Plato Flashcards
(17 cards)
Explain the analogy cave.
Socrates describes a dark scene. There are people in a cave who have been there since birth and have never left. They are chained so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, only straight ahead.
Behind them is a fire and a wall behind that, on top of the wall there are statues that are being moved by another group of people that cannot be seen behind the wall.
The shadows of the statues created by the fire are shown on the wall in front of the prisoners and they think they are real because they are the only thing they have ever seen. IMAGINATION
Prisoner is released and is forced to look at the fire and statues, he is confused and in pain but later realises that other things are more real than the shadows he thought were reality. He grasps that the statue and fire create the shadows which are only copies of the more real things, the statue and fire. BELIEF. Not aware that the statues are part of greater reality.
Next, the prisoner is dragged out of the cave. Dazzled by light and can only look at shadows, then reflections, then at real objects, flowers, trees etc. He sees that these are more real than the statues, and that they were copies of these. THOUGHT He has seen the forms.
When his eyes have adjusted to the brightness, he looks at the sun. He understands that the sun is the cause of everything he sees, sun is the form of the good UNDERSTANDING
Once they reach te form of the good, they must return to the cave to help other prisoners.
Prisoner returns and tries to guess what the shadows are, but having seen reality he is unable to do so and the other prisoners make fun of him.
What do the prisoners represent?
Ordinary people who have not discovered true knowledge (non-philosophers)
They are unaware of reality as well as their ignorance, we rely on our senses.
Our bodies trap our souls
Prisoner shows that we must be set free.
What do the shadows represent?
“To them, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images”
‘Flickering’ ->not perfect
They represent what we see through our senses: horses, flowers, dogs
They can be called ‘phenomena’ (not Fully real)
They can be called particulars (individual examples of things which participate in the form)
Represent illusion created by our senses
What does the cave represent?
The illusory physical world, world of appearances. Cave is full of shadows, world is full of phenomena/particulars.
What does the outside world represent?
The realm of the forms
What does the sun represent?
The form of the good. Allows prisoner to see reality outside cave and enlightens all other forms. Most perfect of all realities. Everything i Plato’s theory of reality depend on the form of the good.
It is “blinding”
What does the journey represent?
Philosopher’s discovery of true knowledge. Philosopher’s must free himself from illusion created by his senses by using his mind to gain knowledge. It is painful and confusing, because it involves changing views. He isn’t told the truth, realised truth himself, doesn’t discover it.
What does the return to the prisoners represent?
No one who discovers reality would want to return to ignorance, but philosopher’s enlighten others.
Strengths of analogy
- True, senses can deceive us.
- We should at least try, accepting truth is difficult
Weaknesses of analogy.
- just because a person knows the truth does not mean they’ll live by it “ignorance is bliss”
- realm of forms is beyond a person’s senses, not clear in analogy
-What are forms/ideals/concepts? Where do they exist?
Behind every concept (beauty or object) there is an unseen reality, a form, which can be seen as an ideal model of these examples, which can be called ‘phenomena’.
Form of Beauty and tree are immaterial and cannot be perceived by senses, only mind/soul.
What makes them perfect?
Forms are perfect ideals, more real than physical objects because they don’t change.
Changing physical world as poor, decaying copy of a perfect, rational, eternal and changeless origin.
Beauty of whatever is a copy of beauty itself. Beaty fade in physical world, but not in the forms.
What have our minds/souls got to do with it?
Our minds/souls were in world of forms before birth and had priori knowledge of them. Souls belong to ideal world, body stuck in physical world. We can classify things in this world because they vaguely resemble the forms.
Relationship between form of good and other forms.
Structures other forms, gives it a nature. Source of all other forms and makes it knowable to human souls. Highest knowledge is knowledge of the good. Goodness participated in other forms of concepts.
Strengths of theory of forms
- Beauty, truth, goodness, justice are universals. They are influential
- déjà BU learning knowledge is just our souls remembering
- common definition of beauty is symmetry SCIENCE universals
Weaknesses of theory of forms
- Elitist philosophy, only philosopher’s can understand the real unchanging world.
- We don’t have evidence of ideals, we can only know what our senses tell us
- isn’t something real or unreal? How can something be “more real”?
Explain Plato’s divided line
At the bottom is the appearance or visible realm, where there is phenomena. Here we are in a state of eikasia, imagination. Move towards pistils, belief. Then we reach the intellectual realm, world of forms. Move from dianoia, thinking until we reach noesis, understanding, and finally we achieve knowledge.
