Plato

Question 1

What are Plato’s dates?

Answer 1

427-347BC

Question 2

Who was Plato’s teacher?

Answer 2

Socrates

Question 3

Plato - What world do we live in, and what is it the opposite of?

Answer 3

We live in a world of appearances, opposed to the real world of the Forms.

Question 4

The Forms are…

Answer 4

unchanging, eternal and everlasting.

Question 5

Plato was only interested in the Forms of…

Answer 5

interesting stuff like beauty, justice and goodness.

Question 6

Everything that is supposedly beautiful, simply participates…

Answer 6

in the Form of Beauty.

Question 7

What is greater, the real world of the Forms or the world of appearances?

Answer 7

Forms.

Question 8

How do we already have an idea of the Forms without being taught?

Answer 8

Our immortal souls existed in the world of the Forms before being incarnated into us.

Question 9

Why did Plato think philosophers should rule?

Answer 9

They question the world of appearances and try to understand the Forms.

Question 10

Knowing Forms is blurred by…

Answer 10

the incarnation of the soul

Question 11

What leads us towards the Forms?

Answer 11

Education

Question 12

What is the greatest Form?

Answer 12

The Form of the Good, it is the source of all Forms.

Question 13

What analogy did Plato use for his Forms?

Answer 13

Analogy of the Cave, an allegorical and symbolic analogy.

Question 14

How many prisoners were in the cave and what do they symbolise?

Answer 14

3 prisoners, symbolise the population stuck in the world of appearances.

Question 15

What does the cave symbolise?

Answer 15

The illusory world.

Question 16

What do the shadows symbolise in the cave?

Answer 16

Imitations of the true Forms that shape people’s minds.

Question 17

Who do the puppeteers symbolise in the cave?

Answer 17

Politicians who blindly rule the country, who don’t know truth.

Question 18

Why, when released, is the prisoner confused?

Answer 18

He is forced to learn, not used to the new surroundings. Culture limits us so he has to overcome it.

Question 19

What does the prisoner learning symbolise?

Answer 19

Distinguishing the Forms from imitations.

Question 20

What does the Sun represent in the analogy of the cave?

Answer 20

It is the Form of the Good.

Question 21

Why, when he returns, does the darkness hurt the eyes of the prisoner?

Answer 21

Seeing the Forms within our world is really difficult.

Question 22

What are some criticisms of the Forms?

Answer 22

Ideas such as a beauty are just passed on.
Dawkins’ memes (a unit carrying cultural ideas)
Are there really Forms of everything?
No clear link between Forms and appearances.
No evidence of a seperate world of appearances.
Could be a infinite series of Forms.