Chapter 4 - Plato: The Really Real

From Vaughn Textbook, Topics: Plato's Life and Times; Knowledge and Reality; Allegory of the Cave; Immortality, Morality, and the Soul; and the Individual and the State

Why is Plato important?

He had a massive influence on Western philosophy, with most branches of inquiry being able to trace their beginnings to him

What three elements influenced Plato the most?

His introduction to Socrates, his witnessing the trial and death of Socrates, and his subsequent travels to meet other philosophers

What lasting establishment did Plato found?

The Academy in Athens founded in 387 B.C. is seen as the first university that lasted for hundreds of years as well as producing the famous student Aristotle

What was Plato’s view of relativism?

He rejected relativism as well as the scepticism of the Sophists → he provided important analyses of knowledge as a justified true belief, not just a point of view

What does Plato think about knowledge?

It can be acquired, is objectively true, and that the objects of knowledge are real things

How does Plato conceive of reality?

He divides it into two worlds: the fleeting physical world accessed through sense experience; and the nonphysical, eternal, changeless world of genuine knowledge accessed only through reason

What is the central notion of Plato’s philosophy?

The Forms, the objectively real, eternal, abstract entities that serve as models or universals of higher knowledge

What is the ‘Allegory of the Cave’?

A story that Plato tells to illustrate facets of his theories of knowledge and metaphysics

What is the most obvious interpretation of the meaning of the ‘Allegory of the Cave’?

It represents the individual’s struggle to acquire the highest form of knowledge, the Forms, and the opposition by the unenlightened to wisdom

What were the early Greek ideas about the soul and immortality?

They conceived of the soul in many different ways, for some it was merely an indication of life, for others it was the seat of emotions, thinking, or moral values

What arguments did Plato offer for the immortality of the soul?

He offered several arguments including those of recollection and affinity

What mind-body theory did Plato accept?

Dualism, although he argued that the soul was made up of three aspects: appetite, spirit, and reason

For Plato, when does a person act morally?

When the three parts of their soul are in harmony and perform their proper functions well

What does Plato see as the only kind of fair society?

A meritocracy, in which those most qualified govern

How did Plato see democracy?

A mob rule in which many are too easily swayed by emotional appeals and bad arguments

What three roles does Plato see in an ideal society?

Those of producers, auxiliaries, and guardians

For what reasons have Plato’s ideal society been criticised?

Its inequality, authoritarianism, and subordination of individual liberty to the needs of the community

What is scepticism?

The view that we lack knowledge in some fundamental way and have no way of distinguishing between beliefs we take as knowledge, and those that are true knowledge, meaning knowledge is a lost cause

What are the Forms?

In Plato’s philosophy, the objectively real, eternal abstract entities that serve as models or universals of higher knowledge

What is rationalism?

The view that some or all of our knowledge about the world is gained independently of sense experience

What is empiricism?

The belief that knowledge of the world comes solely from sense experience

What is dualism?

The view that the mind (or soul) and matter (or body) are two disparate things

What is a meritocracy?

A system of rule by an elite distinguished by abilities and achievements

What is a democracy?

Rule by the people as a whole

What was Plato the first to do in philosophy?

Systematically examine the full range of philosophical subjects → epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, politics, and mathematics

How did meeting Socrates change the course of Plato’s life?

Plato’s family expected him to go into politics, but upon meeting Socrates Plato was introduced to philosophy

How did Socrates’ trial and death influence Plato?

Disgusted by the treatment of Socrates, Plato left Athens and travelled the city-states meeting many other philosophers

What role does Socrates play in many of Plato’s dialogues?

He is portrayed as brilliant and as a principle deflector of bogus claims of knowledge

How did Plato reject the views of the Sophists?

He, as well as Socrates, thought it was possible to truly know things and that there were ways in which to obtain knowledge → Sophists are relativists and see no real truth

What are the three conditions that Plato said needed to be met in order to have knowledge?

1. You must believe something to be the case

2. It must be true

3. You must have reasons for which to believe something to be the case

How did Plato reject the views of sceptics?

He believes we can distinguish between beliefs and true knowledge, as well as there being objective knowledge to seek

What is the story of Socrates and the slave boy?

Socrates, in an effort to prove to Meno innate knowledge, asks a slave boy to draw a square twice as large as the one he has already drawn, so the boy doubles each size, but quickly realises his own fault → the boy is able to arrive at the correct answer without being taught, indicating some sort of natural knowledge

How does the ‘Allegory of the Cave’ allude to Socrates?

The freed prisoner returns to the cave to explain the truth to the others, but is reviled and perhaps even killed, just as Socrates was for trying to explain truth to Athenians

What is the argument of immortality in terms of souls?

That the soul lives on after the body dies and is able to engage → Plato illustrates this with the story of the slave boy and Socrates

What is the argument of affinity in terms of souls?

That the soul is divine and immortal → two types of being, one mortal (body) and the other undissoluble (soul)

What were the three parts of the soul according to Plato?

1. Appetite - bodily cravings for food, drink, sex, sleep

2. Spirit - wants a sense of self and to serve ambition

3. Reason - wants to pursue practical and theoretical truth

Why does Plato think the soul must have more than one aspect?

He does not think it possible for humans to have the deep worries and internal conflicts without multiple aspects to the soul

For Plato, what are the benefits of acting morally?

The parts of the soul will be in harmony, giving someone happiness

What is the story of the Ring of Gyges?

A ring has the ability to make someone invisible → Glaucon says that both a moral and immoral person would not be able to resists immoral actions with the ring to satisfy themselves

What is an aristocracy?

A society ruled by a privileged class

Who are the producers in Plato’s society?

Those who are moved by appetites → labourers, carpenters, farmers

Who are the auxiliaries in Plato’s society?

Those who are moved by spirit → soldiers, warriors

Who are the guardians in Plato’s society?

Those who are moved by reason → leaders, rulers, philosopher-kings