Plato

• Epistemology


  The study of knowledge
• Epistemology focuses on evaluating claims people make when they say they know something
• Rationalism


  Using reason to gain knowledge
• A priori


  An argument created prior to or before senses, based purely on reason
• Rationalist epistemology claims that knowledge is self-evident and does not need to be proven
• Senses


  • They are subjective
  • They may not always work well
  • People's senses are different
• Empiricism


  Gaining knowledge through senses
• A posteriori


  An argument based on sense experience, after senses
• Aristotle is an empiricist, while Plato is a rationalist
• Heraclitus

  Questioned whether you can step in the same river twice, as the water is constantly flowing and changing
• World of Forms


  The separate, unchanging world that Plato believed exists, in contrast to the changing world of appearances
• Particulars


  The imperfect copies or reflections of the Forms that we experience in the world of appearances
• Participation


  The way in which particulars share in or are part of the Forms
• Episteme


  The true knowledge gained through reason, in contrast to mere opinion or belief
• Form of the Good


  The supreme Form that is the source and reason for all other Forms, symbolized by the sun in the Allegory of the Cave
• Key universal qualities focused on by Plato

  • Justice
  • Truth
  • Beauty
• Goodness


  The source and reason for all forms
• Form of the good


  • Symbolized by the sun in the allegory of the cave
  • Illuminates and makes visible the other forms
  • The ultimate end in itself
  • The knowledge that gives you knowledge of everything
• Hierarchy of forms


  • Form of the good (at the top)
  • Universal qualities (justice, truth, beauty)
  • Forms of physical living objects
  • Forms of inanimate objects
• Concept


  The idea or definition of something, not a specific physical instance
• Philosopher


  Can escape the world of appearance and see the true forms with reason
• Plato is opposed to using senses or empiricism as they cloud our judgment and understanding
• Immortal soul


  Exists forever, goes to the world of forms before reincarnation
• Anamnesis


  Remembering the world of forms while in a physical body
• Analogy


  A comparison between similar things
• Allegory of the cave

  1. Prisoners chained in a cave facing a wall

  2. Shadows cast on the wall are mistaken for reality

  3. One prisoner escapes and sees the true world outside

  4. Prisoner returns to tell others but is rejected
• Symbolism of the allegory

  • Cave = our world, Outside cave = world of forms
  • Chains = body or senses
  • Shadows = what we believe is real
  • Walkers = politicians spreading illusions
  • Prisoner escaping = gaining knowledge or soul leaving body
  • Sun = form of the good that illuminates all forms
• The allegory of the cave represents Plato's views on epistemology and the world of forms
• If someone knows what is good & bad, they will choose the good. It is only ignorance which causes immorality.
• Plato believed that the world was created by a god called Demiurge.
• Demiurge made the world by fashioning it out of material that was already there but was shapeless mess.
• Demiurge tries to make the universe as well as he can but he is limited by materials - it was never going to be perfect because it is physical and changing.
• Demiurge is not source of goodness but is a being which can be measure against external standards of the Forms.
• Richard Dawkins

  It is nonsense to talk of a transcendent 'other world' beyond the physical.

  • We can still study the changing world.
• Criticism - Plato isn't clear about the relation between the Forms & the objects of this world.
• A.J Ayer - when we talk about 'good', we are simply expressing our emotional reaction not true knowledge.
• Aristotle - There can't be a single Form of Good becuse it links to different situations& people.

  Morality cannot be eternal & changeless with a 'right' answer - no situations are the same
• Criticism - He says that only philosophers can only access true knowledge - unnecessarily unfair & elitist approach
• Criticism - Dualism


  Led thinkers to the idea that bodily pleasures are bad & people should punish bodies if they want to make it spiritual progress.
• Popper

  The world of forms provides a way for Plato to cope with the uncertainty of life.