1. Plato was a philosopher and mathematician who changed the way philosophy was perceived and practiced in the Western world.
2. Prior to Plato, the word "philosophy" meant the "love of wisdom" and was practiced by many people with little to no application of cohesive methodologies.
3. He often used Socrates as the main character in many of his dialogues, in which Plato sought out the answers to political, social, epistemological, metaphysical and ethical issues through a dialectical discourse between characters.