What is reality? Do all humans face the same reality or does it differ from one person to the other? Are we capable of exercising any control over reality? These are all questions that may arise when we endeavor to answer questions about what exactly reality means to us. Reality can be defined as a state of existence. Our environment which blatantly without a doubt exists. Reality can also be said to be double-sided with some overlap. In the sense that different people may face different realities, but in some way share the same reality when a common goal is set to be achieved. We may or may not have the ability to exert any control over what ever reality or situations we face, but we may attempt to make some changes to better our lives. Having answered these questions, we shall now try to decipher if we can find any freedom when we take on reality. Two philosophers namely: Plato and Epicurus will serve was a reference or guide to enable us in answering this question.
Plato was an idealist. He believed that reality is not physical but abstract. What we might refer to as reality is just a distorted representation of ideals or forms we do not understand. “Further, the many things, we say, can be seen, but are not objects of rational thought; whereas the forms are objects of thought, but invisible.” (274) By way of explanation, Plato means that we are limited from true knowledge about things that truly exist because we are encompassed in several illusions created by our fickle
When discussing reality, several questions emerge regarding what reality is. A reality, "the real situation that exist," (Merriam-Webster.com) consists of two forms-perceived reality and actual reality. One spends his or her entire life trying to decipher the difference between the two forms; yet to truly understand reality, it is essential that you comprehend both. Plato 's "Allegory of the Cave," Dick Gregory 's "Shame" and Frederick Douglass ' "Learning to Read and Write" illustrate examples of both perceptions. Furthermore, how conceptualization of reality helps establish who one will become.
Plato separates reality into two spheres: one of appearance, which is a material world, and one of reality. Plato believes “in a transcendent world of eternal and absolute beings, corresponding to every kind of thing there is, and causing in particular things their essential
Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Questioned if you are completely able to see from the outside looking in? Philosopher Plato, presents his view of reality through an allegory to explain the concept, and how we gain knowledge of our reality. Two other philosophers that I will mention both touch base with their description of reality and how it relates to Plato’s conception. All three of these philosophers believe knowledge is attainable through acts of realization and simple knowledge, and each philosopher presents his/her main point of reality through different ways of attaining it. I will further mention the relevance of Plato’s theory in today’s world and why I believe it to be valuable.
Plato's realist views on knowledge are grounded in his theory of Forms. This theory posited that each material object in the world was a pallid imitation of a perfect ideal form. (Phaedo, 73a 74b). This means that the material world, known to us through sense-perception, is not the real world, but a world of imitations. (Republic, 507c-509b). The real world, rather, consists of abstract, yet solid forms. Plato establishes his view as Realist here because he does believe that there is a real world that not only exists independent of our experience, but is actually obscured by it.
Plato was a philosopher who was born in Athens (470-390 BCE), and was also a student of Socrates. He felt that intelligence and one’s perception belonged to completely independent realms or realities. He believed that general concepts of knowledge were predestined, or placed in the soul before birth even occurred in living things. Plato believed that the cosmos was intelligible, and the the universe was mathematically understandable. He believes that mathematical objects could be seen as perfect forms. Forms, a doctoral of Plato, can be understood as an everyday object or idea, which does not, exists in the everyday realm, but merely is existent in the hypothetical realm or reality.
Aristotle and Plato were both great thinkers but their views on realty were different. Plato viewed realty as taking place in the mind but Aristotle viewed realty is tangible. Even though Aristotle termed reality as concrete, he stated that reality does not make sense or exist until the mind process it. Therefore truth is dependent upon a person’s mind and external factors.
Plato's theory of forms, also called his theory of ideas, states that there is another world, separate from the material world that we live in called the "eternal world of forms". This world, to Plato, is more real than the one we live in. His theory is shown in his Allegory of the Cave (from The Republic, Book VII), where the prisoners only live in what they think is a real world, but really it is a shadow of reality. According to Plato, to the prisoners in the allegory and to humanity in the material world "truth would be literally nothing but shadows" and he believes us to be as ignorant as the people in the cave. Plato followed the belief that in order for something to be real it has to be permanent, and as everything in the world we
Plato assumed the existence of human life in a cave. In his view, human beings are tied as prisoners in a cave and they could only see the shadows of real
What is true reality? Why do people spend their whole lives trying to distinguish the difference between reality and what they perceive as reality? Why do too many people often rely on the senses to decipher what is real? Plato is a Greek philosopher who strongly believes in Western Philosophy. He is the founder of the Academy, the very first institution of higher learning in the Western World.
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
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
By viewing reality in this bifurcated way, it is still philosophically useful to an extent as it provides different perspectives to worldly problems. It forces humans to critically evaluate their knowledge, along with ethical and practical considerations and practices When adopting this view, it should be done so with caution as there are still some flaws within this way of thinking.
“Everything which exist in this world and all things that we see around us are not as they appear to us” this is the core idea behind plato’s theory of forms.From this idea only he moves towards explaining his world of forms or ideas.
Plato defends a clear ontological dualism in which there are two types of realities or worlds: the sensible world and the intelligible world or, as he calls it, the world of the Ideas. The Sensible World is the
The physical world only has one constant - change. The human senses give an idea of the present reality. However, seeing is not believing. The perception we develop through the senses (seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and hearing) does not consist of real truth. Real truth is not what is in front of us, but of absolute concepts and unchanging truths. Plato encouraged looking past what is directly visible in order to find truths that exist independent of the physical world. The understanding of the idea of reality through the discussion of the Divided Line and the allegory of the cave directly contributes and proves his theory of Forms and lie at the heart of his philosophy, which I think is convincing because of the extent of his discussions through experimental-based and direct evidence.