Plato, Chapter 4

Plato

What was Plato’s personal life like?

• Born in 500s B.C. in Athens

• Founded the first university, the Academy, in 387 B.C. that persisted until being abolished by Justinian I

What three main events shaped Plato?

1. Introduction to Socrates

2. Witnessing the trial and death of Socrates

3. Travels to meet other philosophers

How did Plato see knowledge?

He rejected the relativism and skepticism of the Sophists, instead believing that knowledge could be acquired, that knowledge was objectively true, and that objects of knowledge are real things

What was the central notion of Plato’s philosophy?

The Forms and worlds of reality

What is the allegory of the cave?

• Prisoners in a cave see shadows of the world cast by a fire behind them

• One escapes and, after initially being blinded by the sun, sees the real world outside the cave

• They return to the cave, blinded again by the darkness, and try to explain their newfound, preferred reality

• The prisoners assume the escapee is blinded by the outside world, assuming it hostile

• They resolve to kill anyone who tries to remove them from their cave

What does the allegory of the cave represent?

The freed prisoner represents the difficulty in acquiring the Forms and knowledge, while the cave-dwellers represent opposition from the unenlightened and resistance to philosophical ideas

What are Plato’s two main arguments for immortality of the soul?

Recollection and affinity:

• Recollection → slave boy and problem of doubling the size of a shape in which, without experience, the boy exhibits instinctive knowledge of geometry

• Affinity → the two types of existence, fleeting physicality and divine unchangingness, mean the soul probably embodies both, being divine and physical

What is dualism?

The view that the mind and soul are two disparate things

What does Plato argue about aspects of the soul?

He accepts dualism, but also argues for three aspects of the soul:

• Appetite → satisfaction of bodily cravings, useful/pleasurable things

• Spirit → drive to preserve sense of self and serve ambition

• Reason → philosophical drive to pursue truth, the part that regulates the others and rules the soul as a whole

According to Plato, when is one moral?

When the three parts of the soul are in harmony and each fulfill their proper function well

What is meritocracy?

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

What is Plato’s view on how society should function?

He believed the only society that ensured people got their due was a meritocracy → democracy was a mob rule by those too easily swayed by emotional appeals and bad arguments

How is Plato’s ideal society structured?

Mirrors the soul with three parts:

• Producers → those moved by appetites, e.g. labourers, carpenters, artisans, farmers

• Auxiliaries → those moved by spirit, e.g. soldiers, warriors, police

• Guardians → those moved by reason, e.g. leaders, rulers, philsopher-kings

For what reasons is Plato’s ideal society criticised?

It is criticised for inequality, authoritarianism, and its subordination of individual liberty to the needs of the community