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Philosophy > Ancient Philosophers - Plato > Flashcards

Ancient Philosophers - Plato Flashcards

1
Q

what philosophical questions did Plato try to answer

A

is there certain knowledge in a world where everything is changing?

are there many things, or is there only one thing really

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2
Q

which pre-Socratic philosopher said that everything flows

A

heraclitus

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3
Q

empirical knowledge

A

knowledge gained from experience

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4
Q

a priori knowledge

A

knowledge that comes from theory or reasoning

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5
Q

epistemological humility

A

awareness that our knowledge is always incomplete

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6
Q

summary of Plato’s theory of the Forms

A

all things experienced through the senses are particular things

we never sense abstract things, only particulars - we can see a beautiful face but not beauty itself

many things can be beautiful, so they share something called beauty even though they are different

therefore, there is a universal idea of beauty which really exists or it could not be shared by many different things

this plato called a form

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7
Q

the form of beauty

A

the form of beauty is indestructible because even if you destroyed all beautiful things, you would not destroy ‘beauty’

and it is independent because beautiful things share in it but it is not limited to them

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8
Q

particulars: football example

A

particulars like football are always a mixture of properties like roundness, whiteness etc.

particulars are also relative. A ball can be large or round, but only relative to larger or rounder things

this means that our knowledge of a particular thing will always be a mixture or relative to other facts

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9
Q

knowing particulars is opinion

A

another way of saying that this is that knowledge of particulars is actually opinion and not true knowledge at all

  • E.g., I might say “That ball is big!”. But it is only relatively big, not absolutely big - there will be other bigger balls
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10
Q

separation: episteme & doxa

A

For Plato, knowledge and opinion, or episteme and doxa respectively, are two different faculties.

  • This is because opinion can be mistaken but knowledge cannot. You cannot know what is false. And as knowledge is about what is real, but ignorance is about what is not real (because if you are ignorant of something, you do not know of it at all), there also must be an intermediate faculty called opinion, which is a mixture of knowledge and ignorance. This is what knowledge of particulars is.
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11
Q

what are the ancient Greek words for knowledge and opinion

A

episteme

doxa

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12
Q

All things experienced through the ____ are particular things.

We never sense ______ things, only __________: we can see a beautiful face but not beauty itself.

Many things can be beautiful, so they share something called ______ even though they are different.

Therefore, there is a universal idea of beauty which really exists or it could not be shared by many different things. This Plato called a ____.

The ____ of Beauty is indestructible because even if you destroyed all beautiful things, you would not destroy ‘_____’.

The Form of Beauty is ____________ because beautiful things share in it but it is not limited to them.

A

senses
abstract
particulars
beauty
exists
Form
Form
beauty
independent

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13
Q

the nature of plato’s forms

A

For Plato, knowledge relates to the world of Forms and opinion to the world of the senses. This means that the Forms must exist separately from the particulars.

simple
permanent
perfect
separate from particulars
logically prior to particulars
the good is supreme form

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14
Q

simple

A

they are simple - not a mixture of anything

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15
Q

permanent

A

they do not change. if they could change they would be what they are not - which is a contradiction

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16
Q

perfect

A

they are standard by which the particular things which contain them are judged

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17
Q

separate from particulars

A

they do not exist in time and space - you do not destroy beauty by destorying every beautiful thing

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18
Q

logically prior to particulars

A

they are logically prior to the particulars, which is to say they take precedence over them

this is because the particulars are what they are by virtue of the Forms, whereas the Forms are what they are by virtue of themselves

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19
Q

the good is supreme form

A

the good is supreme form because it is only by this form that all the other forms are capable of being known.
- e.g. what do the forms of beauty, justice, truth etc all share in common? They are all themselves good, so they must participate in the Form of the Good

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20
Q

what form is the supreme form

A

the good

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21
Q

what are the forms logically prior to (more important than)

A

the particulars

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22
Q

plato’s analogy of the cave

A

The analogy of the cave shows the journey that the philosopher makes from illusion to reality – from ignorance to the world of Forms.

prisoners chained to a wall
the prisoners journey
allegorical

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23
Q

prisoners chained to a wall

A

A prisoner is chained alongside others facing a wall. Behind them is a fire and in front of that a raised wall, upon which objects are placed so that they cast their shadows onto the wall in front of the prisoners.

