...world through reason alone, with logic as its primary tool for progress. Aristotle's take on Plato's Forms would be a fitting example, using logic and reason to work through perceived problems in his teacher's ideas. Science takes the road of empirically examining the world around us with the scientific method, and completely discards the notion of metaphysics that the other two fields wield. Quantum Physics could be seen as an ultimate demonstration...
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...the beginning of the middle period, Plato introduces his theory of love. First thing to note is that in Plato’s theory, love is given and its existence is not questioned. The word love leaves the matter ambiguous as to whether we are discussing love in the normal, human, sense of the word, or if we are discussing desire in a much broader sense, but in this discussion we are only considering only love of type eros, love as a kind of desire that exists between two human beings. Symposium, is a dialogue by Plato, about a dinner party in honor of the tragedian Agathon, after they have finished eating Phaedrus suggests that each person in turn should make a speech about the praise of god of love. Symposium not only gives us theory of Forms in Diotima's discussion of the Form of Beauty, but it also gives us a number of varying perspectives on love. One more important thing to consider is that Diotima is not known to be a historical figure, and the way in which she is introduced suggests that she is almost certainly just a literary device developed by Plato to express his own ideas. In this theory, we see Plato rejecting the romanticization of sexual love, valuing above all an asexual and all-consuming passion for wisdom and beauty. Plato clearly regards actual physical or sexual contact between lovers as degraded and wasteful forms of erotic expression. Because the true goal of eros is real beauty and real beauty is the Form of Beauty, what Plato calls Beauty Itself, eros finds its...
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...Plato was an Ancient Greek Philosopher who was taught by Socrates. Plato believed the world we live in a world of appearances, however he also believed that there is a world beyond, one containing forms which was the world of ideas which he the world of the forms. Forms are the general realities or ideals versions of something. Forms in Plato’s eyes where perfect versions of something, and in the world of the appearances they are many particulars which have copies or impact versions which imitate the perfect version of the form. The world of the forms is an epistemology which can only be used by tapping into the intelligible world without using your senses. For example in the world appearances they are many types of cats but in the world of the forms there is only one perfect version of that cat. Plato’s analogy of the cave is a way to interpret Plato theory of the forms and his idea about the universe. Plato’s analogy begins with the prisoners sat in the cave, chained together, and facing a wall preventing them to see or to gain any movement: a fire blazes behind them and on the other side of a passage way. Along the pass way men carrying statues and talking casting shadows on the wall which the prisoners face which made the prisoners it is a puppet because that is all they have seen all their life. When a prisoner escapes the cave, he realises that the shadows casted are real people and that they is another world with a sun outside which at first he is blinded by. When he returns...
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...Plato and Aristotle were both renowned philosophers throughout history who were known for their different perspectives of the Theory of Forms. Plato was one of Socrates’ students and he believed in idealism. Plato’s metaphysics which is also referred to as the Theory of Forms explains that there are two sides of the world of Forms. One of them is separated from the reality and one of them is the reality of the world. (Moore, pg 38) Aristotle was Plato’s student and he disagree with Plato’s believes. He was the first philosopher to explain what existence and essence is (Moore, pg. 63). One of Aristotle’s strongest arguments against the Theory of Forms was his Third Man argument. He explains that there must be a third thing or person to tires together a Form (Moore, pg. 65). Plato and Aristotle have excellent views of Theory of Forms and the Third Man argument; however there are points I agree and disagree with. Plato was one of the most important philosophers. Plato spends most of his life living in Greek. He was the first metaphysics thinker Theory of forms was one of Plato most important idea. He believed that we are living in two worlds; the world of appearances and the world of ideas. The appearances world is the world we are living in where we can touch and see around us. Our senses help us guide us in the visible world. In the ideas world, we can only sense it with our thinking. The intelligible world is in our mind, we control what the intelligible world looks like. The...
