Plato

<aside> đź’ˇ Quotes

  • “Knowledge is prized higher than correct opinion, and knowledge differs from correct opinion in being tired down.” </aside>

<aside> ✏ Notes:

  • plato

    • 427-347 BCE

    • born into wealthy athenian family

    • great admirer of socrates

    • founded first Western University: The Academy

      • not in the sense that we understand

      • the kind of college you would spent like 2 decades in and focused on developing critical thinkers

  • much of plato’s philosophy is summed up in his allegory of the cave found in Book 7 of "The Republic,"

    • our senses are deceiving and poor judges for knowledge

    • the utlimate reality lies beyond what our senses can comprehend

    • reality then is divided into this wolrd of fake replicas of the other world; the invisible world of the forms

    • Plato's most famous allegory, capturing key aspects of his philosophy, including his views on art and reality.

    • Scenario: Prisoners chained in a cave, only seeing shadows cast on the wall, believing these shadows to be reality.

    • The Shadows: Represent a superficial understanding of reality, akin to mere perceptions or opinions, not true knowledge.

    • The Freed Prisoner: Escapes the cave, sees the fire and the objects casting shadows, and then experiences the outside world with its true forms and the sun (representing the ultimate truth/good).

    • Return to the Cave: When the freed prisoner returns to enlighten others, they are met with disbelief and hostility, as the other prisoners are comfortable in their ignorance and illusions.

    • Interpretation:

      • Most of society remains like the prisoners, content with illusions and resistant to true knowledge.

      • This highlights the difficulty of enlightenment and the resistance to those who challenge established beliefs.

      • It underscores the importance of seeking truth beyond superficial appearances.

      • Society should ideally be led by those who have "seen the light" and understand true reality.

    • Levels of Reality and Knowledge: The allegory illustrates different degrees of reality (shadows, physical objects, Forms) and corresponding levels of knowledge (opinion, understanding, true knowledge).

  • Plato's early dialogues, heavily influenced by Socrates, recorded his teachings.

  • Plato's later dialogues formalized Socrates' ideas into a more comprehensive philosophical system.

  • Socrates, unlike Plato, did not aim to impart knowledge directly but to help individuals think better and critically.

  • Socrates opposed the relativist views of the Sophists, who claimed "everything is relative."

  • The concept of relativism is problematic because claiming "everything is relative" is itself an absolute statement, thus self-contradictory.

  • Socrates asserted the possibility of knowing objective truths ("truth with a capital T") that are not relative.

  • epistemology

    • plato argued that there are universal, unchanging truths

    • sense experience however can be deceiving

  • rejection of relativism

    • fully rejects relativism

    • not all opinions should be valued equally

    • morality has objective Forms, such as Justice and the Good (the super Form of all Forms, in fact)

    • being “good” is how one achieves harmony of how the soul and writ large, the State

  • rejection of sense experience

    • plato would reject what later be called “empiricism” (the position that knowledge is derived from sense experience)

  • Plato viewed artists as creating "shadows" or replicas of things, which are themselves replicas of the ideal Forms.

  • Therefore, artists create "replicas of replicas," taking people further away from true knowledge and spreading "bad knowledge."

  • Plato considered art to be dangerous due to its imitative nature.

Connection to Freudian Psychology

Plato's tripartite division has parallels with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic model of the psyche:

  • Plato's Rulers (Wisdom) corresponds to Freud's Superego (Moral Conscience)

  • Plato's Warriors (Courage) corresponds to Freud's Ego (Balancing urges and conscience)

  • Plato's Appetites (Moderation) corresponds to Freud's Id (Natural Instincts/Desires)

Both models suggest a balance between innate drives, moral considerations, and the mediating self.

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