# Plato — Representative Men character guide

> Plato in Representative Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** The great-eyed Plato

**First appearance:** 0001-ii-plato-or-the-philospher

## Snapshot

The philosopher who ground his whole life into thought, Plato stands as the hinge between truth and every mind that would think after him.

## Who they are

Emerson presents Plato as a patrician Athenian who abandoned war for Socrates, then spent ten years as his scholar before carrying that fire into Egypt, Italy, and the Academy. What fascinates Emerson is not the biography — Plato left none — but the way his writings have preempted every school, church, and poet, making him seem not ancient but perpetually modern. He matters because he embodies the philosopher type at its fullest: a man whose intellect is always moral, and whose poetic gift serves an ulterior purpose.

## Relationships

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

_professional_

Plato was Socrates' student and chronicler, recording his teacher's dialogues and philosophy.

### [Michelangelo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/characters/michelangelo)

_psychological_

Michelangelo's art was deeply influenced by Neoplatonic ideals of divine beauty and the soul's ascent.

## In the story

### [Plato; or, the Philosopher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/chapters/ii-plato-or-the-philospher)

Presented as the representative philosopher whose works contain the culture of nations and from whom all subsequent thinkers derive.

### [Plato: New Readings](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/chapters/plato-new-readings)

Presented as the representative philosopher who marks an epoch in history, with his method of expanding facts into higher platforms and his moral and intellectual insights.

### [Swedenborg; or, the Mystic](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/chapters/iii-swedenborg-or-the-mystic)

Referenced for the doctrine of Reminiscence, which Emerson links to Swedenborg's intuitive knowledge.

### [IV: Montaigne; or, the Skeptic](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/chapters/iv-montaigne-or-the-skeptic)

Referenced as an example of the haughty language of philosophers who speak of others as rats and mice.

## Links

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