Plato was born into a political family in Athens. Plato was groomed to enter politics like the rest of his family, however that was not to be as the Peloponnesian War led to the decline of the Athenian Empire, and Plato’s future in politics was ended with the war. After the war the religious conservatives took over, and this led to the execution of Socrates, Plato’s mentor.

Plato was a poet and philosopher, and was acquainted with the doctrines of Heraclitus who provided Plato with the foundations of metaphysics and epistemology. When Plato met Socrates then became interested in the ideas of virtue. For Plato, like Socrates, the formation of noble character was to be before all else. Plato believed that by simply taking a philosophical attitude toward life, one would be just and, ultimately, happy.

In 399B.C. Plato's mentor, Socrates, was brought to trial on the charges of corrupting the youth, idolatry, and atheism. Plato’s book, Apology, documents the trial. In his trial, Socrates stated that he had been told by divine sign to foster a just and noble lifestyle within the young men of Athens. He also stated that, if he was set free, he would continue this practice. He, of course, was found guilty, and was executed one month later. This was the time at which Plato turned away from politics and left Attica with other friends of Socrates and spent the next twelve years in travel and study.

Most scholars agree that Plato began to write extensively after Socrates' trial. The writings of Plato is generally believed to be divided into three groups:

• the "Socratic" dialogues (399-387) followed the teaching of Socrates
  
• The middle/transitional period (lasting 26 years) founding of the Academy moderate eating and talk, sacrifices, and religious observances, and philosophical activity) Platoism = hypothesis theory .
  
• The later dialogues, written the 12 years prior to his death. Socratic ideas play a minor role and the middle dialogues are thoroughly researched.
  

Plato came to the conclusion that mankind's fate was hopeless unless there was a deep change in men's education, and especially in the education of those intending to become statesmen, and that only what he called "philosophy" (etymologically, friendship with wisdom) could make them fit for their task.

Plato regarded the rational soul as immortal, and he believed in a world soul and a Demiurge, the creator of the physical world. He argued for the independent reality of Ideas, or Forms, as the immutable archetypes of all temporal phenomena and as the only guarantee of ethical standards and of objective scientific knowledge. Virtue consists in the harmony of the human soul with the universe of Ideas, which assure order, intelligence, and pattern to a world in constant flux. Supreme among them is the Idea of the Good, analogous to the sun in the physical world. Only the philosopher, who understands the harmony of all parts of the universe with the Idea of the Good, is capable of ruling the just state. In Plato's various dialogues he touched upon virtually every problem that has occupied subsequent philosophers; his teachings have been among the most influential in the history of Western civilization, and his works are counted among the world's finest literature.

Plato’s academy survived for 1,000 years after his death, serving as the model of higher learning followed by many institutions. The academy was closed by the Emperor Justinian in 529 BC.