Religious Studies - Philosophy - Ancient philosophical influences- PLATO 2

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  • Created by: EllC004
  • Created on: 01-10-21 10:36
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  • Plato 2
    • Form of Good summarised
      • ultimate form
      • perfection of the forms comes from the form of the good
      • enables us to 'see' the forms (like the sun gives light to real world
      • influenced christian idea of God
      • not directly/ personaly involved within the world
    • Arguments against the Forms
      • Wittgenstein
        • rejected the one over many argument with his family resemblance theory
          • there is merely a series of overlapping characteristics- just as members of a family may resemble the other members of the family
      • Third Man argument
        • responds to theory's claim to explain reality
        • if we need the idea of forms to explain what objects have in common, then what's to stop us asking what the forms and particulars have in common? - thus r requiring a third party to explain this. (process could proceed infinitely)
      • Claim that there must be forms for everything can be carried to absurdity
        • is there truly an ideal form of dirt, hair or even a bogey (as Stephen Law says)?
      • New inventions/ things that become extinct
        • unchanging nature of world of forms must mean that the form of an ipad must've always existed
          • and form of t-rex must still exist
      • forms do not have a practical value; study of them takes away from useful scientific study of world
      • if there are forms of every possible number, then there are an infinite number of forms
      • theory of evolution & advances in chemistry mean we do now have an empirical means of explaining what similar objects / animals have in common
    • Assessing Plato's Forms
      • The one over many argument
        • when observing different Particulars, (eg chairs) able to recognize that they are same sort of thing, even if we can't explain what that is
          • even a small child can correctly identity what a new thing in-front of them may be, even if never seen before
            • we have innate ability to recognize the forms- as our souls knew them before we were born (able to recognize the one over the many)
      • The ideal standard
        • idea of forms can be used to support belief in absolute unchanging moral rules
        • the form = ideal standard of property
        • form of good gives absolute idea of what goodness really is, not matter of opinion

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