Plato Flashcards
(40 cards)
When did plato die?
348 BC
When and where was plato born?
427 BC Athens - Greece
Who was plato a student and later a teacher of?
Student of socrates, teacher of aristotle
What does the cave symbolise?
World of sight/ appearances
What do the prisonsers symbolise?
People in this world who are trapped by physical appearances and sense experience
What do the objects symbolise?
Imitations of the forms
What do the objects carried by people symbolise?
Represent those who lead people but don’t actually know the truth
What does the fire represent?
The sun of our world
What does the journey out of the cave symbolise?
Journey of the soul into the realm of the forms
What does the sun symbolise?
Form of the good
Why did plato say that knowledge of the forms is essential for any ruler?
So that a ruler can govern justly, not just to further their self- interests
What is good about plato’s analogy of the cave?
Because empirical knowledge can be flawed - we live in an imperfect world and it gives a reason for imperfections in the world.
What does reason take over?
Our senses
What is plato unclear with in his analogy of the cave?
The link between the world of appearances and the forms
Why wont some people accept plato’s argument?
Because it is an absolutist argument
What do we have no proof of?
That the cave or outside world are real
What are forms?
Perfect ideas, types of things
What are the three qualities of forms?
timeless, unchanging and eternal
what is the world of the forms more important than?
the changing world of appearances
where do forms exist?
in their own right in the world of forms - not just ideas created by people’s minds
what are particulars?
imperfect copies of the forms that participate in the form
what is the form of the good?
the heirarchy of all forms
what does the form of the good illuminate?
all other forms
what is the aim of everything?
goodness
