Ancient Greeks: Plato

Question 1

what is a rationalist?

Answer 1

rationalists use reason to seek true knowledge
they believe that senses are deceptive

Question 2

what is a dualist?

Answer 2

believe that soul and body are separate entities

Question 3

who was Plato?

Answer 3

Ancient Greek philosopher
he was a rationalist and dualist
the student of socrates

Question 4

what are the key concepts of Plato’s concepts?

Answer 4

world of the forms - perfect version/ideas
world of appearances - world of deceptions
earthy particulars
eikasia
counter intuitive - contrary to what common senses would suggest e.g plato told us to ignore our senses - this causes issues as we rely on senses for survival

Question 5

the allegory of the cave:

Answer 5

analogy created by plato to demonstrate how he believes we’re all deceived by the world of appearances and that to find real truth we must access the world of the forms
yet normal humans are too ignorant and reject new ideas as everyone lives in a state of eikasia
only philosophers can access this world of the forms

Question 6

what do the prisoners represent?

Answer 6

humans that are deceived by physical world - they’re kept from the perfection of the Forms

Question 7

what do the shadows represent?

Answer 7

the illusions that deceive us from the outside world

Question 8

what does the cave represent?

Answer 8

the world of Appearances - limited knowledge

Question 9

what does the outside world represent?

Answer 9

the World of the Forms - true knowledge and enlightenment

Question 10

what dies the sun represent?

Answer 10

the Form of the Good = the highest form of perfection and is the most important
it illuminates and sustains

Question 11

what does the journey out of the cave represent?

Answer 11

enlightenment of the truth

Question 12

what does the return of the prisoner represent?

Answer 12

how people prefer to stay ignorant and react new ideas
links to the death of Socrates and he was put to death for ‘corrupting the youth’ - forced to drink hemlock (poisonous)

Question 13

strengths of the cave allegory:

Answer 13

explains why we have pre-existing/innate knowledge (links to platos argument from recollection - should existed in WoF)

Question 14

weaknesses of the cave allegory:

Answer 14

philosophical snobbery
no empirical truth
some are happy in state of eikasia

Question 15

what did Plato mean by form?

Answer 15

they’re the blue-prints to everything in the universe
they’re the perfect version or idea of everything e.g perfect chair or perfect beauty
earthly particulars are just ‘copies’ of their perfect Form

Question 16

hierarchy of the Forms:

Answer 16

1- form of the good (illuminates all other forms)
2- higher forms (characteristics and virtues people should aspire to have = bravery
3- lower forms (perfect objects existing in WoF = perfect chair)
4- material objects (particular examples = chair)
5- images (pictures, paintings, drawing of chairs)

Question 17

what is the significance of the Form of the Good?

Answer 17

philosophers main aim is to access this form as it is the highest form and is the origin of knowledge
humans are compelled to pursue this goodness but no one can hope to do this successfully without philosophical reasoning

Question 18

strengths of the Forms:

Answer 18

explains why we have innate knowledge of concepts e.g beauty (argument from recollection)
recognises that we can be decieved

Question 19

weaknesses of the Forms:

Answer 19

the actual organisation of the forms is very unclear - is they’re one form of cat or one form form each species of cat
philosophical snobbery - only philosophers can assess form of good etc
theory is absolutist - many would argue concepts such as beauty are subjective
concept is less convincing then that of the christian god
too abstract and impersonal