Philosophical language and thought: Plato

Explain what these things in Plato's analogy of the cave mean: 1 The prisoner 2 The shadows 3 The cave 4 The outside world 5 The sun 6 The journey out of the cave 7 The return of the prisoner

1 The rest of humanity 2 The false version of the truth- an illusion of reality 3 The world in which we live in 4 True reality 5 Enlightenment 6 Prisoner feels discomfort and pain showing people feel discomfort when experiencing new things 7 Other's reaction to the knowledge of philosophical truths.

How does Aristotle criticize Plato?

Aristotle says that it may be we accept that there are 'ideal concepts' in things like mathematics such as the concept of infinity and we might be happy of accept there are 'ideal concepts' of truth, justice, goodness. However, it is harder to accept that there might be ideal forms of negative qualities such as jealousy or spite and it is also difficult to understand how everything in the world has an ideal form. Aristotle also disagrees with elements of this philosophy as Aristotle believes that due to it's lack of scientific evidence to support it, it is difficult to understand and credit. Aristotle believed it was more important to make sense or focus our efforts of the things around s if we want to understand how the world works and how best to live.

Define transcendent

Beyond the material world. Above the range of normal, physical human experience. The forms are transcendent.

What is the hierarchy of the forms?

Form of good ( highest form of good) Truth, Beauty, Justice (three key concepts that we are able to recognize from their forms) Concepts and Ideals ( E.g- love, inferior to truth, beauty, justice but superior to actual objects) Physical living objects Inanimate objects

What does Hume say about Plato's ideology?

Hume argues there is no such thing as intelligence. There are only two sorts of knowledge what reason can demonstrate; a priori and what we learn through our sense; a posteriori. But Hume argues that reason can only demonstrate analytic truths. It can't provide 'insight. Plato's may respond to this by saying unless we allow for such a thing as rational insight, we will fall into skepticism.

What does A.J Ayer say about the form of the good?

He argues that when we talk about something as being 'good' or 'bad', we are simply expressing our own emotional reaction to it, not referring to any real knowledge. Some people such as Aristotle argued that thee cannot be a single form of the good because goodness relates to specific actions, situations and people. There cannot be just good itself, as that has no relation to anything. Morality, Aristotle thought, cannot be eternal and changeless with a single 'right answer' because no situations are the same.

Define a priori

Knowledge gained by experience through reasoning alone

Define a posteriori

Knowledge which is gained through sense experience

What did Plato believe about understanding the form of good?

Once you can understand the form of the good, you can understand all other forms because they are all aspects of goodness. The good is like the sun, it illuminates all the other forms, which makes them visible and knowable. The knowledge of the good is therefore the highest knowledge a human is capable of.

Why did Plato believe that the unchanging nature of the Forms made them more 'real' ?

Physical, material things are given their reality by the forms, according to Plato they 'participate' in the Forms. The Forms are perfect exemplars of different aspects of the world. Material things are forever in a state of change which is chaotic, but the Forms exist changelessly. They do not exist without time or space because they are concepts rather than 'real' things.

What is Plato's demiurge?

Plato believed the world was created by a god he called the demiurge. The demiurge made the world by fashioning it out of material that was already there, which was a mess before the demiurge got to work this mean he is a craftsman/workman.

Define form

Plato meant the idea of soething. The form of the dog is the idea you have of what a dgo is alrhough tthere are different types of dog.

Explain the theory of forms

Plato noticed that the physical world is always changing and he noticed that nothing ever stays the same, which presented a problem for Plato. He questioned how we could attain true knowledge , if the objects around us that we need to study are forever changing. This meant that Plato believed that we see things in the physical world as in a process of change and thereofre we cannot gain true knowledge. However, he argued that we can gain true knowledge from other realities. These realities are known as the 'forms' or 'ideas'.

What does Plato say about the demiurge and his creation?

Plato says the demiurge tried to make the universe as well as he could but he had limited materials and so the final result is as good as he can manage, but is not perfect as it's physical and so subject to change. When Plato applies the word 'good' to the demiurge it means he can be judged in comparison with the form of the good.

What does Plato believe about the things we experience in the world around us?

