“Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer”: the origin and meaning of the expression. Plato is my friend, but the truth is more expensive Plato is my friend, but the truth is more expensive arguments

"Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer"

Aristotle, who received the nickname Stagirite by his place of birth (384-322 BC), was born into the family of the court physician of the king of Macedonia and from childhood was friends with the future king Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. At the age of 17 he came to Athens and became first a student, then a philosopher at Plato's Academy, where he remained until the teacher's death in 347 BC.

At the Academy, he immediately stood out among the adherents of Plato for his independence. Despite the contempt of “academics” for rhetoric as a superficial and vain science developed by the sophists, Aristotle writes the essay “Topika”, devoted to the analysis of language, its structures, and introduces some rules. Moreover, Aristotle changes the generally accepted form of dialogues in the Academy, presenting his works in the form treatises. The Topeka is followed by Sophistic Refutations, where Aristotle distances himself from the Sophists. However, he continues to be fascinated by working with formalized thought, and he writes treatises “Categories”, “On Interpretation” and finally “Analytics”, in which he formulates the rules syllogisms. In other words, he creates science logic in the form in which it is still taught and studied in schools, gymnasiums and universities around the world under the name formal logic.

Aristotle specifically develops, on the one hand, ethical issues, and on the other, as a separate discipline, natural philosophy: he writes “Great Ethics” and “Eudsmian Ethics”, as well as treatises “Physics”, “On Heaven”, “On the Origin and destruction", "Meteorology". In addition, he examines “metaphysical” issues: the most general and reliable principles and reasons that allow us to understand the essence of knowledge and cognize existing things. This familiar name for us “Metaphysics” arose after the publisher of Aristotle’s works in the 1st century. BC. Andronikos of Rhodes placed the relevant texts

“following physics” (workshops and photography); Aristotle himself (in the second chapter of the first book of Metaphysics) considered the corresponding science - first philosophy - in some sense superior to human capabilities, the most divine and therefore the most precious.

In total, Aristotle wrote more than 50 works, which reflect natural scientific, political, ethical, historical, and philosophical ideas. Aristotle was extremely versatile.

In 343 BC. Aristotle, at the invitation of the Macedonian king Philip, becomes the tutor of his son Alexander, the future conqueror (or unifier) ​​of all of Hellas. In 335 he returned to Athens and created his own school there. Aristotle was not an Athenian citizen, did not have the desire to purchase a house and land in Athens, so he founded a school outside the city at a public gymnasium, which was located near the temple of Apollo Lyceum and was called accordingly Lyceum. Over time, Aristotle’s school, a kind of prototype of the university, also began to be called this way. Both research and teaching work were carried out here, and a variety of areas were explored: natural philosophy (natural science), philology (linguistics, rhetoric), history, etc. At the gymnasium there was a garden, and in it there was a covered gallery for walking. The school began to be called Peripatos(from the Greek yaersateoo - to walk, stroll), and Aristotle’s students - peripatetics, since during classes they walked.

The Lyceum, as well as Plato's Academy, existed until 529. At this time, Christianity had already become the official religion in the territory of the former Hellas, which became part of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In 529, Emperor Justinian issued a law prohibiting pagans, among other things, from engaging in teaching activities; now they had to either be baptized or be subject to confiscation of property and exile. A decree was sent to Athens banning the teaching of philosophy: “so that no one would teach philosophy, interpret the laws, or set up a gambling den in any of the cities” (John Malala, “Chronography,” book XVIII).

Plato and Aristotle were luckier than other philosophers; their concepts, especially Aristotle’s, were adopted by Christian theologians, synthesizing them with Christian doctrine. Coinciding with the Judeo-Christian tradition was their explanation of the essence of the world, based on the existence of extra-sensory ideal reality, the single beginning of all things, which the ancient philosophers themselves called God.

Aristotle's ontology is presented primarily in his works “Physics” and “Metaphysics” (we will talk about the history of this name below).

