To fear death is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not; for it is to think one knows what one does not know. No man knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greatest blessing for a human being; and yet people fear it as if they knew for certain that is is the greatest of evil." (Socrates in The Apology)

Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Plato's mother was Perictione whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon. Then at twenty-eight Hermodorus says [Plato] went to Euclides in Megara.

Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. In the words of A.