Chapter 5: The Philosopher-King: Plato Flashcards
What did Plato hope would come from the education offered through his school, the Academy?
a. The teaching of virtues necessary for living the good life
b. Proper disciplining of the mind and soul, free from everyday politics, to develop benevolent philosopher-kings
c. Education in standard classes such as mathematics and music but especially in the art of rhetoric to become experts in sophical argumentation and persuasion
d. Careful study of history and law so as to prepare average citizens for participation in the ideal democracy of Athens
b. Proper disciplining of the mind and soul, free from everyday politics, to develop benevolent philosopher-kings
What motivates Plato to develop the theory of forms?
a. To resolve the problem of dualism with a monistic theory
b. To resist the egoism of his teacher Socrates
c. To have a single, definitive answer to the question of the meaning of life
d. To have a conclusive way to avoid skepticism of the Sophists
d. To have a conclusive way to avoid skepticism of the Sophists
Plato asserts that there exist nonspatial, nontemporal things known in thought, not through the senses. What are these called?
a. Platonic Essences
b. Platonic Forms
c. Platonic Ideals
d. Platonic Signs
b. Platonic Forms
How did Plato attempt to resolve the contradiction between Heraclitus and Parmenides while maintaining the insights of each?
a. By asserting that changes happen but very slowly over time so they appear to not change
b. By defending a dualistic world of both becoming and being, of change and permanence
c. By showing that science is the study of what does not change while philosophers make sense of change
d. By arguing that we know and track changes while the unchanging is out of reach of knowledge
b. By defending a dualistic world of both becoming and being, of change and permanence
How does Plato rank, from lowest to highest, the levels of awareness in the hierarchy of being and knowing?
a. Opinion, informed opinion, expert opinion, truth
b. Direct apprehension of the Good, deductive thinking, informed opinion, illusion
c. Uncritical impression, informed opinion, deductive reasoning, pure understanding
d. Worker, guardian, citizen, philosopher-king
c. Uncritical impression, informed opinion, deductive reasoning, pure understanding
According to Plato, how do we acquire knowledge of particulars—particular things, this man or that work of art?
a. First we know the Form, and then we decide how well it participates in that form.
b. Via recollection because we already have perfect knowledge of all things somewhere inside us
c. We don’t because knowledge of particulars is impossible.
d. Through careful sense perception of its empirical characteristics
c. We don’t because knowledge of particulars is impossible.
What is Plato’s way of illustrating the path from ignorance to enlightenment?
a. Allegory of the Sage
b. Parable of the Good
c. Allegory of the Cave
d. Simile of the Sun
c. Allegory of the Cave
How does the Allegory of the Cave help show people that the opinions of most people might not be as correct or reliable as the wisdom of a few learned philosophers?
a. If our perceptions could be like the shadows on the wall, then there must also be something in this reality analogous to the world beyond the cave that only the wise are aware of.
b. The smoke from the fire skews our perceptions of reality and only the elite firefighters can clear a path to truth; philosophers in real life are analogous to fire fighters in the story.
c. Politicians are deceivers like the people walking with objects casting shadows on the wall that prisoners to a tyrant mistake for reality, but a philosopher-king can metaphorically unchain the people.
d. The darkness of the cave is comparable to the ignorance of babies at birth, but we can be properly educated by philosophers as we grow up, which is like helping us climb out of the cave into the light.
a. If our perceptions could be like the shadows on the wall, then there must also be something in this reality analogous to the world beyond the cave that only the wise are aware of.
What lesson of the Allegory of the Cave is learned by reminding us that entering a bright place after being in the dark, and vice versa, is very uncomfortable and makes vision (temporarily) very difficult?
a. What seems at first very hard to believe might be correct, so we must follow reason more than perception to know what is really real.
b. The search for truth brings discomfort; ignorance is bliss.
c. Senses such as vision need time to adjust to particular conditions, and so we should not draw conclusions about reality too quickly.
d. Reality lies somewhere between darkness and light; the extremes are each bad, but balance brings comfort and truth.
a. What seems at first very hard to believe might be correct, so we must follow reason more than perception to know what is really real.
What does it mean for particular things to “participate in” or “reflect” the Form of the thing that it is?
a. Forms are the sum total of all the things, so each one participates in being a part of the whole that is the Form.
b. Forms are unqualified perfection and things, or physical objects, are qualified and conditioned. The closer to perfect they get, the more they participate in the Form.
c. To measure a thing’s participation in the Form is to acquire knowledge of that particular thing through empirical measurement using the senses.
d. The quality of particular things is measured against a standard, which is called the Form.
b. Forms are unqualified perfection and things, or physical objects, are qualified and conditioned. The closer to perfect they get, the more they participate in the Form.
What, according to Plato, is the key difference between knowledge and opinion?
a. Opinions come from intuitions, and knowledge comes when an intuition is confirmed to be true and reliable or not.
b. Knowledge is absolutely and eternally true, whereas opinions are changeable.
c. Opinions are pregiven and impossible to change, whereas knowledge is acquired through careful study.
d. Knowledge is what the wise have, but average people have only opinions.
b. Knowledge is absolutely and eternally true, whereas opinions are changeable.
