thought there was nothing permanent as opposed to what was claimed by Heraclitus. These doctrines claimed that knowledge is...