...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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...The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand...
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...” The Allegory of the Cave” In “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato tells the story about the reality that comes forth through knowledge and the willingness for man to seek the truth. The Allegory of the Cave is a deep philosophical scenario that is being described by Plato in a form of a progressive conversation, which begins with Socrates having a factious conversation with is brother. The hypothesis behind his analogy is the essential principles that all we watch are imperfect impression of the conclusive structures, which implies the truth. This is portrayed as glorified feeling of what goodness and justice are. At the point when the prisoners leave the cave, Socrates explain that these are philosopher who have arrived at a comprehension of what life truly is. The three symbols are the cave, the sun, and the chains. The Allegory of the Cave all through the story the prisoners are restrained to the floor and are not able to move their legs and turn their head to view behind them. They had a fire burning behind them, and they saw shadows of people walking by carrying odd object. These shadows were all they knew they even seemed to be real. The individuals they see are the realities of life. To me, this is practically precise portrayal of life, and proceeds with progression of time. “ When educators instruct information into the soul which was not there before like sight into blind eyes”(1238). A prisoner breaks free and leaves the cave. When he first walks outside...
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...of the reader, the message can describe the trials and tribulations of man in general to the roadway of life and all of the detours along the way. The first entry of the allegory has Socrates describing a cave in which there are prisoners. The prisoners have limited sight since they are chained at the neck and legs and can see in only one direction. There is light from a fire which allows the prisoners to see shadows on the wall form passing men. My interpretation of this starts at the beginning. Actually one line which speaks of the prisoners; …here they have been from their childhood… (Plato (interpretation by Benjamin Jowett), 2012) I feel this is the interpretation of man from his birth. The cave represents the town or village of birth for the person (prisoner). The prisoners are the people born into and raised in this village. The chains around their neck and legs are the limits of the village from which the children have yet to venture past. The wall represents the village limits which is the barrier to the world. The fire casting shadows tells of merchants that come to the village to trade. The children (prisoners) see these people briefly with little or no interaction with them. This represents a world beyond the village limits (the wall); …men passing along the wall, carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials… (Plato) These men give the children a glimpse of things beyond their boundaries;...
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...Allegory of the Cave, Plato described symbolically the predicament in which mankind finds itself and proposes a way of salvation. The Allegory presents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually; his idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves; his faith that the universe ultimately is good; his conviction that enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society, and that a good society must be one in which the truly wise (the Philosopher-King) are the rulers In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see. where humans are depicted as being imprisoned by their bodies and what they perceive by sight...
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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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...two literary works are profoundly analyzed by modern society and are part of group discussions throughout school classrooms. Each author has a specific way of getting his point across. The Allegory depicts how a prisoner gained knowledge through his own life experiences while Benjamin Franklin credits Harvard as the only institution where learning can be acquired. Plato emphasizes on giving back to the community, yet Franklin talks of the abuse done to the common folk by those who had been enlighten with knowledge. Like wise, the two authors persistently agree upon capacity being the main skill needed to obtain a proper education. First and foremost, Plato’s Allegory exposes the steps through which an ignorant prisoner of a cave became educated. Since birth, the prisoner had been denied the opportunity to see the world outside the cave. For the prisoner reality meant shadows and figures reflected against a wall. In his life, no color or three dimensional shapes existed. After the prisoner was released he comprehended how things worked outside the cave. He realized the sun gave life to plants, trees, animals, and humans. Without it the world would be nonexistent. He was not taught in a traditional class setting. He learned through the school of life. To contradict Plato, Franklin mentions Harvard as a grandiose institution. No other form of learning can compare to the knowledge Harvard offers. In fact, Benjamin doesn’t even mention another school. To Franklin, learning can only...
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...PHILMAN PRELIM Lesson 3: Greek Wisdom of Man The Greek Triumvirate The Greek Triumvirate of philosophy is known for having a chain of teacher-student relationship. Socrates was the teacher of Plato; Plato was the teacher of Aristotle; and Aristotle was the teacher of one of history’s greatest conqueror – Alexander, the Great. The Greek Triumvirate & the Three Oriental Sages * Although the teachings of the Three Oriental Sages and the Greek Triumvirate are dissimilar, they however, have a resembling view on the soul of man. * The Oriental sages and the Greek triumvirate believed that man’s soul pre-existed his body. * The Greek triumvirate believes that man, in his original and ideal existence as a soul or a « pure mind », knew all things by direct intuition and had all knowledge stored in his mind. However, when man was banished into his world of sense, man blurred out and forgot almost everything he ever knew. * The Greek triumvirate posited that the present problems of man was caused by ignorance or lack of knowledge and that the only way for man to solve these problems is by recalling all his previous knowledge. * However, while they believe in the vitalityt of looking into one’s self as a method to resolve man’s problem, there are still major differences when it comes to the ‘specifics’ of their ideologies. Socrates * He was born in Athens circa 469 B.C. and died in 399 B.C. * He is known as one of mankind’s greatest teachers. ...
