Título: Plato
Seção: Plato's use of myth
Background: Plato (; Greek: Platon Platon, pronounced [pla.to:n] in Classical Attic; 428/427 or 424/423 - 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Others believe that the oldest extant manuscript dates to around AD 895, 1100 years after Plato's death.

Conteúdo: Although Socrates influenced Plato directly as related in the dialogues, the influence of Pythagoras upon Plato also appears to have significant discussion in the philosophical literature. Pythagoras, or in a broader sense, the Pythagoreans, allegedly exercised an important influence on the work of Plato. According to R. M. Hare, this influence consists of three points: (1) The platonic Republic might be related to the idea of "a tightly organized community of like-minded thinkers", like the one established by Pythagoras in Croton. (2) There is evidence that Plato possibly took from Pythagoras the idea that mathematics and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for philosophical thinking as well as "for substantial theses in science and morals". (3) Plato and Pythagoras shared a "mystical approach to the soul and its place in the material world". It is probable that both were influenced by Orphism.  Pythagoras held that all things are number, and the cosmos comes from numerical principles. The physical world of becoming is an imitation of the mathematical world of being. This ideas were very influential in Heraclitus, Parmenides and Plato.  Aristotle claimed that the philosophy of Plato closely followed the teachings of the Pythagoreans, and Cicero repeats this claim: "They say Plato learned all things Pythagorean" (Platonem ferunt didicisse Pythagorea omnia).  George Karamanolis notes that  Numenius accepted both Pythagoras and Plato as the two authorities 

user: What was platos use of myth?

assistant: the influence of Pythagoras upon Plato also appears to have significant discussion in the philosophical literature.

user: What types of myths were there?

assistant: There is evidence that Plato possibly took from Pythagoras the idea that mathematics and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for philosophical thinking

user: Was there any specific type of a myth that Plato mentions?

assistant: Plato, in general, distinguished between three types of myth.

user: What were these types?

assistant: First there were the false myths, like those based on stories of gods subject to passions and sufferings, because reason teaches that God is perfect.

user: Was there more to the type of myths?

assistant: Then came the myths based on true reasoning, and therefore also true. Finally there were those non verifiable because beyond of human reason, but containing some truth in them.

user: It seems there are more types of myths, Were there a few more?

assistant: those dealing with the origin of the universe, and those about morals and the origin and fate of the soul.