ANCIENT PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES

Question 1

What did Plato think was the best way to gain knowledge?

Answer 1

• rationalism - the idea that knowledge is gained through reason
• A priori knowledge

Question 2

What did Aristotle think was the best way to gain knowledge?

Answer 2

• empiricism - the idea that knowledge is gained through experience
• we use our 5 senses to come to conclusions and learn
• A Posteriori

Question 3

What is the Realm of the forms?

Answer 3

• A non-physical realm where the perfect, unchanging version of everything exists

Question 4

Explain the Hierarchy of the forms and the function of the Form of the Good:

Answer 4

• at the top of the hierarchy is the form of the good It gives meaning, order, and reality to all other Forms.

1. Form of the Good (highest)
2. Other abstract Forms (Beauty, Justice, Equality, etc.)
3. Forms of physical objects (like ‘Tree-ness’ or ‘Chair-ness’)
4. Physical world copies (the things we see around us)

Question 5

What is the analogy of the caves story?

Answer 5

• Prisoners are chained in a cave from birth, facing a wall, only able to see shadows cast by objects behind them, lit by a fire.
• The shadows represent the illusions of the empirical world, which the prisoners wrongly take as reality.
• One prisoner is freed and leaves the cave, initially blinded by the sunlight (symbolising the painful process of gaining true knowledge).
• Outside the cave, he sees the real world — the world of the Forms, which represents true, unchanging reality.
• The Form of the Good is like the sun; it illuminates and gives meaning to all other Forms.
• The freed prisoner returns to the cave to tell the others but they are chained by their experiences and are in disbelief

Question 6

What do the chains represent in the analogy of the cave?

Answer 6

it represents how we are chained by our experiences. We believe everything we see and hear but we are trapped in a state of ignorance

Question 7

What does the cave in the analogy represent?

Answer 7

represents the physical reality we are living in now

Question 8

What do the shadows the prisoners see represent?

Answer 8

us ordinary people can only see a reflection of the true things which are in the realm of the forms

Question 9

what does the outside world represent in the analogy of the cave?

Answer 9

getting freed into the realm of true knowledge - the realm of the forms which is not in the physical world

Question 10

what does A priori mean ?

Answer 10

knowledge that is not dependant on experiences - they use pure reason to come to conclusions

Question 11

what does A posteriori mean?

Answer 11

knowledge based on sense experience - using your 5 senses to gain knowledge and come to conclusions

Question 12

what is a ‘tabula rasa’?

Answer 12

the idea that humans are born as a ‘blank slate’ ready to take in information and to learn to respond to see experiences

Question 13

what is the difference between the realm of the forms and our physical world?

Answer 13

• The World of the Forms — a perfect, eternal, and unchanging realm of ideal concepts (like Beauty, Justice, Goodness).
• The physical world — the imperfect, temporary, and constantly changing world we experience through our senses.

Question 14

Explain the belief about the relationship between the Forms and the physical reality

Answer 14

• The physical world is a copy or reflection of the Forms.
  Everything in the physical world participates in or imitates a Form, but is only a flawed and incomplete version of it.
  For example: A beautiful painting is beautiful because it shares in the Form of Beauty, but it’s not perfect or eternal.
• The Forms give meaning and structure to the physical world.
  Without the Forms, we wouldn’t be able to recognise or categorise things (like knowing what Justice is, or what makes a circle a circle).

Question 15

what is dualism?

Answer 15

• Dualism is the belief that reality is made up of two distinct, separate substances or realms. In philosophy, it often refers to the idea that the mind (or soul) and the body are two different things — the mind being non-physical and the body being physical. Dualists believe these two substances exist independently, though they may interact.

Question 16

what does immutable mean?

Answer 16

absolute and unchanging

Question 17

what are some arguments for Plato’s realm of the forms ?

Answer 17

• one over many argument: We notice many different things (e.g. beautiful things) and recognise they all share something in common — beauty itself, which exists perfectly in the Realm of the Forms
• Ideal standard argument: The Forms act as perfect standards (e.g. absolute Goodness, Beauty) by which we judge things in our world
• knowledge argument: Plato believed the physical world is constantly changing and unreliable because of this, true knowledge can’t come from the physical world. Instead, it comes from the Realm of the Forms - perfect.
• argument of opposites: Plato argued that many things in the world come into being from their opposites. He then applied this to life and death:
  If living things come from dead things, death must lead to life in some way. This supports his idea that the soul is immortal — after death, the soul exists in the Realm of the Forms before being reborn. This helps justify his claim that souls have knowledge of the Forms before birth.

Question 18

what are some arguments against Plato’s realm of the forms ?

Answer 18

• Bad or undesirable forms: there can’t be wq