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...analogy of the cave. Plato’s cave analogy of the cave it this because it is a simple story that has a metaphorical meaning. Plato uses this analogy to show the link between the physical world and the world of forms. Plato thinks that this analogy helps people to understand why the physical world is all an illusion. Only true reality can be found in the world of forms, in which everything is unchanging. Plato’s analogy is set in a cave, the cave is meant to represent the physical world, from which people only see what Plato describes to be an illusion. The prisoners within the cave know of nothing but what they have seen for all their lives. Behind the prisoners are a low wall and a walkway, in the walkway a fire burns, every now and then people walk past the fire carrying objects that reflect into the cave as shadows. The prisoners see the shadows and think that what they see is reality, like we think about our world now. The sounds made by the people walking past are thought to be from the shadows, what is seen and herd here is thought to be real. The shadows represent the images of the forms, which are all that is seen in the physical world. The prisoners in this case represent the ignorant individuals who need to discover the philosophical truth; they believe that the shadows they see are the real objects because they know of nothing else. Plato relates this to the 5 senses, touch, taste, smell, sound and sight, it is easy for people to believe what is seen, touched,...
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...Plato's Theory of Forms Plato was a Greek philosopher, one of the most important figures of the Ancient Greek world and the entire history of Western Philosophy. Plato wrote about many ideas in philosophy that are still talked about today. His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of language. He was fascinated of the distinction between ideal forms and everyday experience. Plato was a student of Socrates and he thougth that Socrates has a pretty good ideas about the world, particulary when he came to his method of asking questions about established ideas. Since we know that Socrates wrote nothing down everything that we know about him comes in the form of dialogues written by Plato. Plato thinks that there is an explanaition for questions and he can answer "what is virtue ?" or "what is justice ?". Plato comes up with idea of answering these questions, with the Theory of Forms - the most imporant philosophical concept. Plato used his Theory of Forms to link the mind and reality. He taught that the real world consisted of universal ideas (forms). The world that people actually see is given form by these ideas and is thus less real because it is always changing, but the forms are eternal and unchangeable. Plato’s Theory of Forms states, that the physical world is not really the ‘real’ world, instead, ultimate reality exists beyond our physical...
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...Leah Forline Professor Ndovie Essay Response 1 02/20/2014 Plato Plato, one of Socrates most valued students, is one of the first known philosophers. He followed Socrates around, wrote down his theories and added on to them. Plato was born in 437BC and died around 347BC. He came from a wealthy and powerful family. When he was about 20 years old he came under Socrates spell and decided to devote himself to Philosophy. “He was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world.(Piyong)” “He divides reality into two: on the one hand we have ontos, idea or ideal. This is ultimate reality, permanent, eternal, spiritual. On the other hand, there’s phenomena, which is a manifestation of the ideal. Phenomena are appearances, things as they seem to us, and are associated with matter, time, and space.” (Carlson) Phenomena are illusions which decay and die. Ideals are unchanging and perfect. Ideas are available to us through thought, while phenomena are available through our senses. Plato taught us this so we can realize that some things in life are reality and some are always changing and never forever. He relates back to this theory when he talks about art. Plato believes that art is imitation. Although Plato is not the first person to believe and understand that art is imitation, he does explain why very greatly. Plato says that “art must be imitating the world as it appears, not...
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...to do a dialogue between Plato and Aristotle. I call onto all experts, and those that enjoy the subject to read it and tell me what you think. Here it is…. Epitaphs Plato v.Aristotle Plato: Aristotle, may I ask you why you disagree with my theory of forms? Can you explain, or reveal your thoughts as to why? Better yet, express a theory you could replace my theory with. Aristotle: Sure, do you mind answering some questions for me? Just to confirm my understanding of your theory. Plato: Certainly. Aristotle: Is it safe to assume that the way you define the word ‘form’ in your theory of forms is synonymous with the word ideas? Plato: Yes. Aristotle: Ideas are perfect as long as they are in your mind. Would you agree with that statement? Plato: Yes, I would agree with that statement. Aristotle: This could be taken a step forward, a step so far that even you will disagree with it. Would you like to hear my progression based on your theory? Plato: Sure. Aristotle: According to your theory of form every idea a person has is perfect, and every attempt to bring life to that idea is imperfect. Is that right? Plato: Yes it is. I’ve said this before. Aristotle: Do you realize that someone could very well take your theory and assume you are insulting the Gods, or at the very least someone could interpret it in that way. Plato: What do you mean? You believe that I imply that God’s are flawed? You think that my theory of form can lead someone to believe...
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...“Plato does not value experience enough” Discuss (10) Plato was a philosopher and mathematician born in Greece. If someone does not value something, it suggests they do not believe in its worth, importance or usefulness. To begin with, Plato was not an empiricist; someone who believes that knowledge is derived from the experience of their senses. This was due to the fact that Plato believed in A prior knowledge; knowledge gained before experience. Plato believed that when we were born, our immortal soul already gained some sort of knowledge which we are able to use in this world. Therefore Plato does not value experience enough due to his beliefs. Furthermore, Plato understood that the world in which we live is the World of Appearances, where the objects in this life are just poor copies of their true forms in the Realm of Forms. We are deceived by our senses because they limit us to how much knowledge someone can have. For example, there is only so much that we can see from our eyes, which therefore limits our knowledge. On the other hand, pain can argue against this. If you were to hit your head on something quite hard, you will feel pain and come to understand this the world we live in is real and not an “appearance”, and the experience we get here is the only experience that exists. This illustrates that Plato did not value experience enough because he thought that our senses deceived us. Similarly, Plato argued that everything in this world, the World of Appearances...
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...Introduction Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) entered Plato’s academy at the age of seventeen and spent twenty years with Plato. During his stay with Plato, he expressed his brilliance such that Plato considered him as the brilliant mind of the academy. Given this relationship, Plato influenced Aristotle in one way or the other such that some people even considered Aristotle a successor of Plato when Plato died. However, this never distracted Aristotle from taking a different path in his career. In fact, Aristotle contrasted with Plato in many areas. He also criticized him because he argued in different manner (Newport, 1998). On the other hand, Aristotle had various components in his system. This paper evaluates the key components of Aristotle’s system and the various contrasts of his philosophical works in relation to that of Plato. The paper starts by evaluating the key components of Aristotle’s system before it evaluates the contrasts between their worldviews. Key components The first key component of Aristotle’s system is metaphysics. This component explains Aristotle’s philosophical views and the history of philosophy. Based on this component, Aristotle showed the relationship between the form and nature of history. He also became the first person who identified the technological language because of this component (Masih, 1999). With the help of this component, Aristotle also established both practical and theoretical reasoning. The second component of the Aristotle’s system...
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...important. Plato thus used common properties, representative of specific objects, to categorize matters into their class. These attributes that must have existed prior to creation, defined whether certain objects were in fact those certain objects. It is the same justification that humans still remain humans despite qualitative differences. Plato emphasizes how the basic form of humanity is more real than individual humans. This is why Plato created two realms; he wanted to defend the existence of fundamental forms by assigning two different levels of reality. The underlying reality was a realm of material perfection and the appearance of change was due to the surface realm imperfectly replicating that material. “This primary realm contained forms that were incorporeal, intangible, and insensible that all shared the property of eternality,” (sn). This supported Parmenides idea that something cannot come from nothing because these fundamental forms have always existed and have pre-established the base for every ‘being’ thing. These were the resources that God, or as Plato calls it the Demiurge, had available to craft all units out of. The Craftsman was limited to these materials and from them was able to yield a template of the highest conceivable beauty and rationality. The key to grasping the concept of existence is recognizing that in order for something to exist, it must have properties that constitute its way of existing. The second realm struggled in reproducing these forms, for...
