Plato

Question 1

What is Plato’s understanding of Reality?

Answer 1

1) Plato believed that certain truths about the universe was knowable by the mind alone.
2) Plato believed that enlightened individuals could see beyond the world of senses, to the real nature of things.
3) the mind went beyond anything sensed
4) The physical world is known through sense experience- but senses are always changing(-)

World of forms(unchanging)-> known through reason -> which gives more certainty

Question 2

Explain Plato’s ‘power of reason’ analogy

Answer 2

• Plato believed that if we used reason(world of forms) properly, we will always know the right way to live our lives.
• Senses can be misleading, people do bad things when they do not use their reason & let themselves be carried away with their emotions.

This questions how we can relate the emotion-feeling body with the mind which rises above it.

Question 3

Explain the concept of ‘the forms’

Answer 3

The forms are ideal concepts/versions of something found on earth.

• forms are found in the realms of forms, which is above our daily world.
• forms are ideals and universals that help us understand the world e.g. if we know the form of justice, we can recognise examples of justice in the world.
• forms are known through reason.

Question 4

What is the ‘form of good?’

Answer 4

The form of good is the highest form . All other forms have the goodness of perfection from participating in the good

• this brings enlightment to the rational mind.
  e. g. Philosophy can be viewed as the highest form of good because it leads us to a recognition of true goodness, so philosophers are the highest form.

Question 5

What is the analogy of the divided line?

Answer 5

The world is divided into the realm of the ‘sensible’- what we detect through our senses
&
the realm of the intelligible-what we discover using our intellects

Question 6

What is the analogy of the cave?

Answer 6

This is an analogy plato created to show how he understands the importance of philosophy.

• Plato believes that knowledge gained through experiences of the senses(empirical knowledge) is inferior to knowledge gained through knowledge of the forms.
• Plato compares the physical world with a dark shadowy cave and the world of the forms with the sun filled ‘real world.’
• Plato stated that if we imagine prisoners in the cave who have never known anything else but their imprisonment. They have sense experience which are only shadows of the truth but they accept these at face values because they do not know any better and never question their senses.
• When a prisoner leaves the cave they are enlightened by the form of the good, giving them knowledge of about the world as it really is

The analogy of the cave reflects how knowledge gained through through the senses is often misleading & people often do not question their information gained through senses as they are imprisoned(ignorant).

We mistake information gained through senses to be the ‘truth’ but the real truth is through philosophy(true reasoning) which leads us to the forms.

Question 7

Criticisms to Plato’s theory of the forms

Answer 7

Aristotle argues that:
-if the forms were soo essential as true understanding , why does no one study them? e.g. doctors, politicians.

• Forms have no practical value e.g. health. There is no ‘perfect health’
• Plato assumes that things of the realm of appearances and that their perfect counterparts are in the realm of the forms.However, there is no proof to support this.
• The theory of forms is unclear, we do not know if each species has its own form, etc.

+ Plato’s recognition that our senses can be misleading is evident in society.