In philosophy, philosophers develop ideas that can change the way we view the world. Many of the pre-Socratics, meaning before the time of Socrates, shared ideas that were later found in incorporated into other philosophers ideas and beliefs. For Plato, he incorporated ideas from Heraclitus and Parmenides in his book The Republic. Heraclitus believed that things are in a constant state of change. This was different compared to the ideas of the pre-Socratics who believed in monism. Monism is the belief that only one form of being is the key to our existence. During Heraclitus’ time many thought he followed the monist beliefs, but he was rather trying to teach that there is more than one thing that makes us the way we are. He focused on how …show more content…
For Plato his sphere of what is known and what is unknown comes from his idea of The Divided Line. The Divided Line is a metaphor to show how the world is broken down. This line is first broken into two unequal pieces and those two pieces are then cut in half themselves. The first cut breaks the visible world from the intelligible, in the visible the bottom layer is images (perception) topped by physical objects (faith). On top of the visible world is the intelligible world and the lower level for the intelligible world is hypothesis (understanding) and topped by perfect ideas (reason). For Plato if you reach the top level of perfect ideas, then you have found the good. The good is “light and sight…truly said to be like the sun, and yet not be the sun…the good has a place of honour yet higher” (Plato). This illustrates the good in a way that anyone could understand. The good is true beauty that is known, but not seen because it is part of ones intelligence. Another way Plato talks about realms is in the mystery of the cave. The cave represents knowledge and what we know, life in the cave, and what we don’t know, life outside of the cave. While in the cave the prisoners are chained up so they cannot wander around or in the cave, and are constantly monitored by the guards whom are people who have already left the cave. In order to leave the cave …show more content…
Both philosopher’s had his own idea of a higher power that is not tangible, but everyone should try and reach. For Plato, the Good, and for Parmenides, Being. The both clearly articulated ways to reach a higher being, and Plato had a more complex method than what Parmenides had proposed. For Plato you had to achieve success in all layers of the divided line, while Parmenides only required rational thought. Heraclitus touches on Plato’s ideas of change and trying to reach it, but is unable to articulate a way to become a higher being. He talks about change and how things are constantly changing, but have no clear end point of what we should change into. Plato connects Parmenides’ ideas into his divided line in that, “the ideas are known but not seen” (Plato). In the divided line Plato illustrated that perfect ideas are the highest level of knowledge one can achieve, and Parmenides idea of Being can only be achieved through rational thought. While all three philosophers Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Plato, had strong views, Parmenides and Plato were the most similar on the idea of knowledge. They believed that there is a way to reach a higher level of knowledge than what people have current access
Here Hawking and Mlodinow are comparing psychics and philosophy. Which is saying the choice for theory-dependent understanding of reality over straightforward observation as final mediator. Plato believed there was only one real version of anything or basically the perfect version. Plato also believed that through deep thought and rational thinking someone can achieve genuine knowledge. Plato says the world is timeless and knowledge about world forms is genuine knowledge. Plato believed philosophers should rule the world because they seek out real knowledge and not just imitations of
The similarities between these two are most evident in their desire for freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted freedom from segregation and Plato wanted freedom from ignorance. They both wanted justice, and knew that it was immoral to take deny another being justice. For example, Plato has said,
In his essay, “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato, argues his idea of how to distinguish the reality and truth from that which is a falsehood. Most essentially, he finds it as important to enlighten others that may remain in that
Plato developed such distinct areas of philosophy as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. His deep influence on Western philosophy is
Plato uses this section of the dialogue to emphasize that he is now out of his realm of understanding and is in the Intelligible World where true reality, according to Plato, exists. Because the man can analyze and reason to move up to the Intelligible World, Plato shows this as a shift to the Realm of Mathematics. At the time, great value and importance was placed on the concepts of mathematics such as analytical and reasoning faculties of the mind and thus would have influences Plato to place it on a higher level. Due to his level of understanding and the major shift from one World to the other, he is overwhelmed and takes time to slowly learn the new concepts. However, once the man is adapted enough, he can look directly at the beings and the objects that cause the shadows on the wall. In the theory of the Divided Line, Plato exemplifies that the man is looking at what are the known as the Forms. The Forms are the perfect objects that exist in the higher realm of understanding and are shadowed on the wall of the cave. Thus, he is stating that what the people in the cave see are simply imperfect and skewed representations of the true and perfect forms from which they originate.