So, Aristotle recognizes the existence of ideas, agrees with their dominant role in the universe, but refuses their separation from things. From the bifurcated Platonic world, he constructs a single world in which ideas and things, entities and phenomena are united. The world is one and has a single beginning - God, who is also prime mover; but all material things are not reflections or copies of genuine entities, but genuine things themselves, possessing essence, connected with all other things. Aristotle believes that being has not one, but many meanings. Everything that is not nothing enters into the sphere of existence, both sensory and intelligible.

The basis of the world, according to Aristotle, is matter(passive beginning) and form(active principle), which, when combined, form the whole variety of things with the primacy of form. The form is idea, the essence of a thing. The sculptor, when creating a statue, initially has its image, or shape, in his head, then his idea is combined with marble (matter); without an idea, marble will never turn into a statue, it will remain a dead stone. Likewise, all things arise and exist.

To illustrate this with an example of an idea equineity, then it turns out that it is the form that unites with matter according to the laws that are prescribed by the highest idea (horses give birth to new horses); it still remains ideal, the commonality of all horses is explained by the commonality of their form, but not separated from them, but existing together with each horse. Thus forms exist through material things. Even the form of a verse (i.e. the verse itself) exists and develops through its reproduction in oral or written form. However, there are also pure forms without any admixture of matter.

Bertrand Russell, a famous English philosopher and logician, calls the teachings of Aristotle “the views of Plato diluted with common sense.” Aristotle tries to combine the everyday concept of reality with the philosophical one, without denying the former the ability to begin the path to truth; does not deny the world of things authenticity, thereby raising its status.

Aristotle's ontology seems more down-to-earth, but at the same time takes into account the presence of higher entities. The key concept of his teaching is essence. Everything has essence - that kind of being that gives things and the world as a whole authenticity and relevance. Essence is what determines the quality of a thing. Thus, the essence of a table is that it is a table, and not that it is round or square; hence the essence is form.

It is important to understand that the content of the concept of “form” in Aristotle differs from its meaning in our everyday practice of word use; form is essence, idea. Do all entities have a material carrier? No, not all. God is announced shape of forms, pure essence without any admixture of materiality. Aristotle clearly distinguished between general and individual concepts. Under single proper names are understood that refer to a specific subject (for example, Socrates); under general - those that are applicable to many objects (horse), but in both cases, form is manifested through connection with matter.

Form is understood as relevance(act), and matter as potentiality. Matter contains only the possibility (potency) of existence; unformed, it represents nothing. The life of the Universe is a constant flow of forms into each other, constant change, and everything changes for the better, moves towards more and more perfect, and this movement is associated with time. Time is not created and will not pass, it is a form. The passage of time presupposes the presence of moments at first And Then, but time as a condition of these moments is eternal. Eternal time itself, like eternal motion, exists thanks to to the beginning, which must be eternal and motionless, for only the immovable can be the absolute cause of movement. From this comes Aristotle's doctrine of the four first causes - formal(form, act), material(matter, potency), driving And target.

The first two have already been said, the second two are associated with a formal reason, since they appeal to the existence of the One God. Everything that is mobile can be moved by something else, which means that to explain any movement it is necessary to come to the beginning. To explain the movement of the universe, it is necessary to find an absolute universal principle, which itself would be motionless and could give an impulse to the movement of everything else; that's what it is form of forms, the first form, devoid of all potentiality. This pure act(formal cause), or God, who is also the nerve mover and the primary cause of all things. The doctrine of the primary impulse, dating back to Aristotle, is intended to explain the existence of movement in the world, the unity of its laws and the role of movement in the process of world formation.

The target cause is also connected with God, for, setting universal laws, he sets the universal goal of movement and development. Nothing happens without a purpose, everything exists for a reason. The purpose of the seed is the tree, the purpose of the tree is the fruit, etc. One goal gives birth to another, therefore, there is something that is the goal of itself, which sets this chain of goal-setting. All world processes rush towards a common goal, towards God; it is also the common good. Thus, doctrine of the four first causes is intended to prove that:

There is some essence that is eternal, immovable and separate from sensible things; ...this essence cannot have any magnitude, but it has no parts and is indivisible...

