PLATO Michael Ryan Clark. BACKGROUND (428-347 BC) Was 29 years old when Socrates was put to death...
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Transcript of PLATO Michael Ryan Clark. BACKGROUND (428-347 BC) Was 29 years old when Socrates was put to death...
PLATO
Michael Ryan Clark
BACKGROUND
(428-347 BC)
Was 29 years old when Socrates was put to death• He had been a pupil of his• Inspired Plato to better study the conflicts in how
society is and how the true and ideal society should be.
First deed as a philosopher was to publish Socrates’ Apology
He set up his own school of learning called the Academy
THE ETERNALLY TRUE, BEAUTIFUL, AND GOOD
Plato was concerned with the relationship between
what was eternal and undeniable and what “flows”.• Similar to Socrates and the Sophists
Interested in this relationship as it relates to both
nature and in morals/society.• Goal was essentially to grasp a reality which
encompassed both. Wanted to draw people’s attention to what is
eternally true, beautiful, and good.
A WORLD OF IDEAS
Plato believed that everything in the natural world flowed.
Believed that although everything is made of material that
is subject to erosion.• But also thought that everything was made from a timeless
mold that is eternal and undeniable. His focus, unlike Democritus, was not on the changing
elements, but the original and unchanging pattern that first existed.
He came to the conclusion that there must be a reality behind the material world, the world of ideas, which had original patterns that existed from the beginning.
EXAMPLE
Everyone loves Legos
Imagine you build a Lego building and take it down
and put it back in the box.
The building cant rebuild itself, you have to do it.
You can do this using an original sketch implanted
in your mind that was the model and remains
both undeniable and eternal.
TRUE KNOWLEDGE
Plato strongly believed that we can not always
trust the evidence of our senses.
Everything in the natural world around us in
constantly flowing and changing.
His point was that we can never have true
knowledge of anything that is constantly in a state of
change.
EXAMPLE
Mr. Dunn asks the class which color of the rainbow is
prettiest.
Joe says pink, Kevin says purple, Jad says violet, and so on.• Many different answers.
He then asks what 8x3 is. All the answers are the same, 24 (hopefully). Reason is now being used instead of feeling, or the use of
senses, a strong belief of Plato. We can have inexact conceptions of things sought with our
senses, true knowledge and understanding comes through reason.
TWO REGIONS
Plato believed mainly that reality is divided into
two regions
• World of Senses- we can have approximate knowledge and incomplete conclusions through the use of our five senses.
• World of Ideas- true knowledge is gained using reason, and the studying of the original and eternal forms, not of changing ideas.
THE PHILOSOPHIC STATE
Plato’s idea of the ideal state is one governed by
philosophers.
Gives an example using the human body.• Body is composed of three parts, head (reason),
chest (will), and abdomen (appetite).• When these parts work together, a harmonious
being is formed. The ideal state would include officials who each know
their overall place. His political philosophy is characterized by rationalism,
and the idea that a good state depends on its being governed with reason.
WORKS CITED
Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World: a Novel about the
History of Philosophy. New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 1994. Print.
http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/plat.htm