A-Level philosophy: Plato

what did Plato want people to achieve?

Plato wanted people to achieve a sense of fulfilment and happiness.  

what were Plato’s two main ideas?

Analogy of the cave and theory of the forms

why do we need the theory of the forms?

we cannot gain true unchanging knowledge from the everchanging world we experience, Plato thought that we must not be experiencing the world correctly.

our minds are trapped in a state of ignorance, which is why we experience imperfect, transient and everchanging things in the world of appearance.

true reality must be perfect, eternal and unchanging - the world of forms.

• true knowledge can only be gained from the world of forms.

what is Plato’s analogy of the cave?

an allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic to compare "the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature"

• an escape from ignorance.

• reality is but a construction.

what happens in the beginning of the analogy of the cave?

a cave where people have been imprisoned - are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them

behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway with a low wall, behind which people walk carrying objects or puppets "of men and other living things"

The people walk behind the wall so their bodies do not cast shadows for the prisoners to see, but the objects they carry do

the prisoners cannot see any of what is happening behind them; they are only able to see the shadows cast upon the cave wall in front of them.

how does the prisoner escape in the analogy of the cave?

he is freed then walks up the rough ascent, the steep way up, and never stop until he could drag walk out into the light of the sun.

slowly, his eyes adjust to the light of the sun. first he can see only shadows.

gradually he can see the reflections of people and things in water and then later see the people and things themselves.

eventually, he is able to look at the stars and moon at night until finally he can look upon the sun itself

what happens when the prisoner returns to the cave in the analogy of the cave?

the free prisoner would think that the world outside the cave was superior to the world he experienced in the cave and attempt to share this with the prisoners remaining in the cave attempting to bring them onto the journey he had just endured

the returning prisoner, whose eyes have become accustomed to the sunlight, would be blind when he re-entered the cave, just as he was when he was first exposed to the sun

the prisoners who remained would infer from the returning man's blindness that the journey out of the cave had harmed him and that they should not undertake a similar journey.

what is the meaning of the prisoners in the analogy of the cave?

General public, people in the world, ignorant, unenlightened, haven’t found philosophy

what is the meaning of the wall in the analogy of the cave?

Our world; the world of the senses/of experience – not reality

what is the meaning of the shadows in the analogy of the cave?

things we experience through the senses; how things appear; imitations/dim reflections of reality and the truth.

what is the meaning of the men carrying objects in the analogy of the cave?

the (Athenian) government; people in authority who influence us, keep us ignorant, supress our reason.

what is the meaning of the jagged path in the analogy of the cave?

the struggle to reach enlightenment –difficult path of becoming a philosopher moving from ignorance to knowledge.

what is the meaning of the free prisoner in the analogy of the cave?

the philosopher, those who are enlightened and realise the world of experience is just a shadow; e.g.: Socrates

what is the meaning of the sun in the analogy of the cave?

ultimate reality; the truth; the ‘Good’ (the essential Form which gives life to all other Forms).

what is the overall message of the analogy of the cave?

•This world/the world of  sense experience is very limited.

•Be brave enough to go outside your comfort zone

•Be open to idea that reality is greater than our limited experience and interpretation of it.

•True knowledge is possible if we use philosophical reasoning.

•The journey to enlightenment is difficult. You will initially struggle to grasp new philosophical concepts. Others will be hostile when you challenge their ideas.

•Don’t trust people in positions of power

what does Plato want us to understand from the analogy of the cave?

• The relation between the material world (of appearances) and the higher world of the Forms.

• The way in which physical/worldly concerns can blind people to what is really important.

• The potential for true knowledge that philosophy can bring.

• The initial difficulties/struggles of grappling with philosophy.

what are the two worlds Plato believes in?

the world of appearances and the world of reality

what is the world of appearances?

this world – the empirical world: the world of the senses, where everything flows and changes

what is the world of reality?

the World of the Forms – The eternal, unchanging world – we can only have knowledge of this through reason, using philosophy

what is the difference between Plato and Aristotle?

Plato is concerned with reason alone - is a rationalist

Aristotle is a materialist who argues that knowledge is gained through sensory experience and observation of the physical world.

how is the theory of the forms represented in the analogy of the cave?

Chained prisoners: people trapped in the ‘world of appearances’ (unreal world)

The fire and shadows: imitations of the Forms

The world outside the cave: the world of Forms (real world)

The Sun: the form of the Good

where did Plato believe true reality existed?

existed beyond normal perceptions of the world.

What we perceive around us is a shadow of this truth

what does Plato say about the physical world?

is always changing in a state of process and flux.

why is the physical world a problem for Plato?

problem- how can we have true and certain knowledge if the objects we want to understand are changing all the time?