All living beings are aware of God and are attracted to him, for they are attracted to every action by love and admiration. The world, according to Aristotle, has no beginning. The moment when there was chaos did not exist, since this would contradict the thesis about the superiority of actuality (form) over potentiality (matter, material cause). This means that the world has always been as it is; therefore, by studying it, we will be able to get to the essence of things and the essence of the world as a whole (absolute truth). However, the paths of knowledge are not associated with any irrational insights and revelations. Everything that Plato promises us through some kind of unprovable recollection, we, according to Aristotle, can achieve by completely earthly rational means: the study of nature (description, observation, analysis) and logic (correct thinking). “All people strive for knowledge” - this is how Aristotle’s Metaphysics begins.

• See: Shichalip Yu. A. Academy under Aristotle // History of Philosophy. West-Russia-East. Book 1: Philosophy of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. M.: Greco-Latin Cabinet, 1995.P. 121-125.
• See: History of Philosophy. West-Russia-East. pp. 233-242.
• See: Russell B. History of Western Philosophy. Book 1. P. 165.
• Aristotle. Metaphysics. Ki. XII. Ch. 7. Cited from: Anthology of world philosophy. T. 1. Part 1. P. 422.

Application of the expression in literature

“Here I have a problem that will most likely send me into disfavour with the king, and this makes me despondent, but nothing can be done. After all, in the end I will have to reckon with displeasure or pleasure, as with my own destiny, as they say in the famous expression "amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas" (Don Quixote by M. Cervantes)

“Plekhanov, delving into all the details, asked and asked, as if trying to test himself. Although, by and large, it was like an examination of an old friend with an old friend. Did the friend even understand the full height of the task that he so vehemently preaches, and what he adheres to tactics. Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas (Friend Plato, but truth is higher than friendship), - his icy gaze spoke about this" ("Georgy Valentinovich Plekhanov. From personal memories" O. Aptekman)

“I’m sorry, but I’m very ashamed to talk like that about a person who taught me true friendship, but amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, sed magis amica veritas - you’re a fucking pig who would prove to a person that he’s in vain eating bananas, that acorns are much better tastier" (N. Chernyshevsky)

Writer Marko Vovček chose the expression “Amicus Plato, sed magis amica Veritas” as the epigraph for her book “Journey into the Country” (Marina Vovchek is the pseudonym of Maria Alexandrovna Vilinskaya)

“Quite recently there was a fire in our city. Several empty buildings burned down in the courtyard of the bourgeois woman Zalupayeva. Ask who was the last to arrive at this fire. I am ashamed of the city in which I live, but for the sake of truth (amicus Plato, sed magis arnica Veritas ) I must tell everyone that the city fire brigade was the last to arrive at the scene of the tragedy, and moreover, when the fire was extinguished by the efforts of the neighbors" ("Satires in Prose" by M. Saltykov-Shchedrin)

“If you think that flattering the living is a thankless task, then how can you call flattery to the dead? To the same citizens who may think that I am a friend of Granovsky, and that it is indecent for me to speak about him with greater severity, I can answer the old, but from this is no less sonorous expression amicus Plato, sed magis arnica Veritas" (A. Herzen)

“What can we say about the defenders of their works and their authors, who seem to have been personally offended by the reviews of Otechestvennye Zapiski about Marlinsky? Try to explain to them that if our magazine were wrong in its opinion about this author, then it should leave its own opinion on various authors ...and that amicus Plato, sed magis amica Veritas" (V. Belinsky)

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer

From Latin: Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas[amicus plateau, sed magis amica varitas].

In world literature it first appears in the novel (Part 2, Chapter 51) “Don Quixote” (1615) by a Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra(1547-1616). After the publication of the novel, the expression became world famous.

Primary source - the words of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (421- 348 BC e.). In the essay “Phaedo”, he puts the following words into the mouth of Socrates: “Following me, think less about Socrates, and more about the truth.” That is, Plato advises students to choose the truth rather than faith in the authority of the teacher.

