Plato Flashcards
Who can Plato’s theory partially attributed to?
Socrates - ‘The Socratic Method’
-> encouraged rigorous questioning of everything
-> rejected empiricism due to it being fundamentally flawed
What type of argument is Plato’s?
Priori
-> based on rationalism
-> independent of experience
-> deductive logic =
proceeds from the general premises to a specific conclusion
What was Plato’s book called?
The Republic
What did A.N. Whitehead say about Plato?
“All philosophy is footnotes to Plato” - A.N. Whitehead
Explain the Theory of the Forms
Plato said that
-> everything we see around us is a shadow
-> the real world is hidden from our 5 senses, so cannot be touched, seen, etc.
What is the Ultimate Reality?
-> contains everything essential and perfect
-> it has always been and always will be
-> can only be understood through using our reason
-> everything has a form
What are the forms according to Plato?
1) Perfect
2) Invisible
3) More Real
4) Eternal
What did Plato mean when he said the forms are Perfect?
All things in our shadow world are imperfect and flawed
-> but the form of everything is perfect
What did Plato mean when he said the forms are Invisible?
Nothing we see is perfect
-> we only see the imperfect shadows of the forms
What did Plato mean when he said the forms are More Real?
Everything in the shadow world depends on the forms for their existence
-> we only see reflections/shadows of the real thing
What did Plato mean when he said the forms are Eternal?
The forms have been and always will be
-> they never change with time because they are changeless
What is the Supreme Form?
“Form of the Good”
The forms themselves are a type of thing
-> so there must be a Form of the Forms
-> Form of the Forms must be the form outside of existence and perfection
In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the sun represent?
The form of the good
Demonstrates philosophical truth and knowledge
In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the cave represent?
People who believe in empiricism
-> empiricists are trapped in a cave of misunderstanding
In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the shadow represent?
The perceptions of those who rely on empiricism
-> if you believe what you see is the truth, you are only seeing a shadow of the truth
In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the game represent?
How people believe someone can be a ‘master’ when they have knowledge of the empirical world
-> this ‘master’ does not actually know truth
-> empiricism is fundamentally flawed
In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the escape represent?
Philosophers who seek knowledge through rationalism
-> sun = truth and knowledge
-> intellectual journey represents the philosophical journey to find truth and wisdom
In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the return represent?
People’s fear of knowing philosophical truths and their distrust for philosophers
What does Plato believe about the soul?
-> we all have an immortal soul and it explains how we come to have knowledge
-> our souls existed before our physical body was born
-> the soul trapped in the worldly body remembers things from the world of the Forms
-> when we die, our soul returns to the world of the forms
According to Plato, how do we come to have knowledge?
Our knowledge had come from reminders of the forms through reasoning
-> before we were born our souls were presented with the forms
-> knowledge we have is what we remember from back then
What are the strengths of Plato’s theory?
Empirical knowledge can be flawed
-> shown by the prisoners believing the shadows were real
Explains the reasons behind our imperfect world
-> they are imperfect shadows of the forms
We grow up with the knowledge of the forms
-> why we recognise the imperfect copies and their purposes
What are the weaknesses of Plato’s theory?
There cannot be a perfect form of something evil
-> cannot be a perfect form of death, disease or ugliness
The concept of the forms is not the only/obvious logical conclusion
-> Aristotle’s theory on the nature of reality
Plato never made it clear how we realise the truth and the reality of the forms
