# Plato — Beyond Good and Evil character guide

> Plato in Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Plato

**First appearance:** 0002-i-prejudices-of-philosophers

## Snapshot

The grandiose idealist whose mise-en-scène style Epicurus mocked as theatrical, and whose noble morality the narrator dissects as self-glorification.

## Who they are

Plato stands in the book as the archetype of the philosopher as actor — staging grand dramas of truth while his valuations remain physiological demands in disguise. The narrator uses him to illustrate how noble morality separates the exalted from the despicable and calls itself truthfulness. He matters because the critique of Plato's idealism is where the book's revaluation of all values begins in earnest.

## Relationships

### [Epicurus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/epicurus)

_rivalry_

They are presented as opposing philosophical types, with Epicurus often favored for his subtlety against Plato's dogmatism.

### [Socrates](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/socrates)

_professional_

Plato is the disciple who immortalizes and interprets Socrates, a relationship of teacher and student with complex fidelity.

## In the story

### [Beyond Good and Evil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/beyond-good-and-evil)

Referenced as a foundational figure in the tradition of dogmatic philosophy that is being critiqued.

### [I: Prejudices of Philosophers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/i-prejudices-of-philosophers)

Critiqued alongside his followers for their 'grandiose manner' and 'mise-en-scène style,' presented as an example of philosophical posturing.

### [The Will to Truth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/1)

Implicitly referenced as part of the philosophical tradition whose reverence for truth is being interrogated.

### [7](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/7)

Target of Epicurus's joke; associated with a 'grandiose manner' and 'mise-en-scène style' that Epicurus scorned. Represents the theatrical, inauthentic philosopher.

### [Chapter 9](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/9)

Implicitly referenced as part of the 'old and everlasting story' of philosophy creating the world in its own image, a tradition the Stoics continue.

### [14](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/14)

Exemplifies the aristocratic mode of thought that resists obvious sense-evidence, using pale, cold conceptional networks to master the 'mob of the senses' and achieve a higher form of world interpretation.

### [28](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/28)

His 'secrecy and sphinxlike nature' is meditated upon; the discovery of Aristophanes' book under his pillow highlights a complex relationship with the culture he repudiated.

### [Chapter 30](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/30)

Referenced indirectly as part of the Greek philosophical tradition that distinguished between exoteric and esoteric teachings, based on a belief in gradations of rank.

### [134](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/134)

Implicitly referenced as a key representative of the philosophical tradition that distrusts the senses, which this statement opposes.

### [Chapter 190](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/190)

Described as too noble for the core 'Socratism' in his moral philosophy; portrayed as the 'most daring of all interpreters' who reinterpreted Socrates in his own image.

### [191](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/191)

Described as more innocent than Socrates, expending great philosophical strength to try to prove that reason and instinct lead spontaneously to the same good goal, setting a precedent for later theologians and philosophers.

### [Chapter 204](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/204)

Referenced as one of the 'royal and magnificent anchorites of the spirit,' contrasting sharply with the contemptible modern philosophers.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/plato
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters