Ancient Greek Philosophy - Plato Flashcards
1
Q
who was Platos teacher ?
A
Socrates
2
Q
how did Socrates die ?
A
he was forced to commit suicide by the government and drink the poison “hemlock”
3
Q
what is the Meno ?
A
story of the slave who was able to perform a geometrical sequence with no knowledge of it
4
Q
what is a form ?
A
a perfect idea or concept from the spiritual world
5
Q
what is dualism ?
A
soul and body
6
Q
what is the form of the good ?
A
- the superior form
- every form attained its values from the FOG
-this is what makes it the best form - everything lesser than it participates in the form of the good
- the particular of the chair participates in chairness and the FOG
- all particulars are contingent on goodness
- even the noble forms are, we couldn’t know beauty, justice and truth without goodness
- allegory of the cave and the reflection in the water highlights this
- and the innate knowledge of the sun shows how we have a priori knowledge of this good
7
Q
what is the world of appearances ?
A
physical world
8
Q
what is a priori knowledge ?
A
knowledge gained before birth , innate
9
Q
what is a posteriori knowledge ?
A
knowledge attained with experience and observation
10
Q
what does finite mean and what does it relate to ?
A
something is limited , physical world
11
Q
what is the famous Heraclitus quote ?
A
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
12
Q
describe the form of a highlighter
A
the particular of the highlighter participates in the form of penness
13
Q
how do we attain a priori knowledge ?
A
our eternal souls existed before we were born in the world of forms learning the concept of ideas
14
Q
why is the soul being eternal an attractive idea to Plato ?
A
he’d like to think souls are eternal because of the death of Socrates his idol and teacher
15
Q
what is empiricism ?
A
knowledge based on experience derived by the senses
16
Q
epistemology
A
study of knowledge
17
Q
define contingent
A
to rely/depend on
18
Q
define transcendent
A
extraordinary or beyond human experience
19
Q
what does demiurge literally mean?
A
craftsman
20
Q
what did the demiurge do ?
A
- fashioned the physical world from matter that was in chaos
- creatio ex materia
21
Q
why isn’t the demiurge synonymous with goodness?
A
he like everything else participates in the form of the good and learned the concepts of the spiritual world before birth
22
Q
what is the hierarchy of forms ?
A
materialistic forms , noble forms , form of the good
23
Q
what are the noble forms?
A
abstract ideas - truth , justice , beauty
24
Q
summary of the allegory of the cave (inside the cave)
A
- there is a cave in which three men are chained to face a wall
- they have been there all of their life
- behind them is a fire
- in-between them and the fire is a raised walk way where men walk carrying objects that cast shadows on to the wall in front of the chained men
- the chained men believe that these shadows are true reality, the men also cause noises to echo in the cave which the chained men believe
25
summary of the allegory of the cave - journey outside of the cave
- one day a man is released
- he turns to see that the fire was the source of the shadows and that they were false reality
- he is then dragged out of the cave, enduring an intense journey
26
summary of the allegory of the cave - outside of the cave and back in
- once he has left he begins to unravel and make sense of true reality
- firstly he is blinded by the sun and cannot look directly at it
- so, he looks at the sun through its reflection in the water
- once adapted he looks at the sun and realises it is the 'source of all the seasons' (a priori knowledge)
- he then returns to the cave and spreads the word but they threaten to kill him
27
what does the cave itself represent?
- much like the cave was an imitation of true reality the world around us could be such an imitation
- what was see is not the truest reality because our episteme is limited with empiricism.
- it also made plato question, if the world around us is limited how do we have knowledge?
28
what do the shadows in the cave show?
the shadows represent objects in the real world that are just imitations of their perfect copy in the world of forms
but we believe these imitations to be true
29
what is meant by the escaped prisoner?
the person seeking more knowledge and enlightenment
plato believed in philosopher kings that those who seek knowledge are the best to rule etc
30
the fires meaning?
- when the prisoner sees it is is the first step to enlightenment
- 'the unexamined life isnt worth living' socrates - the prisoner is begining to examine
31
what does the world outside of the cave show?
- WOF - true reality
- spiritual, purley intelligable world
32
the sun
- the FOG
- everything participated in the sun, even the fire
- much like everything participates in the FOG
33
what is rationalism?
- the principle of your episteme favouring reason as a means of gaining true knowledge
- believes that knowledge through experience is limited
34
Poppers criticism of Plato?
- Plato was enduring an existential crisis after the death of Socrates
- Its clear that the allegory of the cave has direct links to Socrates, such that the enlightened prisoners life was threatened for attempting to spread their knowledge
- much like Socrates was killed for educating the youth
- if Plato was just suffering with this it means his theory isnt credible as its a mere attempt to deal with the temprement of human life
35
Descartes support for plato
- 'senses deceive me from time to time and it is prudent to trust that has fooled us even once'
stick in water example - it appears bent even tho it is not
36
behaviourist criqtiue of Plato
- john locke - we are born a blank slate 'tabula rasa'
- ideas are learned through conditioning and experience
37
evaluate the form of the good
+ it aligns with moral cognitivism - goodness is true and does exist and everything participates in it
+ could explain evil, Augustines theodicy 0 evil is not a thing in itself
- if goodness has the same source there should be one source of goodness- universal principles but this is not the case- morality isnt even fixed for emotivists - its an expression of emotion
- assumes the soul
-popper
- does evil participate in goodness
38
similarities between Platos form of the good and Aristotles prime mover
Neither are presented as anthropomorphic beings like the Judaeo-Christian God. They are both incorporeal (without a body) transcendent Supreme Beings.
Neither outwardly act – the Form of the Good just sustains everything by everything participating in the concept of the Good and the PM sustains everything by being the final cause of existence. They sustain by nature of their own being, not by being immanent beings that are outwardly act in the universe.
They are both represented as singular beings – Neither Aristotle or Plato thought it made sense to have multiple supreme beings – existence boils down to an ultimate ‘One’.
Both are the telos for the existence of everything. The Form of the Good is the supreme Form in which everything else participates and finds its value, the PM is the final cause of the universe as everything exists out of desire for it.
Both are immutable (unchanging), the PM is described as ‘pure actuality’ and the Form of the Good is an eternal idea that cannot decay (change)
Both are necessary beings – they do not rely on anything else to exist. Everything participates in the Form of the Good but it does not participate in anything higher than itself. The Prime Mover is the first efficient cause, it causes while itself being uncaused (infinite regression being impossible)
39
differences between the prime mover and form of the good
One is based on a priori knowledge (rationalism/reason) while the other is based on a posteriori knowledge (empiricist/observation)
The PM thinks of itself and its own nature but the FoG is a pure knowledge and therefore does not have a mind to think
The FoG is purely goodness, whereas the PM is more to do with change, causation and motion
The Prime Mover is the direct creator of the physical universe whereas the Form of the Good is not. Plato explains that the Demiurge is the creator of the world as it fashioned pre-existing material based on its knowledge of the Forms
40
how is the form of the good more/less credible than the prime mover?
Based on a priori knowledge – credible/not credible?
Fails to explain where evil comes from if all is supposed the Form of the Good is meant to be the ultimate source of everything (like the sun) – agree/disagree?
Relies on the existence of the soul to have a knowledge of the Form of the Good – credible/not credible?
Can you use an allegory to make spiritual claims or susceptible to the fallacy of composition?
41
how is the prime mover more/less credible than the form of the good?
Based on a posteriori knowledge – credible/not credible?
Does satisfactorily explain the problem of evil as the PM ‘only contemplates itself’ and is unaware of the physical universe it has created – agree/disagree?
Aristotle was a materialist, not a dualist so the soul not required for the PM to be credible – agree/disagree?
Susceptible to the fallacy of composition – as Russell argues, Gerry Hughes cat and milk analogy also falls foul of this – agree disagree?
42
ignorance and particulars
- we observe particulars in the world due to our ignorance
- when we look at a tree due to our limited senses and ignorance towards attainging true knowledge we do not have a true perception of reality
43
what is the third man argument ?
- it is against the FOG
- say if a man participates in the form of manness
- then a new group of men, , will participate in a new form of maness
- yet the new and old group must also participate in the same form
- due to this there will be an infinte regress (ad infintium)
- this means there can never be a source of the forms and therefore no form of the good
44
platos one over many argument?
- how do we categorise changing particulars?
- we can recognise all trees even when they are so different from each other
- how could we know the tree if we didnt have a priori knowledge of it
- we must be born with this knowledge from the world of forms
45
nietzche
Nietzsche called the form of the good a ‘dangerous error’ and claimed philosophers tend to invent ideas to justify their emotional prejudices, such as a desire for power.
46
ockhams razor and plato
- his theory is a unecessary hypothesis there are easier theories that science could use - aristotle and hume
47
why may aristotle say goodness doesnt come from accepting the form of the good
- its actually through virtue ethics
- knowing good is not enough to be good
- weve seen this in history
- goodness is not objective
