4 ms·

Well, he did invent the word. Snark aside, I think the reason why Plato is so influential is Christianity - basically a radicalized form of his ideas.

• solonagathon 8y ago
  He did not invent the word. In the funeral oration for example Thucydides has Pericles refer to the Athenians as a philosophizing people: Philokaloumen te gar met ' euteleias kai philosophoumen aneu malakias. Plato was probably the first to use the term in a technical sense, to refer to someone who spends his life as a 'professional' philosopher.
  • solonagathon 8y ago
    And of course Herodotus refers to Solon as a lover of wisdom in his Histories. Considering my user name I guess I should have led with that reference.
    • pasabagi 8y ago
      Hmm - I had no idea. I came across the distinction (philosophy/sophism) in Plato's work. I had the feeling that Sophism continued to be the normal term, without its modern pejorative sound, until the advent of christianity as the dominant ideology of the roman empire- certainly, I think the idea of philosophy as the love of (divine) wisdom is a sort of curtailment of the whole project, really only favourable to Platonists, Christians, or I guess Parimedeans- so I thought it's the kind of thing that Plato (and his school) would have put about.