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24
Q

the prisoners journey

A

One of the prisoners is freed. He sees the fire first, the objects and then he begins the difficult ascent out of the cave.
When he gets outside and his eyes become accustomed to the light, he sees reflections of the moon and stars in the water. Then he sees them in the sky.
Finally, he sees the sun. When he returns to free the prisoners from the cave and tell them of the outside world, they think he is mad and drive him away.

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25
Q

allegorical (symbolic) meaning of the cave

A

The cave: the world of the senses
The shadows on the wall: illusions – what we see and mistake for reality.
The chains: ignorance.
The fire: the sun.
The objects on the wall: physical things.
The difficult ascent: the dialectic – the process of arriving at truth.
The reflections: the process of understanding.
The moon and stars: the Forms of justice, beauty etc.
The Sun: the Form of the Good.

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26
Q

what is the last thing the freed prisoner sees before returning to the cave?

A

the sun

27
Q

what aspect of Plato’s analogy of the cave represents the process of understanding

A

the reflections

28
Q

A prisoner is chained alongside others facing a wall. Behind them is a ____ and in front of that a raised wall, upon which objects are placed so that they cast their ____ onto the wall in front of the prisoners.

A

fire
shadows

29
Q

One of the prisoners is freed. He sees the ___ first, the objects and then he begins the difficult ascent out of the ___. When he gets outside and his eyes become accustomed to the light, he sees reflections of the moon and stars in the water. Then he sees them in the sky.

A

fire
cave

30
Q

Finally, he sees the ___ . When he returns to free the prisoners from the ___ and tell them of the outside world, they think he is mad and drive him away.

A

sun
cave

31
Q

the purpose of the cave analogy

A

For Socrates, Plato’s teacher, education is not giving knowledge to those who lack it. That would be analogous to putting sight into blind eyes. It is turning the whole body and eye towards the light.

knowledge is remembering
whole soul turned to light
intelligible and sensible related
rationalism > empiricism

32
Q

knowledge is remembering

A

The analogy illustrates important elements of Plato’s theory.
It shows that knowledge is remembering and that the effort needs to come from the individual to turn towards what is and away from what is not.

33
Q

whole soul turned to light

A

It shows that the whole soul should be turned to the light – so education is not an intellectual exercise but a moral and spiritual conversion.
This can be seen in the fact that the sun in the analogy reveals what exists by its light – just as we only know truly by the Form of the Good. All knowledge then has a moral dimension.

34
Q

intelligible and sensible rated

A

It shows that the intelligible world and the sensible world are related – the latter is a shadow of the former.
- Just as the fire in the cave represents the sun in our physical world, so the sun in the analogy represents the Good, that by which everything which is, is made visible.

35
Q

rationalism > empiricism

A

Equally, we should take this as a prompt – our sun can only show us visible objects.
We realise from the analogy that if our knowledge only extends to what we can see, then we are stuck in the cave looking at the objects by the light of the fire.
This shows Plato’s insistence that rationalism is superior to empiricism.

36
Q

Quotation from Plato’s Republic

A

“But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes.

They undoubtedly say this, he replied.

Whereas our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good.”

37
Q

what was plato’s teacher called

A

socrates

38
Q

what aspects of plato’s theory does the cave analogy reinforce

A

the effort needs to come from the individual to turn towards what is and away from what is not

knowledge is remembering

39
Q

what aspect of a person’s being needs to be turned towards the light, according to Plato’s analogy of the cave?

A

the whole soul

40
Q

The __ in the analogy reveals what exists by its light – just as we only know truly by the Form of the ____. All knowledge then has a ___ dimension.

A

sun
Good
moral

41
Q

in what way are the intelligible world and the sensible world related?