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...‘Allegory Of The Cave’ Plato suggests a theory in regards to the idea of human perception. It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates. Plato ultimately claims that knowledge gained through the senses is nothing more than a simple opinion. As a result, Plato also claims that in order to have real knowledge, one must gain knowledge through philosophical reasoning. Plato uses his work of the ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ to help distinguish between individuals who are mistaken by the sensory knowledge for truth and individuals who see real truth and gain real knowledge. Plato sets the setting of the story in a cave in which prisoners have resided since birth. The prisoners are chained and shackled, legs bound, and their head tied so they cannot see in any direction other than ahead of them, facing forward at a blank, stonewall. Behind the prisoners is a fire and a raised walkway where people along this walkway create shadows, which are projected onto the stonewall. Since the shadows are only what the prisoners are able to ever view, they are forced to believe that these shadows of a reality, are real. One of the prisoners is freed of his chains and escapes the cave. The sun initially blinds the prisoner until his eyes make natural adjustments. The prisoner then sets his eyes on life outside of the cave in which he is completely shocked at the world he discovers and does not believe it can be real. The prisoner comes to realization of...
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...moves the philosopher through the stages on the divided line, and ultimately brings him to the Form of the Good. Socrates describes a dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing. The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about “men,” “women,” “trees,” or “horses,” they are referring to these shadows. These prisoners represent the lowest stage on the line—imagination. A prisoner is freed from his bonds, and is forced to look at the fire and at the statues themselves. After an initial period of pain and confusion because of direct exposure of his eyes to the light of the fire, the prisoner realizes that what he sees now are things more real than the shadows he has always taken to be reality. He grasps how the fire and the statues together cause the shadows, which are copies of these more real things. He accepts the statues and fire as the most real things in the world. This stage in...
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...has its origins in song. Most of the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of utterance—rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use of refrains—appear to have come about from efforts to fit words to musical forms. However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song. ARGUMENTS ON POETRY: The Plato has criticized poetry as an imitative art in his book Republica. Plato narrated in his book that to have an ideal state, it is necessary to ban all imitative art forms as they corrupt the minds. He establishes a debate regarding the usefulness and potentially negative effects of poetry. He presents the theory of cave allegory in order to explain the poetic world and the philosopher world. CAVE ALLEGORY: In the allegory, there are prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the...
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...the cave in Plato’s republic (25 marks) Plato, 428-347 B.C., was an Athenian philosopher who lived in Ancient Greece. In 407 B.C. he became a pupil and friend of Socrates. After living for a time at the Syracuse court, Plato founded (c.387 B.C.) near Athens the most influential school of the ancient world, the Academy, where he taught until his death. The “Republic” is one of Plato’s greatest books that he has written. Plato’s presents one of the most famous analogies in philosophy: the cave. This analogy illustrates the effects of true knowledge. True knowledge moves the philosopher through life without any distractions, which in due course brings him to the Form of the Good. He tells the Allegory of the Cave as a conversation between his teacher Socrates who inspired many of Plato's philosophical theories and Glaucon. In the dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave, in which prisoners have been kept since their childhood, and each of them is held where they are all chained so that their legs and necks are unable to turn or allow them to move. This leaves them in a predicament where they’re forced to look at a wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is a fire and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway (bridge), on which people can walk. These people are shadow play, and they are carrying objects, in the shape of human and animal figures, as well as everyday items. The prisoners could only see these flickering images on...
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...In Book VII of The Republic, Plato introduces his ‘Allegory of the Cave’ which presents itself in the form of a Socratic dialogue between Glaucon, the brother of Plato, and Plato’s teacher, Socrates. Plato’s initial focus in his ‘Allegory of the Cave’ is almost entirely transcendent; he is concerned not with knowledge, but rather with the nature of reality. Socrates, speaking to Glaucon, describes a group of prisoners chained to a wall in a cave who have been there since birth. Behind them is a fire, which lights the cave, and between this fire and the prisoners is a road where people carry all sorts of human, animal and other forms, which are then reflected onto the opposite wall of the cave. Unable to turn their heads, the prisoners are only able to see the shadows that these forms cast upon the wall and Socrates makes the point that such men hold that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of artificial things. Plato makes an interesting point about human nature in this case, emphasizing the idea that human beings have a tendency to accept the reality that they are presented with. He goes on to say that, upon being introduced to the world outside of the cave, a man would be at a loss and believe that what was seen before is truer than what is now shown, a natural human reaction when facing the realization that one’s entire concept of reality has proven to be false. After his discovery of the world outside of the cave, the man would begin to adjust, first he’d most easily...
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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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...of the Good Plato believed that the world we around us is an illusion, and that everyday things that we take for granted are merely weak imitations of the true object behind it. He believed that behind every earthly object, and every earthly concept (e.g. beauty), there is an unearthly truth; a perfect version. He believed that there was a place where everything that is, has been, or ever will be in existence in kept, and that is how we know that a pen is a pen, a chair is a chair. This he believed, was the only possible explanation to the philosophical question: ‘What makes a thing, the thing that it is?’ Plato believed in the soul- the only part of a human that yields any importance or relevance. He believed that it was once, (before we were born), free to roam the World of the Forms, and now that it is in our world, held prisoner in our bodies, it longs to go back. Whilst I in the World of Forms, the soul had access to true knowledge, and everything that we ‘know’ today, is just remembering what we have already learnt. Forms are placed in a Hierarchy, the Form of the Good, being the most important. It is central to the existence of our entire Universe and without it there would be no perfect beauty, no perfect justice, no perfect anything. It structures each form, giving it its own characteristics. Plato used an analogy to explain his theories. He told people of a cave, where there is a row of men, chained up, facing the back wall. Behind them is a stage...
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