Following SocratesThe Academy was designed to develop a whole way of life and
train people in it. There was no fee, though a private income
that brought the blessing of copious leisure was necessary for
any serious attendance. ‘Students’, if that is the right word,
probably wore a simple cloak. Many of them subsequently
became statesmen, suggesting something of the atmosphere of
the place (though of itself that is not so surprising given the aris-
tocratic nature of much ancient philosophy, which meant that
many alumni would naturally go on to rule). Others became
famous philosophers in their own right, including Aristotle
who attended the school for 20 years. One of Aristotle’s pupils,
Dicearchus, described the Academy as a community in which
people were free and equal, and inspired by virtue and research.
Many of these values are embodied in the Republic, Plato’s
experimental plan for a utopian city. For example, women could
govern as well as men.
Setting up the Academy carried certain risks with it. The idea
of a philosophical school might suggest that philosophy was a
subject to be taught, that it consisted of a set of doctrines or,
worse, necessitated passing examinations: the Academy might
become academic. Socrates was peripatetic for these reasons. He
did not want to inform others. As an agnostic how could he? He
wanted to form them to be open to more of life.
Plato seems to have avoided these pitfalls for the most part,
though he clearly moves on from Socrates. For example, one
might ask why, alongside the question of how to live, he estab-
lished disciplines such as geometry, logic and natural science?
May this not be evidence that he started to value abstract
thought for its own sake? Not quite. The goal of pursuing what
we would call scientifi c knowledge is not that it represents the
last word on truth: Plato calls such an idea ridiculous in the
Republic. Nor, particularly, that scientifi c knowledge may fi nd
use through application. Rather, knowledge of nature is most
valuable insofar as it draws connections that then become a
basis from which deeper insights may be glimpsed. Science is
a prelude to philosophy, and a good, even necessary, one. But