plato Flashcards
plato, republic (the nature of reality) … (alagory of the cave)
Imagine human beings living in an underground, cavelike dwelling…
They have been there since childhood, necks and legs fettered, only
able to see in front of them
Light is provided by a fire above and behind them
Also behind them is a path along a low wall; they see only shadows of
what moves behind them
They believe that the truth is nothing other than the shadows
Consider what might happen if one of them were released from his
bondage, could stand up and turn toward the light behind them
The one released would see more clearly, more correctly – but he might
be pained by the direct sunlight and initially be unable to see at all
He would need time to get adjusted before he could recognize the things
themselves
He would realize, after his “upward journey,” that the sun ‘governs the
visible world’ and that he previously lived in ignorance
He would prefer clarity to ignorance and not want to return to the cave
One who has ascended to the “intelligible realm” (the life of the mind)
becomes unwilling to occupy himself with human affairs
Education isn’t what some people think: putting knowledge into souls
that lack it; Rather, the power to learn is in everyone’s soul – it is “this
turning around” to see clearly
dialectic
Plato presents philosophy in a ‘dialectic’ form, that is, through a skillfully directed technique of questioning, dramatized in dialogue form.
-Our senses, he believed, were not entirely reliable; our reason, on the other hand can sense an ordered, stable reality.
recollection
Plato further thought that, because each human soul pre-existed eternally in the realm of Ideas,
we must “recollect” what we know (we knew it, forgot it when we were immersed in the flesh,
and must recall it - with the help of a ‘midwife’). The mind, then, is not born with a “blank slate,”
but rather possesses imperfectly held knowledge that needs to be refined and clarified.
dualism
know being vs becoming
-duality shown in allegory of the cave