A

the sensible world is a shadow of the intelligible world

42
Q

Our ___ can only show us visible objects. We realise from the analogy that if our ________ only extends to what we can see, then we are stuck in the ___ looking at the objects by the light of the
___.

A

sun
knowledge
cave
fire

43
Q

evaluation of plato’s theory of the forms

A

Aristotle showed that the theory of Forms was subject to a criticism which reduced it to absurdity. There is a lack of empirical support for the theory of Forms.

plato’s claims summarised
“one over many”
the third man argument
aristotle’s criticism explained
lack of empirical support
modern criticism of plato
disconnection from science

44
Q

plato’s claims summarised

A

Plato claims there are two worlds, which is known as dualism.

He also argues that true knowledge is only grasped through the intellect.

The Forms are non-spatial, they are the things which really exist. The Forms are also an ideal standard - meaning they are absolute and objective.
- We implicitly appeal to such standards whenever we debate the morality of a course of action - without an ideal standard of justice, it would not be possible to judge whether something is just or unjust.

45
Q

“One Over Many”

A

“One Over Many” is not strictly an argument for the Forms.
All it proves is that there are properties of things. Those properties might be immanent​ - in this world - or they might simply be names we give to things - this is known as ​nominalism.

46
Q

The Third Man Argument

A

Aristotle showed that the theory of Forms was subject to a criticism which reduced it to absurdity.
- If we have a collection of large things and their form “largeness” then we should consider the collection of things large, as well as the form “largeness” itself large.
- But in that case, do we not have to appeal to a further form to consider largeness large? And why should we stop there?

47
Q

Aristotle’s criticism explained

A
  • This criticism undermines the idea that the Forms can be ideal standards. It shows that we would need to appeal to an infinite amount of Forms simply to make one judgement.
  • The name of this argument comes from the idea that if you need a Form of a man to explain a particular man, why do you not also need a third man, a Form of the Form of the man to explain that?
48
Q

Lack of empirical support

A

There is a lack of empirical support​.

It is not really surprising that Plato provides little empirical evidence for his theory as he shows, especially in the analogy of the cave, that he believes empirical data is next to useless in gaining real knowledge.

Plato is a rationalist and, as such, makes use of logic and​ a priori ​reasoning for his proofs.

49
Q

modern criticisms of plato

A
  • From a modern standpoint, it looks suspicious that the theory has so little grounding in empirical data, and indeed, appears completely counter-intuitive.
  • For instance, if this world is not really real, and the World of Forms is invisible and only knowable through the intellect, how is it that we are able to predict the behaviour of this world so well through scientific theories? And not just predict, but also manipulate and make the natural world work for us through the use of technology?
50
Q

disconnection from science

A

Plato was not able to see the astounding success of science, which would come nearly 1800 years after his death.
However, it is possible that even if he could have foreseen it, he might still have pointed to the prisoners making guesses about the objects that threw their shadows on the wall in his cave analogy and implied that science is still just a really sophisticated version of this game.

51
Q

how many yeras after Plato’s death did the success of science become evident

A

1800 years

52
Q

who proposed the Third Man Argument

A

Aristotle

53
Q

forms

A

a name Plato gave to ideal concepts

54
Q

reason

A

using logical steps and thought processes in order to reach conclusions

55
Q

rationalist

A

someone who think that the primary source of knowledge is the reason

56
Q

empiricist

A

someone who thinks that the primary source of knowledge is experience gained through the five senses

57
Q

prime mover

A

Aristotle’s concept of the ultimate cause of movement and change in the universe

58
Q

socratic method

A

the method of philosophical reasoning which involves critical questioning

59
Q

analogy

A

a comparison between one thing and another in an attempt to clarify meaning

60
Q

transcendent

A

being beyond this world and outside the realms of ordinary experience

61
Q

dualism

A

the belief that reality can be divided into two distinct parts, such as good and evil, or physical and non-physical

62
Q

aetion (possibly aition)

A

an explanatory factor, a reason or cause for something

63
Q

telos

A

the end, or purpose, of something

64
Q

theist

A

someone who believes in God or gods

Philosophy (20 decks)

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