Plato: The Analogy of the Cave

Key ideas surronding plato and the analogy of the cave.

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  • Created by: Bethany
  • Created on: 02-12-14 13:14
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  • Plato: The Analogy of the Cave
    • Plato
      • Book = Republic
        • thought lots about the natural world and how it works
        • Believes everything has an ideal form - EXAMPLE of the chair
        • Differences between reality and an illusion
        • Forms have a greater reality than objects in the physical world because of their perfection
        • Metaphysical concept = the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, identity, time, and space.
        • Epistemology = the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
      • Problems relating the many to the one (chair)
      • Reality and perfection were closely linked
    • 7 parts of the cave
      • The Prisoners
      • The Shadows
      • The Cave
      • The Outside World
      • The Sun
      • Return to the prisoners
      • The Journey
    • Explanation
      • The Prisoners
        • This refers to us ('ordinary people') who are in the phenomenal world
      • The Shadows
        • Our perceptions - this is what we see in our world
      • The Cave
        • The Phenomenal World - our world we live in
      • The Outside World
        • The realm of forms - where the original 'perfect' version of everything is
      • The Sun
        • The Goodness - The Form of the Good
          • This for Plato was philosophical understanding - Think of the idiom 'come to light'.
          • Enlightened understanding of reality
      • The Journey
        • Using our reason and our thoughts to come to the realisation that there is more than our world
      • Return to Prisoners
        • Someone who has achieved understanding (philosophers) trying to explain to others and them not believing
    • Strengths and Limitations of the analogy
      • Strengths
        • Explains why we recognise the same essential elements in everything (appleness)
        • Teaches us to question things and not accept things at face value we have different levels of perception
        • Explains why there are imperfections in the world around us
        • Influenced many Philosophers and the way they think
        • identifies different levels of reality
      • Limitations
        • Forms could be ideas preserved in peoples minds
        • Form of a form - could there be an infinite regression
        • Plato is part of the phenomenal world (world of appearances) so he is subject to change and is imperfect the same as everyone else
        • There is no proof of any other world apart from the physical world (never will be) LACK OF EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
        • Plato does not explain the link between the realm of the forms and the physical world
        • Reflect the goodness of the form of the Good - but what about bad things such as cancer or war
        • Can there be a form of everything?? Each breed of animal ect?

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