Ancient Philosophical Influences

• Rationalist


  Plato was a rationalist- he thought we gain knowledge primarily through our reason.
• Dualist


  Plato was a dualist- he thought reality can be divided into two.
• Forms


  A name Plato gave to ideal concepts
• Plato's understanding of reality


  Reality consists of the physical world of phenomena, and the world of the forms.
• How is the physical world known according to Plato?

  Through sense experience, this is misleading.
• How is the world of the forms known?

  Through reason, this gives it more certainty.
• What is the nature of the forms?

  Unchanging
• How does the physical world differ from the world of forms?

  The physical world is always changing, while the world of forms is unchanging
• What is the advantage of knowledge about the world of forms?

  It provides lasting certainty compared to knowledge about the physical world
• How is the physical world given reality?

  The physical world is given its reality by the forms; physical phenomena 'participate in' their ideal forms.
• How do the forms help us understand the world?


  If we know the form of something, we can recognise those things when we see them.
• Why are forms superior to physical phenomena?

  They are unchanging and can be objects of certain knowledge.
• The form of the good

  The highest of all the forms, it illuminates all the other forms
• Plato on philosophers


  Philosophy leads to recognition of true goodness, and so philosophers should rule the state.
• Innate knowledge on the forms means...

  We must have encountered them from before we were born, we are immortal souls that are capable of living without being in our physical bodies.
• Simile of the divided line

  A verticle line is divided into two parts. The upper part represents the WOF while the lowest part represents the WOA.
• Simile of the divided line- source of perception


  The good, the sun
• Simile of the divided line- things perceived

  a) forms, b) mathematical objects, c) physical objects, d) images of physical objects
• Simile of the divided line- modes of perception


  Reason, understanding, belief, imagination
• Simile of the divided line- classes of perception

  Knowledge, opinion
• Why does Plato place artists at the bottom of his social hierarchy?

  Looking at images is a far away from true reality as could be. So, artists make imperfect copies of material objects which are themselves inferior copies of the forms.
• For Plato, why is mathematical reasoning superior?

  It is a priori knowledge.
• The Allegory of the Cave


  The Allegory of the Cave in Plato's "Republic" portrays prisoners confined in a cave, fixated on shadows cast on a wall, which they mistake for reality. One prisoner escapes, realizing the truth lies beyond the cave in the sunlight. Upon returning, he faces skepticism from the others.
• What does the sun represent in the allegory of the cave?

  The form of the good
• What does the cave represent in the allegory of the cave?

  WOA
• What does the outside world represent in the allegory of the cave?

  WOF
• What do the prisoners represent in the allegory of the cave?

  People who never question the information they gain through their senses.
• What does the escapee represent in the allegory of the cave?

  Philosopher, someone who questions their senses
• What does the allegory of the cave symbolise?

  Knowledge gained from sense experience is inferior to knowledge gained from knowledge of the forms.
• "Glaucon: You have shown a very strange picture. Socrates: They are just like ourselves."


  The prisoners in the allegory are analogous to humans, suggesting that people often mistake shadows for reality,.
• Dawkins on Plato


  It makes no sense to talk of another world beyond this physical one. We can't possibly know or make any meaningful statements about other worlds.
• Kant on Plato


  Kant rejected the idea of accessing a separate realm of Forms through reason alone, proposing instead that knowledge is shaped by both innate structures of the mind (a priori concepts) and sensory experience.
• Karl Popper on Plato


  Plato is determined to find a certainty that can't be found in this world. As he can't find certainty in a world of continual change, Plato assumes it must exist somewhere else. Wanting something to be certain does not make it so.
• A. J Ayer on Plato


  Plato assumes that because we have a noun (love, justice) there must be something corresponding to that term in reality. He referred to this assumption as 'primitive superstition'.
• Empiricist


  Aristotle was an empiricist- he thought we gain knowledge through our experience of the world.
• Aristotle's understanding of reality


  We learn about reality through observation of the physical world, if anything other than this physical world exists we have no way of knowing about it.
• Aetion


  An explanatory factor, a reason or cause for something
• The 4 causes


  Material, formal, efficient, final
• The material cause


  Explains what something is made from
• The formal cause


  Explains what shape something takes, or what its identifying features are.