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
This paper discussed The Allegory of The Cave in Plato's Republic, and tries to unfold the messages Plato wishes to convey with regard to his conception of reality, knowledge and education.
The main idea presented by Plato in his infamous Allegory of the Cave is that the average person's perceptions are severely limited by personal perspective. Plato uses the metaphorical situation of prisoners chained together in a way that limited their visual perception to the shadows projected from behind them onto a wall in front of them. He uses that metaphor to illustrate that perspective determines perceptions and also that once an individual achieves a wider or more accurate perspective, it becomes difficult for him to communicate with those who are still limited to the narrower perspective that he may have once shared with them. Plato meant his allegory to apply to the limitations of perspective attributable to social experiences as well as to the absence of formal education and training, particularly in logical reasoning. Plato believed that logical reasoning is a skill that must be learned through formal training and that without adequate training, it is substantially impossible to understand the logical perspective.
Plato starts with the analogy of the sun, which points out the contrast between the visible and the intelligible worlds. Within the visible world man has eyes and objects to be seen, but man needs another object for the eyes to see the object. This object is the sun, which provides the light that is required by the eye to view the visible world. In correspondence, the Form of the Good in the intelligible world is equal to the sun by the way that the Good allows the forms to be known. Plato specifically states, “What gives truth to the things known and the power to know to the knower is the Form of the Good. And though it is the cause of knowledge and truth, it is also an object of knowledge” (508e). Along with
Plato's ideas on knowledge represent, perhaps, the most foundational and influential attempt to establish the boundaries of what can be known. His ideas have had an immense influence on successive philosophers as well as Western Civilization as a whole. David Hume, who came over two millennia after Plato, represents perhaps the most relevant attempt to establish the boundaries of what can be known.
We have two great philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. These are great men, whose ideas have not been forgotten over years. Although their thoughts of politics were similar, we find some discrepancies in their teachings. The ideas stem from Socrates to Plato to Aristotle. Plato based moral knowledge on abstract reason, while Aristotle grounded it on experience and tried to apply it more to concrete living. Both ways of life are well respected by many people today.
Plato argued that true knowledge was not obtained through the knowledge of the physical world around us, but from these unchanging ideas. Plato’s theory of knowledge is well explained through his discussion of the Divided Line; a line divided into two unequal parts. One section represents the visible order and the other intelligible order, relating to opinion and knowledge, respectively. The stages of cognition flow upwards: imagining, belief, thinking, and intelligence. The visible, changing world of opinion begins with the awareness of images through perception. Awareness of images can include
Political and social theories between the two philosophers were very different. Plato had very Totalitarian or even communist views for state government. He in his novel The Republic, he describes in much detail his utopian society. He felt society should be organized into three groups: “rulers, auxiliaries and labourers.”(Gaarder 91) The rulers or guardian class would have reason; education and intelligence this would make them well suited for leadership. Plato called these rulers ‘Philosopher Kings’, they would rule for the good of all in the society. Philosopher
Another main similarity between the philosophies of Nietzsche and Plato is the belief that the greatest individual is not the wealthiest, but the thinker, the artist, the musician, and namely, the philosopher. Both hold the love of wisdom in high regard (although Plato holds it in higher regard that Nietzsche). The goal of this is to pass on the views of one to many, therefore changing the views of society. With or without meaning to, both of these philosophers are trying to evoke a rise in society. Plato and Nietzsche both were suspicious of government and wanted people to be at war with their time. From doing so, they hoped to create a change on an individual’s outlook on life.
4.Explain, evaluate and compare (by stating how they are similar or different) the views of Parmenides and Heraclitus.