Plato 's Levels Of Reality

The main idea which sets apart the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle is that of the forms, which must be explained to understand Plato’s divinity. The

Plato's metaphor of the divided line is essentially two worlds; the world of opinion (the

Knowledge and reality are ideas that mankind have struggled with for centuries. In Plato’s book, The Republic, he tackles both ideas through many analogies. Plato encourages people to question their own perception of knowledge and reality. Plato challenges mankind to assess what true knowledge is and how that compares to their reality. In Plato’s Republic, knowledge is defined as something that must be universal and clear, and using this definition, it can be asserted that knowledge and reality are not the same.

Plato, being a Socratic apprentice, followed and transcribed the experiences Socrates had in his teachings and search of understanding. In Plato’s first work, The Allegory of the Cave, Socrates forms the understanding between appearance vs. reality and the deceptions we are subject to by the use of forms. In the cave, the prisoners’ experiences are limited to what their senses can tell them, the shadows on the walls, and their shackles; these appearances are all that they have to form their ideas. When one of the prisoners begins to question his reality he makes his way out of the cave and into the day light. This prisoners understanding of his reality has now expanded, thus the theory of forms; when he returns to the cave to spread the news, the others do not believe him. They have been deceived by their reality and what

The main concept that Plato bases his argument on is the theory of forms. According to the theory of forms, the physical world is created by the abstract ideas and concepts known as the metaphysical world. Plato believed that the physical world was not real and was simply an illusion for the metaphysical world. in The Symposium, there are six different levels to the theory of forms as defined by Diotima. Diotima defines the levels using the example of love, the topic of discussion at the symposium. The first two levels fall into the physical world and are the love of one body and the love of all bodies. The third, fourth, and fifth levels fall under the realm of the metaphysical world and are the love of minds, the love of customs and traditions, and love of forms of knowledge respectively. The highest level in the theory of forms is pure form which extends beyond the metaphysical world and cannot be defined. Only beings that have achieved wisdom, beings that reside in the realm of pure form, can understand this idea. Plato

The Platonic theory of forms that Plato raised relies on the belief that the forms or ideas and not the materialistic example or material is the highest most fundamental kind of reality. He uses the principle of

Plato believes that there are two realms, the physical realm, or the sense world, and the spiritual realm, or the intellectual world. The physical realm is our world, it is the stuff we see and interact with every day. The physical realm is imperfect, and the spiritual realm is what the forms are. Plato’s concept of the forms is that everything has a perfect, or ideal version. These ideal versions do not exist in our world, and that is what makes them ideals. The objects we see in our lives are

Plato’s theory of the Forms showcases that acquiring knowledge involves turning away from the world of senses and moving towards the Forms/world of intellect. Within Plato’s Republic there are three analogies: the sun, line, and cave, which are intended to clarify how things experienced in the sensible world are less real than the Forms. All three analogies are consistent through their descriptions of the differences between the intelligible and sensible worlds. The usage of all three also enables Plato to guide readers through the knowledge process, starting with a simple description of the sun and ending with a full example of how man can reach that sun.

How do we know actually know what is true and what is real? It is seems like a simple concept, even bordering on common sense, and people generally presume that they know some inherent truths and realities that govern the world. However, when carefully examined, what they apparently know to be true and real, holds no actual substance, evidence, or wisdom. Their ideas may be weak and underdeveloped and they may come to realize that their heads have been buried in the sand, hidden in the blissful ignorance of darkness. Therefore, finding a truth and proving what is real may not be as simple as previously speculated.

Every great philosopher tries to explain the concepts the.y find fundamental to living a fulfilled life, One of these questions asks; What is reality? Or How can we know what is real? To know what reality is may seem like a simple question to some. Especially given all that we perceive in our everyday lives. However, Plato makes us question this with his “allegory of the cave.” While science may lead us to believe in our empirical evidence. Plato prefers to defend his ideas on the forms. This view on reality takes a very interesting view on how our world works. This idea shows our perception of the world as nothing other than opinions and that real knowledge can only be found through reason.

In “The Five Dialogues,” Plato argues the theory of Forms and how they are fixed into our knowledge long before we seize to exist. Recollection of Forms is how we are able to learn. Our material world is constantly changing; we rely on our senses to understand what is going on. Plato discusses another world, a more real world where there exists true beings of the Form. Form in short is the essence of something. The particular position Plato holds on the subject of forms is the belief that a Form is the only stable “idea” in our environment. This information of the Forms can only be gained from recollection. Since we really do have true knowledge of

The purpose of Plato’s Divided Line is to demonstrate the levels of knowledge a human can and should aspire to attain. Plato believed that 90% of the people live in the world of illusions, only seeing traces of truth in their lives. The understanding stage represents individuals with philosophical understanding. On the understanding stage knowledge is achieved by only those who are willing to live outside the cave. In Plato’s cave the prisoner represents an individual that is willing to seek knowledge outside of the senses.

In the last few books we read Socrates focuses on the forms in a series of allegories. There are three allegories that he gives. The three allegories are the allegory of the sun, the line, and the cave. In this part the individual forms are explained. Another thing that is explained in the last few books is how the world is divided into two realms. Those two realms are the visible and the intelligible. The visible world is the universe we see around us, or in other words the

Plato’s view of the world with Forms as the most real which we can only know through reasoning and philosophy can be contrasted and compared to Kant’s view of the world with noumena as the stuff in the world outside of us which we will never experience in itself, although we can get experiences from it through the

Transcendence is the belief of something higher than the physical realm. Immanence is just the contradiction. Plato thought that form is transcendent, that is, that the form of an object lives in a different realm, “The Realm of Forms,” and is not something that an be achieved in the physical world. In other words, he believed that the form and the object were separate from one another. Thus, Plato argued in the existence of two worlds. Aristotle, on the other hand, argued the opposite. He philosophized that the form was not separated from an object in actuality; only one world existed.