Philosophical Language - Plato (chapter 2 in book)

Question 1

Who was Plato?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What are the forms?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What does Plato mean by the forms as ‘changing’?

Answer 3

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)

Question 4

What does Plato mean by the forms as ‘permanent truth’?

Answer 4

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?

Question 5

What does Plato mean by hierarchy? FORM OF GOOD

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

What qualities do the forms have?

Answer 6

Intelligible (known through reason)

Eternal, immutable (unchanging)

Question 7

What are the two realms?

Answer 7

Realm of the forms, inhabited by spiritual souls

Realm of appearances, this world in which things look more or less like their originals

Question 8

What does Plato mean by knowledge vs opinion about forms?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

what do the prisoners mean in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 9

people who do not access reason and rely on sense experience, blind to reality.

Question 10

what does fire mean in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 10

minimal goodness we see in our world

Question 11

what do the shadows mean in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 11

plato called the state of the mind ‘eikasia’. An ‘eikon’ is an image or likeness, the shadows represent our false perception of reality

Question 12

what does the ascent/confusion represent in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 12

hard road of philosophical enlightenment, hard for us to find out the truth in things

Question 13

what does the objects represent in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 13

forms, truths and truth of the shadows in the cave, i.e. truth of what we see in the world of appearances

Question 14

what does sun represent in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 14

form of the good, illuminates other forms

Question 15

what does the return represent in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 15

hard to go back to the world of appearances when you know the truth.

Question 16

what does mocking prisoners represent in the allegory of the cave?

Answer 16

true philosophical insight isn’t understood by those who can’t use reason, perhaps referencing to death of socrates.

Question 17

what are the 3 smilies plato develops his understanding of the forms with?

Answer 17

1. the sun
2. the divided line
3. the cave

Question 18

what does plato’s divided line explain?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

what does plato mean by souls?

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

3 points

Answer 20

P1 – FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

P2 – RATIONALISM V EMPIRICISM

P3 – PLATONIC THESIS HOLDS GREATER VALUE

Question 21

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

1st point (prime mover, telos, 4 causes)

Answer 21

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

Question 22

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

1st point counter (prime mover not coherent, plato + aristotle)

Answer 22

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!

Question 23

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

1st point counter response (cave analogy, below tfotg)

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

1st point conclusive response (lacks evidence, aj ayer)

Answer 24

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…

Question 25

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

2nd point (ideal standard of good, plato)

Answer 25

P2 – RATIONALISM V EMPIRICISM

A: MUST BE A FORM OF THE GOOD – IDEAL STANDARD OF GOODNESS/ JUSTICE

• FORMS: Plato, in believed there was a greater reality beyond the world we experience, accessible through a priori reasoning – the world of the forms. He explains in his book ‘The Republic’ everything in this world was in a process of change; the Forms, in contrast, are the permanent, eternal, immutable, intangible, perfect essences of objects (particulars) found in the World of Appearances
• Brian Davies argues there must be true forms of abstract concepts, such as beauty or justice, as otherwise we would never be able to debate and discuss them must be an ideal standard of good/ form of the good

Question 26

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

2nd point counter (form of the good is idealistic and lacks evidence, popper)

Answer 26

CA: FORM OF THE GOOD IS IDEALISTIC, LACKS EVIDENCE

• Karl Popper argues Plato was searching for permanence and perfection in a world of uncertainty, when really we must just accept the world the way it is – one may argue it is an inductive leap of logic to arrive at the Forms from a premise that there must be truth, which all things have in common form of the good lacks any evidence at all

Question 27

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

2nd point counter response (four causes, prime mover rests on empiricism, aristotle)

Answer 27

R: FOUR CAUSES, PRIME MOVER RESTS ON EMPIRICISM
• Whereas Plato believed an ultimate reality existed beyond this world, accessible only through reason, Aristotle used the empirical method in order to explain the world around him – one can come to a closer understanding of the matter of things through a process of reflective categorisation, per genus et per differentia (through type and difference) via analysis of the FOUR CAUSES: example of the bronze statue (material cause is bronze, formal cause is its shape, efficient is the means it came about e.g. statue maker, and it final cause it its telos e.g. honouring the Gods) empirical method is clear and observable! Form of the good rests on sense observation; makes it more believable…

Question 28

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

2nd point conclusive response (teleological worldview, prime mover. may question purpose within causes)

Answer 28

CR: TELEOLOGICAL WORLDVIEW, PRIME MOVER

• One may question the Four Causes, in particular the final cause – based on a teleological worldview. Not everything seems to have a purpose, and many things can be used for alternative purposes e.g. a cricket bat could be used to kill zombies and not to play cricket – whereas one can criticise Plato for searching for perfection, Aristotle seems to search for purpose

Question 29

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

3rd point (plato thesis holds greater value, analogy of cave is greater than four causes)

Answer 29

P3 – PLATONIC THESIS HOLDS GREATER VALUE

A: QUESTIONING, DEATH OF SOCRATES

• Analogy of the Cave and the Platonic thesis of the Forms evidently holds greater value than Aristotle’s Four Causes – urges us to question our believes in order to gain deeper epistemological positioning… Many claim they are lovers of beauty without ever stopping to question what true beauty is.

Question 30

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

3rd point counter (idea of forms is ridiculous. we can question reality - mel thompson)

Answer 30

CA: IDEA OF THE FORMS IS RIDICULOUS

• We can question reality and knowledge without having to postulate on a separate metaphysical world of perfection – Mel Thompson, Plato seems to dismiss the beauty of our world, with the “dark and dingy cave hardly being a fitting representation” of our world. Stephen Law, the form of phaeces and mud? “Not so heavenly” metaphysical explanations are always absurd

Question 31

ESSAY - FORM OF THE GOOD VS PRIME MOVER

3rd point conclusive response (only to those who haven’t made the assent, reductio ad absurdum,)

Answer 31

R: ONLY TO THOSE WHO HAVEN’T MADE THE ASSENT; IMPORTANT METAPHOR!

• Reductio ad absurdum – The worth of the Analogy of the Cave, The Divided Line, and the Simile of the Sun, becomes clear when one interprets them as metaphors, for questioning reality to gain stronger epistemological positioning
• Within the analogy of the cave/ FOTG Plato highlights that the true philosopher will be mocked upon his return back to the unenlightened prisoners – those who have not experienced deeper truth will find the forms (even in a metaphorical sense), hard to accept, and will certainly prefer the comfort of Aristotle’s empiricism Death of Socrates, for “corrupting the youth” by encouraging them to question authority and use their rational capacities, highlights the danger of not questioning things, and allowing people to enforce their standards onto us!