Plato

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  • Plato
    • The Form of the Good
      • Plato believed that the form of the good is the source of everything
      • The Form of the Good can be represented as the sun
      • Plato believed that The Form of the Good could also be suggested to be God
      • The main source of good
    • Concerned with...
      • Beauty
      • Justice
      • Goodness
      • Not just examples of these things but what they actually are in themselves
    • The Sophists
      • These were relativists and taught that there was no such thing as absolute and ultimate truth, only opinions
      • Plato believed this attitude would lead to 'moral corruption'
    • The Argument from Recollection
      • Plato showed that an uneducated boy could solve a problem without being taught how.
        • evidence of innate knowledge that must have existed 'apriori' - the opposite is 'aposteriori'
      • Plato called this process of 'knowlegde'
    • Criticism
      • Believe philosophers should rule the world but they do not even agree with each other
      • Is Plato being elitist?
      • We can have knowledge of the physical world (science)
      • Can be difficult to prove the non-physical world
    • The Forms
      • Plato believed that the reason that we can recognise lots of circular objects as circles is due to the perfect fixed idea of a circle actually existing
      • Can also be described as, ideals, archetypes and ideas
      • Appearance are imperfect copies of forms
        • They only 'participant' in the forms. Only philosophers through rational thoughts, can reach the knowledge of forms
    • What is a human being to Plato?
      • We have bodies with physical senses and these experience physical things
        • These decay and fade away, these things cannot be true reality, since truth is eternal
      • it is through rational thought and ideas in the mind that we can gain knowledge (rationalism)
      • There is a soul that is separate from the body and this is the eternal part of humans and can exist independently of the body
    • The Analogy of The Cave
      • The Cave: For Plato the cave is representing the physical world. You cannot have true knowledge in the cave as its constantly  changing
      • The Fire: The fire is representing the physical sun which causes us to think we see objects even though it is not real
      • The Objects: The objects the visible things in the physical world, which are portrayed by the men
        • The Shadows: The shadows were the mage of the visible things. But Plato believed none of these we real
      • The Prisoners: Prisoners chained are the scientists so cannot escape the illusion
        • Those who break free are philosophers  they see true knowledge and can escape the illusion
      • The Men: These men in the cave represent the politicians which give us the false idea that the cave is real, stopping us seeing the truth
      • The Chains: These represent the physical body and sense, forcing us to believe the images we see.
        • Even though the chains are stopping us from seeing the real non-physical world
    • Plato's two wolrds
      • The physical world of sense experience
      • The non-physical realm of the forms and ideals
      • The division of the physical and non-physical parts of us is called 'dualism'
      • "You cannot step into the same river twice" - Heraclitus
        • We cannot have knowledge of physical things - only opinions

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