In Platonic metaphysics the levels of becoming and being correspond, respectively, to what epistemic activities?
a. Becoming: Knowing things in and through their changes. Being: Imaging possibilities for abstract and objective things.
b. Becoming: Making sense of particular things for individual use. Being: Knowing facts about particular things for general use.
c. Becoming: Forming private opinions about individual and particular things. Being: Understanding truth about public and universal things.
d. Becoming: Predicting how and when particular things will change. Being: Remembering past versions of particular things.
b. Becoming: Making sense of particular things for individual use. Being: Knowing facts about particular things for general use.
What does Plato compare the sun to?
a. The cause of Happiness
b. The absolute Form of the Good
c. The definition of Justice
d. The source of all Truth
b. The absolute Form of the Good
What are the four cardinal virtues?
a. Wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice
b. Faith, hope, love, and charity
c. Justice, courage, temperance, and love
d. Wisdom, hope, love, and courage
a. Wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice
Which of the virtues is the excellence of the whole resulting from the proper functioning of the other cardinal virtues?
a. Wisdom
b. Courage
c. Temperance
d. Justice
d. Justice
Which virtues are needed for the well-being of individual persons, and which virtues matter for a well-functioning state?
a. Each matters to both, but the virtues have different meanings for each.
b. Wisdom and temperance are individual virtues, whereas justice and courage belong to the state.
c. The healthy state resembles the healthy person. Each virtue matters in both.
d. Justice is a virtue of states; the rest are for persons.
c. The healthy state resembles the healthy person. Each virtue matters in both.
How would a functionalist moral thinker like Plato reason that we ought to keep promises?
a. Keeping promises is the right thing to do only when a higher order duty does not supersede it.
b. When you do good things like keep promises, you get more good things in return from others.
c. When you do right you achieve overall well-being and happiness.
d. Doing the right moral action is a key step in becoming a philosopher-king.
c. When you do right you achieve overall well-being and happiness.
What distinguishes Plato’s aristocracy from other authoritarian and hierarchical regimes?
a. It is genuinely merit based on a person’s wisdom and virtue.
b. It is the only gender-blind utopia written by a male philosopher.
c. It is based entirely on wealth with no regard to suitability to lead.
d. It is based on a lottery system, not race, gender, or ancestry.
a. It is genuinely merit based on a person’s wisdom and virtue.
What does Plato mean when he writes that injustice is a form of imbalance?
a. Justice is a well-balanced scale; injustice is when too many people pick the same political party that unfairly tips the scale in that direction.
b. There are unhealthy and improper ratios of rich and poor, male and female, native born and immigrant persons.
c. Different parts of the state should fulfill their own functions. Imbalance results when they try to fulfill functions that are not their own.
d. Crimes and moral wrongs are injustices that, when committed by too many citizens, disrupt the balance of peace in a society.
c. Different parts of the state should fulfill their own functions. Imbalance results when they try to fulfill functions that are not their own.
What needs would an ideal state fulfill that individuals cannot meet on their own?
a. Leadership, solidarity, and education
b. Nourishment, protection, and order
c. Community, justice, and protection
d. Nourishment, education, and order
b. Nourishment, protection, and order
What was Plato’s opinion about democracy, about rule by the many?
a. It leads to irrationality and thus an imbalance and unjust state.
b. It made Athens a uniquely safe and satisfying place to live.
c. It is impossible to create and maintain because the wealthy always overpower the many.
d. It is the ideal form of government and the standard against which actual societies should measure themselves.
a. It leads to irrationality and thus an imbalance and unjust state.
What makes a philosopher-king fit to rule?
a. Being elected
b. The right combination of virtue, wisdom, and education
c. Having a lot of common sense
d. Being born into the right class and family
b. The right combination of virtue, wisdom, and education
How does Plato explain the inevitable transition from oligarchy to democracy to tyranny?
a. When competition among the rich gets too challenging, they invite everyone to join. But the richest of them all takes over and becomes the sole leader, the tyrant.
b. After the wealthy have extracted all the value from the earth and the people, they move on. The remaining people form a democracy, but scarcity makes it unstable. An opportunistic person steps up to lead but takes over everyone and everything.
c. The people demand equal participation and freedom for everyone when the rich get too rich, but all that freedom makes people selfish and irrational. From the people, one in search of selfish power rises up.
d. Only philosopher-kings can create justice, so any system not led by them is weak and easy to conquer by competing forces of wealth, freedom, or power.
c. The people demand equal participation and freedom for everyone when the rich get too rich, but all that freedom makes people selfish and irrational. From the people, one in search of selfish power rises up.
What is tyranny?
a. A type of society in which people of the same ethnic origins and economic class share in the raising and education of children
b. A type of government in which all power rests in the written constitution and the judges who enforce it
c. A type of government in which all power rests in a single all-powerful family who pass on power to their descendants
d. A type of government in which all power rests in a single individual, the tyrant, the most imbalanced type of personality
d. A type of government in which all power rests in a single individual, the tyrant, the most imbalanced type of personality
If philosophy helps us exit the cave, but the majority of society still lives in the world of the cave, why would a philosopher choose to live in the messiness of political life, even as the king?
a. The philosopher-king’s benevolence means desiring to do what is good for the whole city.
b. The blinding power of the bright light fresh out of the cave confuses the philosopher.
c. Returning to the cave to free the others is required for a good outcome after death.
d. Anyone who has a chance at power, especially absolute power, will take it.
a. The philosopher-king’s benevolence means desiring to do what is good for the whole city.
