Plato Flashcards
Plato was a RATIONALIST. What does this mean?
Rationalists believe the senses cannot be trusted and think that true knowledge can only be gained through reason.
What did Plato want to help people reach?
Eudaimonia (fulfilment)
What was the name of the school he started, and what did students learn there?
The academy, students learned maths, spelling, and how to be good and kind.
What was platos ultimate goal?
He wanted politicians to become philosophers.
Who was Socrates?
Socrates was Platos teacher, most of the things we know about Plato are written by Socrates. He made what was known as the ‘Socratic Dialouge’
What is the Socratic dialouge?
Socratic dialouge is a way to reveal flaws of others ideas by asking seemingly innocent questions, so ‘he would be able to understand’. It allowed for people to find flaws in their own ideas instead of out right telling them.
Why did Socrates die?
He was accused of teaching youth to disobey their parents and others in power. He was sentenced to death by hemlock.
Why did Socrates hate democracy?
He believed that voting should be considered a skill and not an intuition. Letting people vote without education is irresponsible, it should be taught.
What was Platos most noticeable teaching?
Plato believed of a ‘realm of forms’ which contained a ‘perfect’ unchanging version of everything. He believed our soul was there before coming to our body. Anyone can gain knowledge of this through reason. He believed the world we are in now is simply a material world, because it is flux, always changing, it cannot be the real version of something
What was Platos allegory of the cave a metaphor for?
Societies and the process of enlightenment. Also shows the connection between the physical, material and higher world.
What does th sun represent in the allegory of the cave?
The sun represents the form of the good, the most important as it is present in every other form. When the escapee comes out, he is ‘blinded’ by the sun, showing how hard the journey of enlightenment is.
What does the cave show in the allegory of the cave?
It shows that empiricists are stuck in a cave of misunderstanding.
What do the shadows represent in the allegory of the cave?
The prisoners could only see these shadows, and they were mistaken into thinking they were real. It shows the way material concerns blind us from the true importance of life. It shows that if we rely on our senses, we will never gain true knowledge.
What does the game (guess the next shadow to appear, if you are right you are praised) show?
Plato is trying to show that it is foolish to have a ‘master’ that doesn’t have true knowledge - this is one of the reasons why he believes politicians should be philosophers.
What does the cave say about knowledge?
Everyone is capable of learning, only if they desire to.
What do the prisoners represent when they attack the philosopher (escaped prisoner)?
It shows that they are scared of change/the truth
What else does the cave show?
we value the wrong things (praise) instead of the right things such as truth
Democracy- only a few live outside the cave, therefore ruling by the masses is a bad idea