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...concept of the soul is an integral point of concern in the writings of both Plato and Aristotle. Plato views the soul as beyond the body, something that must be released from the grip of mortality. Despite being the student of Plato, Aristotle has his own line of reasoning in regards to the soul, tying the existence of the soul to the existence of life. I will endeavor to show the differences between their thoughts on the soul and its purpose in their philosophical ideology, with the purpose of explaining how Aristotle’s beliefs on the matter of the soul are preferable. One of Plato’s clearest exposition on the soul occurs during the recounting of the death of Socrates, wherein Socrates tells of how “the wise man will want to be ever with him who is better than himself” and further that “the real philosopher has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die” (Plato). These statements on death will serve as an opening for the rest the Plato’s theories on the soul; the idea that for true knowledge to be grasped, the soul must be freed from the prison of the body. Plato argues that the soul, as an immortal expression of being, is capable of existing beyond the mortal world. He asserts that the body is a detriment to the pursuit of pure knowledge, that it “is a source of endless trouble to us…” (Plato), leading to the idea that purity can only be achieved once the soul is freed. One of the arguments Plato employs as his reasoning for the idea of the Soul being outside of the...
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...Plato was a philosopher from Greece who lived from 424BC until the time of his death in 347BC. Plato belonged to an aristocratic and influential lineage. His father was Artiston, a descent of king Dorus of Athens. Plato’s mother was Peritonea from a lineage of famous lawmakers and poets in Athens. Plato was, however, raised with difficulty after his father died. As a student, Plato studied under the guidance of his teacher, Socrates. Plato played an essential role of laying the foundation for western philosophy and science. Socrates taught Plato about basic philosophy and dialectic methods of inquiry in the quest for truth. The basic learning acquired form Plato formed a basis from where Plato established his philosophies (Benjamin, 2007). During the time of Plato, there are many events that took place. Amongst them is the Peloponnesian war. The war lasted for approximately 27 years i.e. from 431BC to 404 BC. The Peloponnesian war was a war fought by Athens and Sparta. As a result of the war, the Athenian imperial system and Greek military history was changed. The powers of Athens were subdued after the war as Sparta took over as a leading state whose powers were felt all across Greece. In 399BC Plato witnessed his teacher, Socrates, being tried and executed by the authorities in Athens. Socrates was charged for corrupting the minds of youths. Socrates was despised by the authority because of his persistency in criticizing the government established after...
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...Akarsh Trivedi Term paper Plato’s theory of forms, also knows as his theory of ideas, states that there is another world that exists. This world is separate from the world that we live in. Plato calls this world the eternal world. The theory that he proposes is that objects in the physical world merely resemble perfect forms in the ideal world, and that there perfect forms can be the object of true knowledge. Through out his work Plato makes the distinction between objects that are real and concepts that exist in our minds. To better understand this we have to look at the characteristics that Plato bases knowledge on. Throughout this his works, Plato was always concerned with one thing, which was epistemology. Epistemology deals with the possibilities and limits of human knowledge. It tries to answer such questions as: is the world as people perceive it the basic reality, or do people perceive only appearances that conceal basic reality? Knowledge may be regarded as having two parts. There is, first of all, what one perceives using the five senses. Next there is the way these perceptions are organized by the mind to form ideas or concepts. The problem is that epistemology is based on how philosophers have understood the relationship of the mind to the rest of reality. Through the Theory of Forms, Plato links mind and reality. For the average person, common sense says that there is a real world of perceivable objects. These objects can be analyzed and understood. Philosophers...
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...Theory of the Forms is also seen as unconvincing as it is highly abstract. Therefore it is too incomprehensible to see the way in which these detached Forms can be practical or have significance in the real world as they are too distant. Even if they do exist, do they have a practical function? Can they help humans make decisions about practical matters? In addition very few people will obtain knowledge of the good therefore can the Forms realistically be understood and accepted by all? In this way the Theory is not convincing as it leaves many basic questions unanswered. We are also to question whether there are Forms for everything, from a stone to a lampshade. Plato rarely discusses physical and material objects but more Forms of concepts such as Justice. While he does mention the Form of a bed in The Republic, we are uncertain as to whether this was a serious remark, some even think it was a joke. Furthermore Plato does not clearly explain the link between the World of Forms and that of Appearances, how do they connect? Furthermore we question how general the Forms are. Is there a Form for every breed of horse or just a general Form of a horse? If a Form is a general idea then there is a risk that it lacks detail. However if every breed has a Form then surely the Form loses it's point. One could argue that every breed of horse has enough in common to reflect to some extent the Form of a horse. Again this may not be an issue for Plato if the Theory of Forms applies only...
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