A similar phrase is found in Aristotle (IV century BC), who in his work “Nicomachean Ethics” wrote: “Even though friends and truth are dear to me, duty commands me to give preference to truth.” In other, later, ancient authors, this expression occurs in the form: “Socrates is dear to me, but the truth is dearest of all.”

Thus, the history of the famous expression is paradoxical: its actual author - Plato - became at the same time its “hero”, and it was in this form, edited by time, that Plato’s words entered world culture. This expression served as the basis for the formation of similar phrases, the most famous of which are the words of the German church reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546). In his work “On the Enslaved Will,” he wrote: “Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but truth should be preferred.”

The meaning of the expression: truth, accurate knowledge is the highest, absolute value, and authority is not an argument.

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Plato is my friend, but truth is more valuable - this

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer

From Latin: Amicus Plato, sed magis arnica Veritas (amicus plateau, sed ma-gis amica veritas).

In world literature it first appears in the novel (Part 2, Chapter 51) “Don Quixote” (1615) by the Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra (1547-1616). After the publication of the novel, the expression became world famous.

The primary source is the words of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (421-348 BC). In the essay “Phaedo”, he puts the following words into the mouth of Socrates: “Following me, think less about Socrates, and more about the truth.” That is, Plato advises students to choose the truth rather than faith in the authority of the teacher.

A similar phrase is found in Aristotle (IV century BC), who in his work “Nicomachean Ethics” wrote: “Even though friends and truth are dear to me, duty commands me to give preference to truth.” In other, later, ancient authors, this expression occurs in the form: “Socrates is dear to me, but the truth is dearest of all.”

Thus, the history of the famous expression is paradoxical: its actual author - Plato - became at the same time its “hero”, and it was in this form, edited by time, that Plato’s words entered world culture. This expression served as the basis for the formation of similar phrases, the most famous of which are the words of the German church reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546). In his work “On the Enslaved Will,” he wrote: “Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but truth should be preferred.”

The meaning of the expression: truth, accurate knowledge is the highest, absolute value, and authority is not an argument.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”.

Vadim Serov.

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer

The Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BC) in his essay “Phaedo” attributes to Socrates the words: “Following me, think less about Socrates, and more about the truth.” Aristotle, in his work “Nicomachean Ethics,” polemicizes with Plato and, referring to him, writes: “Even though friends and truth are dear to me, duty commands me to give preference to truth.” Luther (1483-1546) says: “Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but truth should be preferred” (“On the Enslaved Will,” 1525). The expression “Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas” - “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer”, was formulated by Cervantes in the 2nd part, ch. 51 novels "Don Quixote" (1615).

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B I hope everyone is tired of this saying, but in it, as in everything Greek, lies a sea of ​​nuances that are important not so much for the Greeks, they are knee-deep in the Aegean Sea, but for you and me.

Judge for yourself. "Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer". This means “more dear to me.” Those. there are clearly three present here: (1) Plato, who is called a friend, (2) truth, and (3) Socrates (let's say Socrates, who is behind this phrase).

Plato expressed something that we call Platonic truth, and Socrates, who most likely has his own truth, different from Plato’s, does not agree with it. He will express it now - whether Plato likes it or not.

Socrates has friendly feelings towards Plato, which he declares openly, and this is expressed in the fact that he would not want to offend him. But it can’t help but offend! Because Socrates’ own truth is more valuable than Plato’s well-being.

We dare to guess that Plato may be somewhat upset (that is, Socrates thinks that he will be upset, as he would have done in his place) when he sees that his truth is rejected by Socrates. Those. Plato will not so much like Socrates' truth as he worries about his own.

And Socrates, knowing about his younger friend’s touchiness, hastens to apologize to him. They say, don’t be offended, but I’ll refute you now. And he refutes - as they say, regardless of the persons, in this case Plato.

Judging by his tone, Socrates expressed a universal truth. This means that it is recursively true in relation to itself (because it contains the term “truth”). It turns out that, speaking about the truth that is dear to himself, he means exactly this: “Plato is my friend, but the truth, etc.”