Plato states that what we see around us through our senses are imitations of the perfect form. When we see something such as justice, we recognize it as justice because we know what 'true justice' is, as a concept. We realise that the human example of justice that we are witnessing is not perfect justice, because in this changing world nothing is ever perfect, but for Plato the fact we recognise it is not perfect shows we have an inner understanding of what 'ideal justice' or the 'Form of justice' might be.

Define absolutist

Plato was an absolutist. Goodness itself exists beyond this world as the highest form of reality, as an objective, absolute things that exist eternally such as the form of the good.

Who was Plato?

Plato was from an aristocratic Athenian family and went was a friend of Socrates. Plato's ideas are similar to Socrates's who believed that there is a further dimension of reality.

What do scientists say about Plato's views?

Scientists state that the physical world is worth studying in its own right and can give true insights into that nature of reality and many scientists claim this world is the only reality there is. Richard Dawkins says it is nonsense to talk about a transcendent 'other world' beyond the physical. This world might be changeable, but we can still study it with its changes and processes and gain true and valuable knowledge which benefits us all in our daily lives.

Who was socrates?

Socrates was one of the most powerful philosophers in history. He encourages students to examine their beliefs and his method of teaching was question and answer style. He devoted his life to gaining self-knowledge.

Define contingent

Something which depends on something else for it's existence. The particulars in the realm of apprearances are contingent on the forms.

Give a 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses for Plato's analogy of the cave

Strengths - Explains why we can all recognize the same essential elements in something. The fact that we can all recognize beauty, without being taught about it, must mean that we all have a collective experience of beauty. - It also helps us to understand why there are imperfections in the world. It doesn't rely on us accepting the presence of an all-present higher being who creates imperfections for reasons we can't understand. Imperfections are merely a result of the fact we live in the material world and material objects are merely shadows of Forms. Weaknesses -Nobody can prove that the world of forms exist. It is an alternate reality, another universe, it is not within human knowledge or experience. Therefore, there is no real empirical evidence for it's existence. - Plato says that are senses are inferior and that we should not rely on them, however, years ago people relied on their senses for survival.

What does Plato's forms show?

That most people are imprisoned by their misconception of the world. Plato believed that true reality existed beyond our norms and perceptions of the world. What we see around us is juts a shadow of the truth.

Define dualist/dualism

The belief in two distinct principles whcih are often opposites. For examples, Plato believed in two opposite worlds, the realm of the forms and the realm of appearances.

Explain the form of good

The most important form is the form of the good as it illuminates all the other forms and gives them value. For example, beauty is a form of goodness, so they are the higher forms. Goodness is seen as the purest, most abstract form and is the furthest away from the realm of appearances. Goodness is something that we have never seen in it's true form, however, we have seen it in actions and role models who we deem as 'good'. True knowledge for Plato is knowledge of goodness.

What is the general message of the analogy of the cave?

The prisoner represents those who undertake philosophy and challenge freedom. Those in the cave are representative of all those who prefer to live in an 'unexamined life' and who are content to be impressed by appearances. The ones who are willing to climb the walls of the cave and persevere with the journey of wisdom are those who have the innate ability to perceive the truth behind the illusions presented to our five sense. They recognizes this is not the real world, but that reality is invisible.

Define epistemology

The theory of knowledge especially its methods and validity and the distinction between justified belief and opinion

Define empirical / empiricism

The theory that all knowledge comes from sense experience.

What does Plato believe about somethings such as number and evil?

They don't conform to a form.

Define metaphysics

This is the first principles of things such as the abstract ideas such as being, identity, knowing , time and space etc.

Define Eikasia

This is the state of mind of the prisoners, to show a low level of understanding

Define the realm of appearances

This world. The world of the senses.

How does Plato believe we gain true knowledge?

Through reason

What does the cave analogy teach us about our senses?

True knowledge cannot be gained from our sense as they are unreliable, so we cannot trust them . True knowledge can only be gained through thinking and reasoning.

What does Plato say about the quest for wisdom?

Understanding of the nature of the form of the good only comes at the end of the philosophical quest for wisdom.

Define realm of the forms

Where the forms exist. The 'real' world