Philosophical Language - Plato (chapter 2 in book) Flashcards
(31 cards)
Who was Plato?
429 - 347 BC
Taught by Socrates, teacher of Aristotle
1st great rationalist, dualist philosopher
Truths of the world known through reason, not observation
Using reason allows us to live the right life, not being carried by emotion
What are the forms?
Ideal, eternal, single versions of things found on Earth. The Forms are found in the realm of Forms, which is above our daily world. For Plato, only the realm of forms is truly real.
What does Plato mean by the forms as ‘changing’?
One can understand the Forms by comparing our world with the mathematical world, everything in our world is in a process of change, where only mathematical truths are permanent (2+2=4)
What does Plato mean by the forms as ‘permanent truth’?
Says there must be similar unchanging truth about objects in our world - for example if we examine lots of chairs, we could see despite their differences
Equally, there’s many beautiful things but they have one thing in common - the Form or idea of beauty, this is the true permanent existing in a spiritual world that can only be accessed by our minds?
What does Plato mean by hierarchy? FORM OF GOOD
Form of the good is the highest form. All other forms have the goodness of perfection from participating in the Good.
In the World of appearances we need eye’s to see and the sun to illuminate what we see. eye = reason sun = form of good.
Below TFOTG is ideas such as beauty and then finally it;s individual forms.
What qualities do the forms have?
Intelligible (known through reason)
Eternal, immutable (unchanging)
What are the two realms?
Realm of the forms, inhabited by spiritual souls
Realm of appearances, this world in which things look more or less like their originals
What does Plato mean by knowledge vs opinion about forms?
People claim they are lovers of beauty but never question what it is
those who think of meaning and access the true form are the philosophers and in ‘the republic’ he claims these people should be the rulers
people do bad things because they’re ignorant of the form of the good
what do the prisoners mean in the allegory of the cave?
people who do not access reason and rely on sense experience, blind to reality.
what does fire mean in the allegory of the cave?
minimal goodness we see in our world
what do the shadows mean in the allegory of the cave?
plato called the state of the mind ‘eikasia’. An ‘eikon’ is an image or likeness, the shadows represent our false perception of reality
what does the ascent/confusion represent in the allegory of the cave?
hard road of philosophical enlightenment, hard for us to find out the truth in things
what does the objects represent in the allegory of the cave?
forms, truths and truth of the shadows in the cave, i.e. truth of what we see in the world of appearances
what does sun represent in the allegory of the cave?
form of the good, illuminates other forms
what does the return represent in the allegory of the cave?
hard to go back to the world of appearances when you know the truth.
what does mocking prisoners represent in the allegory of the cave?
true philosophical insight isn’t understood by those who can’t use reason, perhaps referencing to death of socrates.
what are the 3 smilies plato develops his understanding of the forms with?
- the sun
- the divided line
- the cave
what does plato’s divided line explain?
line split into two, knowledge and opinion
the highest level is reason which comes through intellectual though
the first level of knowledge is understanding - mathematical though e.g. triangles
what does plato mean by souls?
our souls are eternal without beginning or end and belong to the world of the forms
we know about things we haven’t seen because we have experience of their forms.
ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER
3 points
P1 – FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER
P2 – RATIONALISM V EMPIRICISM
P3 – PLATONIC THESIS HOLDS GREATER VALUE
ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER
1st point (prime mover, telos, 4 causes)
A: PRIME MOVER AS TELOS
• Four Causes explain individual changes in the world; The Prime Mover is an explanation for the whole world itself (Final Cause). Aristotle’s God, indifferent to the universe yet the universe’s telos – attracts all parts of the universe to itself, thus inspiring change and movement
- All things desire good/perfection (fulfilment of telos) and the process of change to perfection is in the direction of the PM. Attracting things towards it by sheer will/ consciousness e.g. Cat to milk, moth to light clear and observable, better than the intangible FOTG
- Aristotle’s Prime Mover has been evidently influential as it has inspired the Christian God – Much like the Prime Mover, the Christian God is eternal and infinite, exists outside of time and space, is separate from the universe and is perfect and never changing
ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER
1st point counter (prime mover not coherent, plato + aristotle)
CA: PRIME MOVER IS NOT COHERENT
• People criticise Plato’s theory of the forms for incoherency/ lack of evidence, whereas the Prime Mover is just as idealistic/ incoherent
• The Prime Mover is immutable (unchanging) Aristotle argues everything changes, is it not an inductive leap of logic to claim there is a being that does not change? Perfect – If the PM was not perfect it would have to change from potentiality to actuality – as it does not change it must be perfect/ in a state of complete actuality critical of Plato’s forms for being idealistic, seeking perfection, when he does this through the PM! Necessary – cannot not exist we have no knowledge of necessary beings (Bertrand Russell), term lacks meaning!
ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER
1st point counter response (cave analogy, below tfotg)
R: FORM OF THE GOOD EXPLAINED MORE CLEARLY VIA CAVE ANALOGY
• One may argue Plato’s analogy of the Cave explains the form of the good more successfully – In the World of Appearances we need eye’s to see, and the sun to illuminate what we see. In the World of the Forms we need eye’s: reason, and sun: Form of the Good – illuminates all other forms, all forms have in common the Form of the Good (it is what makes them perfect)
• Below TFOTG abstract ideas such as Beauty and Justice, and then individual forms of objects e.g. chairs, cakes, trees Knowledge of the Form of the Good brings enlightenment to the rational mind.
ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER
1st point conclusive response (lacks evidence, aj ayer)
CR: LACKS EVIDENCE, ALSO INCOHERENT
• A.J Ayer explains Plato’s forms as “primitive superstition” – good is not an actual thing that needs something corresponding to it, much like “nothing” is an absence of something. “Good” and “justice” are the qualities of other things both for FOTG and the PM seem flawed…