19. General Characteristics of his Philosophy. -- Plato worked on the principles of Socrates but completed the latter's philosophy. The universal idea, the fruit of Socratic induction and the basis of definition, is the keystone of Plato's system. He carried it into regions of research that Socrates had never explored. He made an attempt at philosophical systematization, -- an attempt that was new and original in conception, and in which he touched on all the fundamental problems that an integral philosophy can deal with. In this constructive effort he utilized the various systems of his predecessors.

The confusion between science and virtue disappears. By a closer study of science, Plato got a juster notion of its true value. However, he was too deeply imbued with the teaching of Socrates not to seek in virtue the necessary complement of science. It remained for Aristotle to establish the independence of each, and to show forth their true relations.

Among the extrinsic apparatus of Plato's philosophy, we must call attention to the use of dialogue and myth. In the Platonic dialogue each speaker embodies and expresses a theory, and all the conversations converge and lead up to the opinion of the principal character, Socrates, under whose name Plato gives expression to his own views. The use of dialogue in philosophy has disadvantages which Plato himself seems to have felt. Freely used in his earlier works, it appears in his later writings merely as an introduction to an easier style and a more pleasing form of exposition. It is sometimes even dispensed with altogether, as is the case in his Laws. In domains where he lacked data, Plato was fond of falling back upon myth. It is often very difficult to distinguish reasoning from fancy in his writings.