Plato

Question 1

Who can Plato’s theory partially attributed to?

Answer 1

Socrates - ‘The Socratic Method’
-> encouraged rigorous questioning of everything
-> rejected empiricism due to it being fundamentally flawed

Question 2

What type of argument is Plato’s?

Answer 2

Priori
-> based on rationalism
-> independent of experience
-> deductive logic =
proceeds from the general premises to a specific conclusion

Question 3

What was Plato’s book called?

Answer 3

The Republic

Question 4

What did A.N. Whitehead say about Plato?

Answer 4

“All philosophy is footnotes to Plato” - A.N. Whitehead

Question 5

Explain the Theory of the Forms

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

What is the Ultimate Reality?

Answer 6

-> 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

Question 7

What are the forms according to Plato?

Answer 7

1) Perfect
2) Invisible
3) More Real
4) Eternal

Question 8

What did Plato mean when he said the forms are Perfect?

Answer 8

All things in our shadow world are imperfect and flawed
-> but the form of everything is perfect

Question 9

What did Plato mean when he said the forms are Invisible?

Answer 9

Nothing we see is perfect
-> we only see the imperfect shadows of the forms

Question 10

What did Plato mean when he said the forms are More Real?

Answer 10

Everything in the shadow world depends on the forms for their existence
-> we only see reflections/shadows of the real thing

Question 11

What did Plato mean when he said the forms are Eternal?

Answer 11

The forms have been and always will be
-> they never change with time because they are changeless

Question 12

What is the Supreme Form?

Answer 12

“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

Question 13

In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the sun represent?

Answer 13

The form of the good
Demonstrates philosophical truth and knowledge

Question 14

In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the cave represent?

Answer 14

People who believe in empiricism
-> empiricists are trapped in a cave of misunderstanding

Question 15

In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the shadow represent?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the game represent?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the escape represent?

Answer 17

Philosophers who seek knowledge through rationalism
-> sun = truth and knowledge
-> intellectual journey represents the philosophical journey to find truth and wisdom

Question 18

In Plato’s Analogy of the Cave what does the return represent?

Answer 18

People’s fear of knowing philosophical truths and their distrust for philosophers

Question 19

What does Plato believe about the soul?

Answer 19

-> 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

Question 20

According to Plato, how do we come to have knowledge?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What are the strengths of Plato’s theory?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What are the weaknesses of Plato’s theory?

Answer 22

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