PLATO Flashcards
how does plato understand the world
a priori
who inspired plato
heraclitus
what quote stems from heraclitus
no man can step in the same river twice
why can no man step in the same river twice
the river and man are in a constant state of change
two key questions plato tries to answer
- is there certain knowledge in a world that is always changing?
- is there one thing or many things?
explain this: essence & change cannot coexist
if everything changes, there is no such thing as essence because an essence relies on an unchanging core of something that stays the same regardless of changes in appearance
what is a form
ideal version of almost everything we find in the world we live in
what are the two world
world of appearances and forms
what are the things in the world of appearances called
particulars
what are particulars
imperfect representations of the form they partake in
ex of particulars
trees - you are really looking at the perfect from of treeness but because of your ignorance are seeing a transient and mutable tree that will decay as it changes
how do we get knowledge of the world of forms
a priori reason
qualities of reality (WoF)
- intelligible
- known only through reason
- beyond the senses
- true knowledge
- spiritual souls reside
qualities of WoA
- visible
- known through senses
- world of opinions
- particulars
how do we recognise objects
- we are born with a dim recollection from our prior existence (souls) in WoF
- particulars of Forms all have something in common with their permanent Form
- participate in the Form
who are the prisoners in the allegory of the cave
people in our world
what is the cave in allegory of the cave
our empirical world
what are the chains in allegory of the cave
senses
what are the shadows in allegory of cave
particulars
who is the escapee in allegory of cave
philosophers
what is the sun allegory of cave
form of the good
(skip this card) key messages in allegory of cave
- metaphysics - what is real?
- epistemology
- politics
what doesn’t have a form
number and evil
what is the most important form
form of the good
why is the form of the good most important
all forms being perfect will participate in the FoG to an extent (in the case where perfection = good)
what forms come second in the hierarchy
beauty, truth and justice
what is the aim of everything to plato
goodness
greek words for knowledge and opinion
episteme and doxa
what is the highest knowledge a human is capable of
knowledge of the good
platos belief on philosophers
they are the ones who can discover the truth behind the illusion as they question the world through a priori reasoning - PHILOSOPHER KING AND RULER
biggest objector to theory of forms
aristotle
aristotle critsicism - practicality
no practical value eg no perfect health, knowledge of an abstract idea is not helpful for diagnosis
aristotle third man argument
turns into form of forms
karl popper criticism
just because certainty doesn’t exist here, why would it exist elsewhere?
wittgenstien criticism
family resemblance argument - rejects the one over many. There are overlapping characteristics like siblings have similar feature
stephen law criticism
the form of the bogey argument states you could reach absurd conclusions if you accept platos view - extinct things and things not yet invented
who was plato teacher
socrates
what stance does plato take
rationalist
truth can only be observed fully through the…
mind
who described history of philosophy and explain what he said
a.n whitehead - described the whole history of philosophy as footnotes to plato
what three philosophers was plato inspired by
socrates, heraclitus, pythagorus
what dialogue did plato publish
the republic
explain a house as a form (aristotle and plato answer)
- i want to build a house and i have the idea of what a house looks like in my head
- where does this idea come from? aristotle - i have experienced many different houses, plato - permeance of the idea of a house in my mind
- the house i build may be abandoned and overrun by nature or demolished so cease to exist
- SO must be ideal house and my attempt to build one is a copy
two important qualities of forms to remember
permanent and non-material
what is the consequence of being trapped in bodies
our soul forgets the forms, only remember glimpses
how does plato justify new inventions
the inventor is the first to remember the form
what is the one over many argument
we are able to recognise forms when we come across the imperfect versions because of dim recollection
what does the difficulty to adjust to the darkness represent in the cave analogy
now that the philosopher has seen the truth it is hard to go back
what comes below higher forms
the individual forms of chair, tables, cake and all other objects
what did plato believe to be the best form of government
a society led by wise philosophers
how does he believe that children should be raised
taken from their families and brought up according to their skills as in sparta
why did athenian way of ruling lead to death of socrates
athenian democracy taken up by ordinary people, not philosophers, and so they misunderstood socrates and sentenced him to death
how does plato develop his theory
similie of the divided line
what are the two levels of reality - simile of the divided line
doxa (world of opinion), episteme (world of forms)
aristotle criticism study
if forms so important why don’t people study them? doctors, politicians etc don’t study them and these are highly educated people
aristotle criticism - theoretical knowledge does not lead to being able to do something
practical knowledge is learned through practice and observation
what do people turn to for certainity
political and religious fundamentalism
criticism what assumption did aj ayer refer to
primitive superstition - because we have a name there must be something corresponding to that term in reality
criticism who backs up ayer
kortabinksi
what does kortabinksi suggest
certain nouns are onomatoids, sentences have to contain genuine instead of abstract concept
