Analogies

• Who came up with the fruit cake analogy?


  Peter Vardy
• What is the fruit cake analogy?


  The fruit cake analogy relates to Aristotle's division of the soul. You need to eat (vegetative), you want to eat cake (desire) you weigh up your options (calculus) and you decide to eat fruit cake since it fulfils your desire and your need whilst being healthy (Scientific)
• What is the story of Meno by Plato?

  • Meno is a slave boy with no education
  • he is given a geometry puzzle to solve and through questioning the boy is able to work out the puzzle
  • This led Plato the conclusion that the boy must be using knowledge he already had from before birth
  • Plato thought that our intuitions were evidence of knowledge attained before birth, this showed that we once lived in the world of perfect forms
• What is Plato's metaphor of the chariot?

  • Chariot being pulled by two horses
  • Two horses are appetite and emotion- basic needs that pull us along and motivate us, by the charioteer "reason"
  • the charioteer makes sure that the appetite and emotion work together in a rational direction
  • without the guiding hand of reason we could be led astray
  • If we let our emotions get the better of us, we could say or do something inappropriate. if we let our appetites take the lead then we could over-indulge in pleasures
• What is the myth of er?

  • Er was a soldier who died on the battle field, was found 10 days later on the 12th day he came back to life and was able to tell everyone that he experienced the afterlife
  • Told the listeners that once he died he set out on a journey where he encountered the judges who rewarded and punished the souls of those who had died
  • souls could also choose a new life, either animal of human
  • sometimes those who had been rewarded chose new lives of great power without considering the choices that may need to be made to achieve that power
  • only the philosophical who understood the importance of choosing a new life of peace benefited from this cycle