Plato CL 121

Plato

Who famously said, 'All of Western philosophy is but a footnote to Plato'?

Alfred North Whitehead

What is the term for Plato's doctrine of a permanent realm of eternal Forms that shape our mutable material world?

Idealism

In Plato's idealism, the 'Idea of the Desk' is timeless and pure, while the physical desk is _____.

time-bound

According to Platonic thought, what is the usual solution for why formless things like mud or sawdust have no Forms?

They are considered formless matter and therefore do not have a Form

What analogy is suggested as a more helpful way to understand Plato's concept of the Ideal versus the Material?

A geometry class, where one works with perfect circles and lines that are imperfectly represented in diagrams.

What warning was reportedly written on the door to Plato's school, the Academy?

'Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here.'

Plato developed his idealism in reaction against the notions of which group of teachers?

The Sophists

The Sophists were teachers of what we would now call _____ and composition.

rhetoric

According to the introduction, what is the central thesis of Plato's Republic, Book X concerning art?

That poets have no place in the perfect state except as writers of hymns to gods and praises of leaders.

What is the only kind of poetry that Plato deems acceptable in his ideal state, according to Republic, Book X?

Hymns to the gods and praises of famous men.

In Plato's Republic, what model does Socrates construct to understand the nature of Justice?

A model state, a republic governed by a natural elite of guardians.

What is the name of the hierarchical portrait of the universe that Socrates presents in the Republic?

The myth of the divided line.

In Plato's divided line, what mode of being corresponds to the mental activity of 'Knowing'?

Ideas (Forms)

In Plato's divided line, what mode of mental activity corresponds to 'Material Things'?

Opinion

According to Plato's divided line, the eternal world of true Being is separated from the world of _____, which includes material things that are born and die.

Becoming

In Plato's divided line, what is the lowest mode of being, corresponding to the mental activity of 'Conjecture'?

Images.

In Republic, Book X, how does Plato fundamentally identify art?

As imitation (mimesis)

In Republic, Book X, why is an artistic object considered an inferior mode of being?

It is merely an image, placing it at the bottom of the divided line.

In Socrates's argument, there are three beds: one made by God, one by the carpenter, and one by the painter. Which one exists in nature and is the 'real' bed?

The one existing in nature, made by God (the Form or Idea)

According to Plato's argument in the Republic, the tragic poet is an imitator and is therefore how far removed from the truth?

Thrice removed from the king and from the truth.

Socrates argues that the art of painting is an imitation of things as they _____, not as they are.

appear

Why does Socrates claim a painter can depict a carpenter without knowing the art of carpentry?

Because the painter only needs to imitate the appearance of a carpenter, not the reality of the craft.

In the Republic, Socrates argues that if a person could make both the original and the image, they would be interested in _____ and not in imitations.

realities

What challenge does Socrates pose to Homer regarding his practical knowledge?

He asks what state was ever better governed by Homer's help or what war was won by his counsel.

According to Plato, who has true knowledge regarding the goodness or badness of a flute?

The user (the flute player).

In the hierarchy of knowledge about an object, the user has knowledge, the maker has correct _____, and the imitator has neither.

opinion (or belief)

Socrates argues that imitation and painting appeal to a part of the soul which is removed from what?

Reason…

According to Socrates, the imitative art is an inferior who from intercourse with an inferior has _____ offspring.

inferior

Why does Plato believe that poetry is harmful even to good people?

It feeds and waters the passions (like grief and pity), which ought to be controlled by reason.

In the dialogue Ion, what metaphor does Socrates use to describe the process of divine inspiration?

A magnet that attracts iron rings and passes the attraction along the chain.

According to the magnet metaphor in Ion, what is the complete chain of divine inspiration?

The Muse inspires the artist (Homer), who inspires the interpreter (Ion), who inspires the audience.

The Greek word translated as 'inspiration' in the Ion is _____, which literally means something closer to 'demonic possession.'

enthousiasmos

What is the central contradiction concerning art between Plato's Republic and his Ion?

The Republic portrays art as an inferior imitation, while the Ion suggests it can be a form of divine inspiration.

What is one possible explanation for the discrepancy in Plato's views on art between the Ion and the Republic?

That Plato changed his mind, or that one dialogue is ironic, or that they address different contexts (ideal vs. actual world).

What is considered the 'most plausible' explanation for the different views of art in the Ion and the Republic?

They have different contexts: the Republic designs a perfect state that runs on dependable knowledge, not occasional inspiration.

In which dialogue does Socrates praise poetry, prophecy, and love as forms of 'divine madness'?

The Phaedrus.

According to the Phaedrus, the state of enthousiasmos allows the soul to have a dim but gripping memory of what?

The eternal Forms of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

In the Phaedrus, what is Socrates' primary complaint against the invention of writing, as told in the myth of Thoth and Ammon?

That it will cause human memory to decay because people will rely on external marks rather than recollection.

What is Socrates' deeper complaint about writing, beyond its effect on memory?

A written text cannot be interrogated or respond to questions like a person in oral discourse.

Why might Plato have chosen to write his philosophy in the form of dialogues rather than treatises?

To represent philosophy as an activity and to stimulate the reader to philosophize.

In his _____, Plato claims that he never wrote down his philosophy at all, because it could not be written down.

Seventh Letter

In Republic, Book X, Socrates argues that poetry strengthens the irrational part of the soul and thereby impairs what?

Reason.

According to Socrates in the Republic, when we listen to a tragic hero's lamentations, the _____ element in us is allowed to break loose.

sympathetic

What does Socrates argue is the 'manly part' to do when one's own sorrow occurs, as opposed to what we enjoy in poetry?

To be quiet and patient.

Socrates warns that the pity nourished by watching tragedy is with difficulty _____ in our own misfortunes.

repressed

Besides pity and sorrow, what other passion does Socrates say poetry waters instead of drying up?

Lust, anger, desire, pain, pleasure, or the ridiculous (laughter).

Socrates states there is an 'ancient quarrel' between which two disciplines?

Philosophy and poetry.

On what condition would Socrates allow poetry to return from exile into the well-ordered state?

If she can make a defense of herself and prove she is useful to states and human life, not just pleasant.

What is the profession of the character Ion, for whom the dialogue is named?

A rhapsode (a professional reciter of poetry).

At the beginning of the Phaedrus, what argument by the writer Lysias does Phaedrus admire?

That a young man should choose a non-lover over a lover for prudential reasons.

After parodying Lysias's speech, why does Socrates stop and deliver a speech of recantation?

He realizes his own speech, like Lysias's, wrongly presumes love is only physical desire

In his second speech in the Phaedrus, what does Socrates argue is the real truth about love?

That it is one of the gods' most precious gifts, a divine madness in our longing for transcendent Beauty.

According to the introduction, the form of Plato's dialogues creates what two main problems of interpretation?

Determining if Socrates is being serious or ironic, and reconciling positions held in different dialogues.