Plato Flashcards
When was ‘The Republic’ written ?
Around 360BCE
What does ‘Aristoi’ translate to ?
The Best
What was Athenian society like when Plato was basing his writing of it ?
Had 40,000 citizens and was becoming increasingly dominated by commerce and trade , where economics was emerging as an academic discipline .
When was the Sophist movement emerging and what was it associated with ?
Emerged in 5th century BCE and was associated with Protagoras and Gorgias
What does democracy mean and what is it purpose according to plato?
Means “rule by the people” and as a system is a mechanism for finding out what people want/desire and making laws accordingly
What are the three types of equality?
Legal , Political and Natural
What is an ethical life according to Plato?
One which is devoted to the cultivation of virtue and to the principles of justice and Law
What is Eudaimonia?
Happiness
What two type of Justice does Plato state there is ?
Individual justice and society as a whole justice
What three classes is the ideal society made of ?
The Guardians , The Auxiliaries and The Business Class
What is associated with the three ideal society ?
Guardians (Reasons) , Auxiliaries (Spirit) and Business Class( Passion)
What is the soul made up of ?
Reason , Spirit and Passion
What is Epistemology and Metaphysics ?
‘Theory of knowledge’ and questions about the nature of reality
What is common sense epistemology ?
Empiricism with the view that knowledge is derived by means of the sense or by perceptions. Plato critiques this as sense can deceive us .
What is common sense metaphysics?
Materialism or physicalism , the world is composed of materials or physical objects observable by the senses.
What is objective idealist ?
For ideas to be real , ideas do not have to be present in the mind of a knowing subject
What is Subject idealist?
there is not reality which subsists independently of any knowing subject
What is Plato’s epistemology ?
It is Rationalism where the senses provide us with opinion or belief rather than knowledge
What is Plato’s metaphysics ?
His defence of philosophical idealism
What is the allegory of the cave?
Those who hold assumptions of everyday life are constrained and “blinkered”
What are Plato’s opinions on education ?
That it is the key to the emancipation of people enslaved by their own ignorance
What is Plato’s opinions on passions?
That people can be a slave to their passions when they act on their own desires for purely selfish motives .
What is the task of philosophy ?
To purse “The Truth”. This is discovered by the faculty of reason.
