Criticism of Plato
<blockquote>Criticism
Carl Sagan said of Plato: “Science and mathematics were to be removed from the hands of the merchants and the artisans. This tendency found its most effective advocate in a follower of Pythagoras named Plato.” and: “He (Plato) believed that ideas were far more real than the natural world. He advised the astronomers not to waste their time observing the stars and planets. It was better, he believed, just to think about them. Plato expressed hostility to observation and experiment. He taught contempt for the real world and disdain for the practical application of scientific knowledge. Plato's followers succeeded in extinguishing the light of science and experiment that had been kindled by Democritus and the other Ionians.”</blockquote>
Sometimes I think that Plato was only interested in numbers and abstractions. As far as we know, he never married or had children. Did he have a life outside of the mind? Another wonder is how did he turn out the way he did if he was a follower of Socrates. All of the other followers like Aristippus and Antisthenes had a practical perspective. Followers of Socrates were interested in philosophy as a way of life. Not Plato though.