Plato is looking for something permanent and certain in a world of change and uncertainty.

what does Plato conclude?

He concludes that the objects of complete, true and certain knowledge must be eternal, unchanging and non-material/spiritual. He calls these realities ‘Forms’ or ‘Ideas’.

The Realm of the Forms is therefore a ‘different’ world outside the one we live in. It is ‘real’, eternal, unchanging, spiritual.

It is the world of ideas, not senses, so we can know it only through reason.

what is there in the realm of the forms?

there is a                                  perfect or ideal Form of everything that                                       exists and can be experienced in this world.

how are physical, material things given their reality?

given their reality by the Forms; they ‘participate’ in the Forms.

how are we aware of the forms?

We recognise the Forms by intuition because we experienced them before birth.

what is our relationship to the forms?

Our immortal souls lived in the Realm of Forms                        before being born and trapped in the material                world/in a physical body.

Therefore, the more I reflect, the more I remember and recollect.

Education is a 'leading out'. It involves a drawing out things we already know. We learn by reflection.

what is the hierarchy of the forms?

The Forms are related to each other.

The highest and most important is the Form of the Good.

Goodness is the purest and most abstract of the Forms and therefore the furthest away from the physical world.

It illuminates and gives value to all other higher Forms who participate in it; e.g. justice, wisdom, courage, beauty are all aspects of goodness.

Forms lower down in the hierarchy are more specific and close to individual material aspects.

what is a strength of Plato’s approach (universal a priori truths)?

reality is beyond world of sense experience. Other scholars agree e.g. Kant with an absolutist approach to reality and ethics/goodness.

what is a strength of Plato (innate knowledge)?

We do seem to have some innate knowledge of good and bad (e.g. intuitionists like Moore) and it is best to use our reason rather than our senses, as the influence of the world does often lead us to negative attitudes e.g sexism through advertising.

Plato’s ideas are useful in terms of inspiring people to seek the truth even if it is a struggle, and to take more time to reflect rather than just observe the world as it is and be too influenced by dominant ideas, politicians or current celebrity culture.

what is a strength of Plato’s approach (usefulness)?

It makes sense to have a perfect version of everything. We recognise the usefulness of having an ideal to refer to when discussing whether something is beautiful/just/kind and that is why we debate these concepts with such passion as we are all trying to work out the perfect, real form of it.

what is a weakness of Plato’s approach (unscientific)?

There is no evidence for the world of the forms – Plato just assumes that they exist without justification. Karl Popper argued that Plato is determined to find a certainty which does not exist in this world. Popper says that it is hard to accept this, but this is no reason to make something up (religious fanatics do this and we have seen the dangers- terrorism). Richard Dawkins believes it is nonsense to talk of a transcendent ‘other world’ beyond the physical. Aristotle also took this view – ‘what do the Forms contribute to sensible things?’ He argued that something does not have to be eternal to be real. (Something may last a few moments but be perfect whilst it lasts.)

how does Aristotle criticise Plato?

Aristotle’s Third Man argument: Can there be a form of everything, to infinity e.g. all plants, all numbers? Does a red ball participate in both the form of ‘redness’ and ‘ballness’? What about the form of negatives: ‘disease’ or ‘evil’?

Aristotle was also concerned that ‘good’ could have many different meanings. A good ball is not the same as a good human. It depends on the object’s purpose for Aristotle. So there cannot be one Form of the Good.

what is an issue with Plato’s approach (what if we don’t have a soul)?

Many would argue today that we don’t have a soul which gives us prior knowledge e.g. Dawkins says the soul is an illusion. Plato’s approach seems quite elitist – only philosophers and those with access to a good education can know the truth – and therefore he concludes that only these people should be allowed to vote.

how would Plato respond to the criticism that the forms lacks empirical evidence?

it’s good his theory has no evidence because evidence cannot be trusted as it is merely shadows of the real world of forms that only a priori reason can discover.

how does Aristotle criticise Plato by describing his theory as an unnecessary hypothesis?

because it has no explanatory power regarding our experience. Plato’s forms are unchanging, but therefore cannot explain the change we experience in the world. Aristotle concluded that the forms are “nonsense, and even if they do exist, they are wholly irrelevant”. Plato’s theory of forms lack empirical validity.

how does Aristotle criticise the form of the good?

Aristotle disagrees with Plato’s idea that the cause of immorality is ignorance of the good. Aristotle claims that cultivating virtue is a requirement to do good. Merely knowing what is good is not enough to make yourself morally perfect.

Plato is either being extremely overly optimistic, or he is just inventing ideas that would justify the type of society he wants, which is philosophers being the rulers.

