Plato Flashcards
When did plato die?
348 BC
When and where was plato born?
427 BC Athens - Greece
Who was plato a student and later a teacher of?
Student of socrates, teacher of aristotle
What does the cave symbolise?
World of sight/ appearances
What do the prisonsers symbolise?
People in this world who are trapped by physical appearances and sense experience
What do the objects symbolise?
Imitations of the forms
What do the objects carried by people symbolise?
Represent those who lead people but don’t actually know the truth
What does the fire represent?
The sun of our world
What does the journey out of the cave symbolise?
Journey of the soul into the realm of the forms
What does the sun symbolise?
Form of the good
Why did plato say that knowledge of the forms is essential for any ruler?
So that a ruler can govern justly, not just to further their self- interests
What is good about plato’s analogy of the cave?
Because empirical knowledge can be flawed - we live in an imperfect world and it gives a reason for imperfections in the world.
What does reason take over?
Our senses
What is plato unclear with in his analogy of the cave?
The link between the world of appearances and the forms
Why wont some people accept plato’s argument?
Because it is an absolutist argument
What do we have no proof of?
That the cave or outside world are real
What are forms?
Perfect ideas, types of things
What are the three qualities of forms?
timeless, unchanging and eternal
what is the world of the forms more important than?
the changing world of appearances
where do forms exist?
in their own right in the world of forms - not just ideas created by people’s minds
what are particulars?
imperfect copies of the forms that participate in the form
what is the form of the good?
the heirarchy of all forms
what does the form of the good illuminate?
all other forms
what is the aim of everything?
goodness
what is the form of the good?
the ultimate end in itself
what can the form of the good be understood to be?
an implication of God
what is 1st in the hierarchy of forms?
physical inanimate objects
what is 2nd in the hierarchy of forms?
physical living objects
what is 3rd in the hierarchy of forms?
concepts and ideals
what is 4th in the hierarcy of forms?
universal qualities
what is last in the hierarchy of forms?
the good
what does plato’s form explain to us?
why we always recognise the same essential elements in something
what do plato’s forms help us to understand?
the imperfections and why they exist
what do plato’s forms encourage us to do?
question in order to learn and accept things at face value
what is there no evidence for which limits plato’s theory?
no evidence that we recognise the forms in our previous existence
why does plato’s idea of having a form seem unlikely?
infinite regression
what could forms just be? WEAKNESS
ideas in the mind rather than coming from the past
what might the existence of the realm of the form not be? WEAKNESS
an obvious conclusion of logical reasoning
what doesn’t plato make clear?
how plato’s forms relate to things in the world of appearances
why is plato’s belief that senses are inferior a weakness?
because humans have relied on them for years so they must be of some significance
