Plato Flashcards
Who was Plato & What did he belive?
Who was Plato?
Philosopher born around 429 B.C. in Athens.
What was the Peloponnesian War?
Conflict influencing Plato’s political views.
What was his Academy?
One of the first higher learning institutions.
Who was Aristotle?
Notable student of Plato, shaped Western philosophy.
What were Plato’s Dialogues?
Plato’s writings exploring complex philosophical ideas.
What was Plato’s Theory of Forms?
Concept of two realms: visible and intelligible.
What was his ideas of the Intelligible realm?
Eternal and unchanging realm of abstract Forms.
What did he call the visible world Visible world
Flawed and changing reality we perceive.
What was his Tripartite Theory of the Soul idea?
Divides soul into reason, spirit, and appetite.
Who were the guardians?
Rulers representing reason in Plato’s ideal society.
Who were the auxiliaries?
Soldiers embodying spirit in Plato’s ideal society.
Who were the Laborers?
Workers fulfilling appetites in Plato’s ideal society.
Why did he think Education was important?
Transformative process for personal and societal justice.
How did he think Justice was recived?
Achieved through harmony among reason, spirit, and appetite.
What was his Phaedrus work?
Work where Plato discusses the Tripartite Soul.
What was his Thirty-six dialogues?
Plato’s major works covering various philosophical topics.
What is Philosophical engagement?
Encouraged through dialogues without explicit personal views.
What is Eternal Form of beauty?
Concept of beauty existing beyond individual objects.
What is Corrupt dictatorship?
Political structure influencing Plato’s disdain for politic
What was Platos myth of the cave?
A man chained to a stake in stuck in a cave, he faces the back of the cave. At the entrance of the cave there is a man sitting and attending to a fire. In between him and the man tied to the stake is a puppeteer who uses the fire to cast shadows of figures onto the back of the cave and make noises. The shadows are all that this man knows and he thinks they are real. He then somehow is able to get out of his bounds and out the cave. When he realizes that it is light out and he can actually see clearly, he goes back in and tells the others. They do not belive him and they kill him.
What did his myth show?
WHAT IT MEANS
Plato compares the prisoners chained inside the cave to people that are unaware of his theory of Forms. People mistake the appearance of what is in front of them as reality and live in ignorance (and quite happily, for ignorance is all these
people know). However, when parts of the truth start to emerge, it can be frightening and can make people want to turn back. If one does not turn away from the truth and continues to seek it, he will have a better understanding of the
world around him (and will never be able to return to that state of ignorance).
The freed prisoner represents the philosopher, seeking a greater truth outside of
the perceived reality.
According to Plato, when people use language, they are not naming physical objects that can be seen; rather, they are naming something that can’t be seen.
These names correlate to things that can only be grasped in the mind. The prisoner believed that the shadow of a book was actually a book until he was
finally able to turn around and see the truth. Now, replace the idea of a book with something more substantial, like the notion of justice. Plato’s theory of Forms is what allows people to finally turn around and discover the truth. In essence, knowledge gained through the senses and perception is not knowledge at all, but opinion. It is only through philosophical reasoning that one is able to pursue
knowledge.
