Ancient Philosophical Influences

Question 1

Plato’s rationalism

Answer 1

Rationalism = knowledge can only be gained from a priori reasoning (pure logic)

Plato relied on reason rather than senses and demonstrated his thinking using analogy of cave and theory of the forms.

Question 2

Plato’s theory of the forms

Answer 2

The world of the forms = true world

Forms = perfect, eternal & unchanging forms of the everyday things we experience

What we experience in this world = imperfect representations of the real form these things partake in

Question 3

Plato’s analogy of the cave

Answer 3

The cave illustrates Plato’s rationalism and his theory of forms.

Prisoners trapped in a cave all their life – they think shadows they see on the wall are the real world. One day a prisoner escapes (philosopher) and sees the actual real world.

= We think the world we see is the real world, but it isn’t so that’s why we can’t gain knowledge from experience