Truth is more important than the warmest friendship - Socrates said this. And even more so, more important than any other person. And this is my truth! At least I share it, even if it was stated by someone else, say (mythical) Athenagoras of Edessa. So, if I share the opinion of Athenagoras, then it belongs to me too! And to you, Plato, I declare my truth only so that you also make it yours, abandoning false delusions. Those. I'm telling you for your own benefit. But even if you don’t agree, I will still express it to you, shout it, recite it. Because the truth is more important than anything else.

We see that the Greeks, “according to Socrates” in the above expression, live not in the world of people, but in the world of truth. (This maxim is the truth of Socrates.) Moreover, it - in any of its forms - is completely concrete, and not conditional, not supramaterial, i.e. not one of those that are cognizable only mystically, through the construction of ideal structures (this is Plato’s idea about the world of the ideal).

The completely material and grounded Socrates prefers specificity to the ideal Plato. In other words, the world “according to Plato,” where the priority of people over ideas reigns, is ideal, unreal, and platonic. Socrates does not agree with such a world; he denies it the right to exist.

I don’t know who Plato really was (in our context), but Socrates, based on the above expression, endowed him with a completely recognizable point of view. Plato (according to this expression) could say: truth is dear to me, but you, Socrates, are much dearer, and I cannot offend you with my truth.

(A small note. Socrates is talking about truth in general. He does not say: my truth is dearer to me than Plato with his truth. Thus, Socrates brings into his truth - and it is still only his! - himself. Socrates seems to be saying: I , Socrates, is more important than you, Plato. - But let’s not focus on this, so as not to completely quarrel our friends.)

So, Plato is afraid of offending Socrates. Socrates is not afraid to offend Plato. Plato sees a friend in Socrates, and this is not an empty phrase for him. Socrates also considers Plato his friend, but is ready to neglect his friendly attitude towards him, for he, Socrates, is even closer friends with the truth. Socrates has a gradation of friendship, a degree of preference: Plato stands at a lower level than truth. (It is not for nothing that he uses the term “more expensive” in connection with truth.) Plato does not have such a ladder: he treats Socrates with no less love than he treats his truth. He doesn't want to offend him. And even more precisely, he would rather offend the truth than a friend.

To offend the truth means to be ready, under certain circumstances, to abandon it, to agree that a friend’s opinion is no less significant, and perhaps superior to mine, it can be assumed to be more true, correct, even if I do not share it.

And if this is the total rule that Plato adheres to, then his only truth is to never offend your friends. Even at the expense of my Platonic truth. And you can offend them only by rejecting the truth to which they reverently cling. Therefore, we will not reject, criticize, or show the inconsistency of someone else’s opinion.

And since we are talking about philosophers, then, most likely, for them a friend is everyone who has his own truth, or at least some truth. For Socrates, living in what seems to him to be a real world, his own truth has the greatest value. While for the idealist Plato, no one's truth is valuable enough to hurt a person for the sake of it.

Practice shows that most people - Socrates - live in a world of truths. Platos live in the world of people. For Socrates, ideas and truths are important, for Platos - the environment.

I don’t want to say that this intellectual and ethical confrontation determines the main course of world history. But practice shows that the balance of power over the centuries has shifted towards the world of people, pushing the world of truth aside. Those. that truth, which only yesterday was recognized as more important than a person, goes into the shadows and becomes a lie.

But why did this shift take so long? Because the Platos cannot impose their obvious truth on the Socrates. Because people are more important to them than the imposed Platonic truth. Let them come to her themselves.

“Following me, think less about Socrates and more about the truth.” These words are allegedly spoken by Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus. That is, Plato puts into the mouth of his teacher the advice to his students to choose the truth rather than faith in the authority of the teacher. But the phrase has spread all over the world precisely in the version given above: “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer.” In this form, it no longer calls for independence of judgment from authorities, but for the dictate of truth over norms of behavior. Truth is more important than ethics.