The metaphysical point behind the opening question is to show that there is another thing that exists called the Equal. The best evidence to this is found in the line, “I do not mean a stick equal to a stick or a stone to a stone, or anything of that kind, but something else beyond all these, the Equal itself,” (74a5-74a8). Plato makes it clear he is not talking about a stick being equal to a stick. Rather, if two objects are equal, than the “Equal” must exist and be a thing. The Equal is the equivalent to the Universal because the Universal is something that repeats and is not able to be proven by any known sciences. Thus, being the metaphysical point. Simmias is agreeing with this question and idea of an “Equal” or the Universal. The statement Simmias says “Indeed we shall, by Zeus,” (74a4) shows that Simmias has a very strong belief towards the idea of the Universal.
(ii).
The Missing Line is telling Simmias to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the idea of the existence of the Universal. He asks whether or not the Universal is different than a normal object. A normal object that is detectable by your senses is also known as the Particular. Therefore, Simmias is asking whether or not that Universal is different than the Particular. The question being asked towards Simmias, “Or doesn’t it seem to you to be different?” (74b5) makes it sound like Plato is making a fairly obvious point and argument.
The ‘it’ in the line is talking about the Universal. In Plato’s passage, the ‘it’ is
Known as "The Cornhusker State," Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867. The state's name is derived from an Oto Indian word Nebrathka, meaning "flat water" and relates to a national symbol of the state, the Platte River. Alongside becoming the 37th state, Nebraska also ranks #37 in population for the nation. The 2013 population census claimed 1,868,516 residing citizens, with Caucasian making up 87% of the total population. Although the population isn't the lowest in the country, the state still has more cattle than it does people. In fact, Nebraska ranks #1 in states with most farmland, which is 93%. The original capital of the state was Omaha until it was moved to the village of Lancaster in 1867, which was shortly renamed
Now let us take a look into the background of the story. Plato gives his ideals on a perfect society and everything it should include. He basically implies that justice is rightness, and rightness is whatever he feels it should be. He breaks society down into guardians, wage earners, and auxiliaries. Wage earners are people such as surgeons or shoemakers.
Opposites imply that nothing can exist as a one off. Thus is follows that the same is with life and death and the two are reversible stages. In the final proof, Plato extends this law of opposites to say that Forms cannot admit their opposite (102a-103). The largeness in Simmias cannot itself be small and although Simmias admits smallness and tallness, the smallness and tallness will never admit each other, this is because Socrates distinguishes the character of largeness from the subject in which the character exists. Simmias is not by nature larger then Socrates, rather he is so in the virtue of the largeness he happens to possess. Conversely in the numerical example, 3 is by nature odd and therefore of necessity is odd, never even. Similarly, the soul is by nature alive, and therefore of necessity alive, never dead. The following considerations give a clear distinction between accidental (Simmias and largeness) and essential (three and odd) properties. However Plato makes an assumption that the soul’s possession of life is essential. This is one of the major questions surrounding Plato, as he continually makes the assumption that soul brings life to the body; however I will come to my explanation to why I think this is a major assumption of Plato’s behalf later in this essay.
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.
In The Republic, Plato introduces a philosophy that transcends the exclusivity of the contemplative and the active lives. He defines the ultimate truth as “aletheia”, which literally translates to mean “unhidden” or “that which does not remain unnoticed”. Through his use of the term and his allegory of the cave, Plato makes the strong implication that philosophers must actively seek to discover the absolute truth, rather than relying on traditional methods of contemplation and the persuasive tone of rhetoric to prove its existence. To better explain his reasoning, Plato constructs a metaphor between the sun and the ultimate good. He argues that “the soul is like the eye” in that it requires an exterior force to establish clarity of
continuing the discussion. More importantly, Socrates instigates a formal problem for Euthyphro from a deceivingly simple question, "Is the
In my eyes Plato is describing how the society today is full of “unenlightenment” or ignorance and how we as a culture have been conformed to accepted ways and if we were to step away from these accustomed ways we would be casted out and ridiculed by our peers. According to Swapnil
Plato’s idea that there was a perfect world of ideas affected this pieces subject and the
Plato, in addition to being a philosopher, wrestled at the Olympic level, is one of the classical Greek authors, mathematicians and the founder of The Academy, the first higher learning institute in the west. In short, Plato is one of the great thinkers in history and his contributions to philosophy, ethics and politics are many and varied. One of Plato’s main philosophical ideas is based on the idea that the world
Hurricane Katrina in many cases was an unfortunate learning experience for emergency management and preparedness. Concentrating on the larger mitigation issues may prove to be the priority opposed to the smaller issues, along with focusing upon risk assessment (Averill, 2005). Risk assessment in emergency management is key to identifying those potential hazards that a particular threat may be likely to impact the area. For example, I reside on the east coast by the beach where the area has a higher threat for hurricanes compares to a community in Iowa. A higher risk assessment for specific threats require a plan and, or mitigation steps.
Plato continues to relate the categories of a just state to the individual soul. He says that the soul has different parts to it as well and for them to be in harmony is for
In the Phaedo, Plato presents a conversation between Socrates and two of his interlocutors, Simmias and Cebes, as they discuss the immortality of the soul during Socrates’ last hours before his death in the jail at Athens. At 70a, Cebes offers his worry that upon death the soul “…is destroyed and dissolved…and is dispersed like breath or smoke.” The rest of the dialogue consists of a debate between the three men as they consider the form and indissolubility of the soul. In this paper I will show that though Socrates’s position does not definitively explain his claims about the soul’s immortality, which he lays out in the Resemblance Argument, he does successfully respond to Simmias’ Lyre Objection, which itself offers a reasonable but still not infallible objection to Socrates’ original argument.
To introduce the argument, Socrates explains the theory of Forms. Forms are the intangible and visible components of anything that exists. They are the larger ideas that compose the reasons for why something exists. This being said, these are merely concepts that cannot be changed but rather they stand concrete in their meanings and ideals. An example of a Form is beauty. We can only recognize things that are beautiful because “all beautiful things are beautiful by the Beautiful” and they belong to the Form of beauty (Plato, pg. 138). Beauty only exists because it is an idea in which things fall into a category. Something can be recognized as beautiful, and it is therefore placed under the Form of beauty, and therefore, all things beautiful share the same meaning. The meaning of beauty will never be changed because it is a permanent idea that holds to be true. This issue stems into the idea that forms can change between each other, while still possessing individual meanings. Take the forms of tallness and smallness for example:
Human beings are social creatures, therefore have an innate desire to be accepted as part of a group, which delivers a sense of safety and security. Once accepted into established groups, intimidation can sway individual attitudes and behavior towards conforming to group norms, resulting in discouraged creativity, and decisions void of critical thinking. Because team-based structures are popular in today’s companies, it is important for managers to understand how to avoid conformity pitfalls. When utilizing team leadership theory, managers can mitigate negative consequences that group conformity instigates, by offering a leadership style that facilitates team member autonomy, creativity, healthy debate, and openness to new ideas.
Plato attempted to demonstrate that there was proof of a “divine goodness” by several illustrations. Such illustrations include his famous “Divided Line”, “The Simile of the Sun”, and “The Allegory of the Cave”. In these expressions, he aims to pick apart the foundation of knowledge and where it comes from. He believed that human souls could ultimately reach the highest level of reality and have a total understanding of all things. In other words, the soul who had reached the highest level of understanding no longer needed to question or perceive things, because he would recognize and comprehend “pure knowledge” or “pure goodness”. (Soccio)