plato Flashcards
(19 cards)
- What is the difference between knowledge & opinion in Plato’s divided line? 4 marks
Knowledge: Top half of the divided line & the intelligible realm
which deals with mathematical objects/concepts & forms, ideas that derive from pure reason & intellect.
Opinion: The bottom half of the divided line, aka the visible realm, deals with perception (belief) & imagination (conjecture), which derive sensory experience, i.e., material objects
& images which are changeable, imperfect, & unreliable
- What are the ways of thinking (cognitive faculties) associated with
each of the four sections of the divided line? 4 marks
- Imagination
- Thought
- Belief
- Understanding
- Who is the real world for Plato? 1 mark
The world of forms - an immaterial/eternal unchanging
realm.
- Can we have knowledge of the material world according to Plato? (1 mark)
No, only opinion, since the material world is changeable & imperfect.
- What metaphysical level of the divided line is illustrated by the shadows in the
allegory of the cave? (1 mark)
Eikasia - the lowest level, representing mere images or illusions.
- Does the inside of the cave in the allegory of the cave demonstrate the world of
ideas or the material world, and why? (2 marks)
The material world because it represents perception, based on shadows and objects
not the true reality of the forms.
- What is the difference between the material & the immaterial world in Plato’s Theory
of Forms? (4 marks)
- The material world is physical/changing & known only by the senses.
- The immaterial world of forms is eternal, perfect, & accessible only to reason.
- Objects in the material world are imperfect copies of the forms.
- Only the forms provide true knowledge; the material world provides mere opinion.
- What is the epistemological purpose of the Allegory of the Cave? (2 marks)
To illustrate the journey from ignorance to knowledge & to show that education is the
soul’s movement toward true understanding.
- How does the allegory of the cave illustrate Plato’s rationalism? (2 marks)
It shows that true knowledge comes not through sensory experience but through reason and intellectual insight into the forms.
- Explain Aristotle’s notion of scientific knowledge by naming the 3 characteristics of
what he views scientific knowledge to be. (3 marks)
- It is certain & demonstrative
- It involves knowledge of causes
- It is universal and necessary
- How does scientific knowledge for Aristotle differ from what he calls practical
knowledge? (2 marks)
Scientific knowledge aims at truth & explanation, while practical knowledge aims at action & is context-dependent.
- What are the two elements that combine to form an individual substance for
Aristotle? (2 marks)
Form and Matter
- What is Aristotle’s hylomorphic description of an individual (particular) object? (3
marks)
Every object is a compound of hyle & morphe = matter is what something is made of; form is essential nature.
- Explain Aristotle’s concepts of actuality & potentiality. (6
- Potentiality is the capacity to be or become something. - Actuality is the realization or fulfillment of this capacity.
- Why does Aristotle reject Plato’s theory of the forms & what does this tell us about
his approach to knowledge? (3)
He rejects it because forms are separated from the objects they are supposed to
Explain. Aristotle insists the form exists in things, inseparable from them, indicating his preference for empirical, grounded knowledge.
- Name and explain each of Aristotle’s four causes. (8 marks)
Material cause - what something is made of
Formal cause - the shape or essence
Efficient cause - the source of change or motion
Final cause - the purpose or end for which it exists
- Explain Aristotle’s notion of abstraction. (9 marks)
Abstraction is the intellectual process by which we extract universal features from
particular objects, allowing us to know their forms.
- What are the 3 features of the soul for Aristotle? (3 marks)
Nutritive - growth and reproduction
Sensitive - perception and movement
Rational - thought and reasoning
- What does Socrates, Plato and Aristotle’s notion of the soul have in common? (2
All three view the soul as the essential principle of life and reason within the human
being.
