If I say something doesn't exist in my study at this moment in time, I would call this my awareness of 'knowledge', yet Plato would refer to this as ignorance as I am speaking of something that doesn't exist. Is Plato's argument convincing here?
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Card 7
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This wall shows only shadows of things that pass the entrance when there is light. One day a single man escapes. He daringly leaves the cave and sees the outside world and the real versions of things, not just their shadows as in the cave.
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Card 8
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Some say that Plato's simile is a reference to Socrates and hi fate. Plato would say that the escaped man has 'knowledge', whereas the trapped men have 'ignorance'.
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Card 9
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When the man escapes the cave he sees the outside world, the real versions of things: forms. When he comes back to speak to others they treat him as though he is mad and react very badly. This is a true representation of how philosophers are treated.
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Card 10
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Objection: If forms are so essential for true understanding, why don't we study them? It seems strange that if they're are so essential to clear thought that politicians and others wouldn't study them.
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Card 11
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Doctors will seek only what is healthy for each individual and knowledge of abstract 'health' will not benefit diagnosis or prescription.
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Card 12
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If there is a form for each number then there must be an infinity of posssible forms.
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Card 13
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Objection: Empiricists would argue against the idea that everything is knowable by a priori knowledge. Empiricists believe everything is in fact knowable by sense expereince (a posteriori knowledge).
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Card 14
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The only logic behind Plato's theory is that there is no certainty in this world (realm) and so it must exist somewhere else. A scientific approach would consist of looking at what we have, not assuming the existence of what we don't have.
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Card 15
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Objection: Simply because there isn't certainty in the world, this doesn't mean that it is somewhere else, this cannot be assumed. What we know as reality is what we have, we must accept this. Philosophers aren't necessarily superior in knowledge.
