Plato. Between Fiction and Philosophy

To kick off the @TheOrphanMan series of book flash summaries I will be reading from Plato and Aristotle. Before I write anything about either philosopher I want to talk about them both, and their place in history.

How we fit the works of Plato into philosophy is of an utmost importance because he wrote philosophy unlike any other. He inspired Aristotle- whom would then go on to form the more scientific, qualitative school of thought that philosophy has become today.

Aristotelian Essay is a far cry from Plato's dialogues, and a cry still further from the meandering questions of Socrates. Benefit's and problems were gained from Aristotle's new evolution to philosophy. 

Plato's Dialogues were fictions, if based on true people- they did at least admit their own rhetoric by the virtue of the genre of the work. Aristotle however, as he is speaking from the cut and dry of philosophy, which fails to admit the narrowness of its own perspective without the disclaimer, or, in Aristotle's case- much theory and logic.

Plato however, or, at least, the way we read Plato cuts all of that out by rendering his work fiction. The result is a more curated and humilitus piece of work,-all-be-it less all encompassing.

Plato's was a fiction whose very theme was philosophical inquiry- whereas today storytellers put single specific enlightenments at the end of their stories, Plato's story is infinite enlightenment itself.

In his allegory of the cave Plato himself gives notion to the idea that any philosphy or belief one could have is always a distortion of the truth.

Where should we place Plato then, both in genre and history?

To me, Plato is a man who will forever stand at the balancing point between what we call fiction and philosophy. When we look at when he lived in time, all the written works before Plato had been myths like that of Homer.

The philosophical world carries on his tradition of using the themes of enlightenment in their works, and because of his pupil Aristotle- the scientific world has adopted a theme of admitting its own rhetoric. Fiction has accumulated its own truths, but rather more slowly and with much more flashiness and objectively unhelpful content than philosophy and science.

Neither brand of philosophy is better or worse but it is the Aristotlean that has dominated the evolution of philosophy thereafter. Fiction has remained the works of fanciful storytelling, action, drama, and less so philosophical enlightenment- although that element has remained in the best works of art but never to the same degree as Plato's Diaologues.