Plato (spurious and doubtful works)

Born in Athens around 428/427 BCE and dying around 348/347 BCE, Plato was a student of Socrates and later the teacher of Aristotle. His writings are usually presented as dialogues, with characters debating big questions rather than receiving easy answers, and works such as the Republic, Symposium, and Phaedo have shaped philosophy for more than two millennia.

He also founded the Academy in Athens, one of the ancient world’s most famous centers of learning. Across his works, he returned again and again to questions about ethics, politics, the soul, education, and the difference between appearance and reality.

Collections of Plato’s writings often include pieces described as spurious or doubtful, meaning that ancient or modern scholars have questioned whether he really wrote them. Even so, those works remain part of the broader Platonic tradition and help show how strongly his name and ideas echoed through later generations.