• Nietzsche called Plato’s form of the good a ‘dangerous error’ and said that philosophers often invent ideas that suit their emotional prejudices, such as desire for power. They then pretend to have figured out their views through logic and reason.

Furthermore, Aristotle thinks the idea of one unified form of the good doesn’t fit with our experience. It’s simple to see how all the instances of tall things could have a single essence of ‘tallness’, but it’s harder to see how that would work for goodness since different instances of goodness are so radically different.

how can we acquire proper knowledge of reality according to Plato?

we must use a priori methods (i.e. reason and understanding) to comprehend the world of the Forms.

how is Platos cave an allegory?

has both a literary and allegorical meaning - symbolic and metaphorical suggestion

what are some of the symbolic suggestions in the analogy of the cave?

• dark cave = contemporary world of ignorance and chained people symbolize ignorant people

• raised wall = symbolises the limitation of our thinking

• shadow = suggest the world of sensory perception is an illusion

• chains = our limitation in this material world so we cannot know the reality to know reality - have to break the material world

• outer world of light = suggests the world of spiritual reality

what is sensory perception?

the world of appearance which we perceive with the help of our sensory organs

• world is the world of illusion

• we cannot perceive reality or truth with our senses

what is spiritual perception?

divine enlightenment - possible when we reject the world of sensory perception unless we break the material chains we do not get sp

• an ideal concept

what is true education/true philosophy?

learning power is the world of becoming and education is the process of learning called the world of being

true philosophy makes a person spiritually illuminated so that he is not concerned with the material world

spiritual enlightenment = true philosophy

how does Martin Heidegger criticise Plato?

believed his allegory illustrated how humans are often trapped in a limited understanding of reality, much like the prisoners in the cave who only see shadows on the wall

argues true knowledge comes from breaking free of these limitations and experiencing the world directly, rather than preconceived notions

challenges the traditional view of Plato’s allegory and emphasizes the importance of direct, experiential knowledge

how did Hannah Arendt criticise Plato?

critical of Heidegger’s use of the cave allegory - missed the political dimensions of Plato’s work

argued Plato’s cave represents the philosophers struggle to engage with the political world while seeking higher truths

Plato constructed the allegory to highlight the position of philosophers in society and justify their withdrawal from political life

how does Plato know our knowledge of this world is not perfect?

• all organic matter grows, changes and dies

• all objects change and get damaged

• nothing is permanent

knowledge cannot be found within this item, since if that item is destroyed, knowledge of it still exists

how does Plato explain the division between these two realms?

the simile of the divided line

what is the simile of the divided line?

a vertical line divided into 2 parts - upper part is twice as big as the lower part

upper part represents the forms, lower represents our realm of appearances

what is true in this world is only so because it is truer in the Realm of the Forms

However, we can only access the forms through rationality

what does the cave represent?

the realm of appearances

what is the third man argument?

a problem with how Plato explains the relationship between Forms and particular things.

Let’s take an example:

1. You see three men. They all look different, but they share something in common: man-ness.

2. Plato would say: they are all men because they share in the Form of Man.

3. But wait — the Form of Man must also be like a man (since it explains what "man-ness" is), so now we have three men + the Form of Man — and all of these share "man-ness".

4. So to explain that similarity, we need another Form — a Third Man — to account for what the first men and the Form of Man have in common.

5. But then this process repeats again and again — leading to infinite Forms.

shows that Plato’s idea might fail to explain anything, because instead of solving the question of what makes things similar, it just creates more and more Forms — an infinite regress.

how can Plato’s theory be criticised?

• Dawkins argues that it is ‘nonsense’ to discuss a non-physical world beyond this one

• Popper argued Plato was just trying to find certainty in an uncertain world but that actually this was just his desire, not based on any substantial evidence

• Ayer called Plato’s view on there being an eternal version of all things in this world ‘primitive superstition’

• Aristotle argued that the Form of the Good had no impact on life, since it had no value on ethical decision making - it dosen’t tell us how to live, so does it ‘do’ anything of significance

what do Jordan and Tate say about the forms?

 a radical difference between the physical & the spiritual, so it is difficult to gain knowledge of the WoF.

what does Popper say about the forms?

The WoF provided Plato a way to cope with the uncertainty of life.

what does Aristotle say about the forms?

Things don’t need to be eternal to be pure. The WoF fails when pushed to its logical extremes.

what does Martin Hollis say about the cave?

Odd picture painted – are we actually like the prisoners? Prisoners are so sheltered by illusions and is all they know, but we know more than that as we do not live in such a two-dimensional world, we can get insights into things.

how is the form of the good represented by the sun?

Plato argues that the form of the good is the highest and ultimate form of truth of which all other forms stem from. This is represented by the sun due to it enabling life on earth and it illuminating the world, enabling vision in the visible world.