evidence: Plato (l. c. 424/423 to 348/347 BCE), the Greek philosopher whose works have significantly shaped Western thought and religion, is said to have initially been a poet and playwright and, even if the primary source of this claim (the often unreliable Diogenes Laertius, l. 3rd century) is challenged, Plato's works themselves argue in favor of it. [...] The child who would grow up to be known as Plato was born either in Athens or on the nearby island of Aegina. His parents are said to have been among the early Athenian colonists of Aegina and allegedly lived in the house of Phidiades, son of the philosopher Thales of Miletus, before moving back to Athens to the deme (borough) of Colytus. It is possible, therefore, that Plato was born in a house associated with the first known philosopher of ancient Greece, though it is likely this is a later invention. Wherever he was born, according to Laertius, he was named Aristocles, son of Ariston, of Colytus. [...] If Laertius had thought to clearly cite his sources, passages like this would carry more weight with modern-day scholars but, as it is, his work continues to be cited in the absence of other biographical information on Plato and other philosophers of ancient Greece. Waterfield dismisses this passage as "irrelevant" in that it cannot be corroborated and there is no need to question whether "Plato" was Plato's birth name.