At the same time he has in mind a problem which claimed much attention from pre-Socratic thinkers, the problem of change. The Platonic theory of Ideas is an attempt to solve this crucial question by a metaphysical compromise. The Eleatics, Plato said, are right in maintaining that reality does not change; for the ideas are immutable. Still, there is, as contended, change in the world of our experience, or, as Plato terms it, the world of phenomena. Plato, then, supposes a world of Ideas apart from the world of our experience, and immeasurably superior to it.
Socrates didn’t teach the slave boy on how to answer the question, he asked the slave boy a series of relevant questions and the slave boy came to the right answer through recollection. By doing this Socrates was trying to prove a point that the boy already possessed the acumen to answer the question rightly. With this philosophy of Plato, we are meant to accept the fact the truth is past-oriented. Past experiences and the universal knowledge is the key to the truth. Plato also based his ideas on the belief of dyadic intuitionism.
Basically, Plato's vision of utopia lies on the fundamental premise that the philosopher who has seen the light will "either in public or private life" fix his eye on this light (517c). In other words, he believes that the philosopher who has attained the idea of good will necessarily become good. But there is no justification for such a belief (at least not in the allegory) and hence, his idea is not obviously sound. Work Cited Plato. Republic.
The Only Truth Existing "We are, then, faced with a quite simple alternative: Either we deny that there is here anything that can be called truth - a choice that would make us deny what we experience most profoundly as our own being; or we must look beyond the realm of our "natural" experience for a validation of our certainty." Plato developed an early version of the correspondence theory. He sought to understand the meaning of knowledge and how it is acquired. Plato wanted to distinguish between true and false belief. His theory was based on intuitive recognition that true statements correspond to the facts, while false statements do not.
In The Republic, the great philosopher Plato attempts to reveal through the character and dialogues of Socrates that justice is better when it is the good for which men must strive for, regardless of whether they could be unjust and still be rewarded. His method is to use dialectic, the asking and answering of questions. This method leads the audience from one point to another, supposedly with indisputable logic by obtaining agreement to each point before going on to the next, therefore, building an argument. Interestingly about the work of Socrates is that its not known very well, since nothing was recorded during his time. Everything that we know about Socrates has come through the writings of his greatest pupil, Plato.
Correspondingly, its negative use consists in not allowing one's self to 'venture with speculative reason beyond the limits of experience' (Bxxiv). Thus, criticism removes the decisive hindrance that threatens to supplant or even destroy the 'absolutely necessary practical employment of pure reason..in which it {pure reason} inevitably goes beyond the limits of sensibility' (Bxxv). Accordingly, the critique guarantees a secure path for science by confining speculative reason and by giving practical reason the complete use of its rights: rights that thus far had not been recognised. Place in the History of Ideas Kant, being confronted with the two extremes of rationalism and empiricism, set for himself the task of creating a synthesis of the two. As he saw it, rationalism operates in the sphere of innate ideas, with their analytical and therefore aprioristic ideas; this necessity, however, is not based on experience and consequently does not apply to reality itself.
Since Laudan does not say how to prioritize incompatible aims, axiological consistency is an utopian desideratum. Thus, his constraints on cognitive aims contradict one another. Finally, (v), Laudan's axiological constraints are too weak and in order to strengthen them, he must invoke without justification some implicit pre-philosophical cognitive aims. This opens the logical possibility of axiological relativism, which Laudan attempted from the beginning to avoid. Laudan's Theory of Aims In Science and Values, Laudan has developed the view that our scientific aims can sometimes be rationally selected by imposing two constraints (1) on them: 1. they should be jointly consistent, 2. a pragmatic constraint of empirical realizability, or non-utopianism.
Entity Realism The truth about scientific unobservables has been argued about from two distinct sides, realists and anti-realists. I will argue that entity realism is the best way to show that entities exist. The scientific anti-realist believes that there is a difference between unobservable and observable entities. They believe that because there is no concrete evidence of unobservable entities and events, theories should not be taken to be true. This does not mean that anti-realists do not take all scientific theories to be false, but that they should only be considered empirically adequate.
The Opposing Views of Great Minds The word metaphysics is defined as “The study or theory of reality; sometimes used more narrowly to refer to transcendent reality, that is, reality which lies beyond the physical world and cannot therefore be grasped by means of the senses.” It simply asks what is the nature of being? Metaphysics helps us to reach beyond nature as we see it, and to discover the `true nature' of things, their ultimate reason for existing. There are many ways to approach metaphysics. Two of the earliest known thinkers on the topic are Plato and Aristotle. These two philosophers had ideas that held very contrasting differences that can be narrowed into a strong, select few.
Philosophically, yes. For according to Plato it would be better to "endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner". However it is questionable if the need for knowledge of the truth (which might not even exist) is great enough to justify a journey in search for it. This is a decision we have to make for ourselves. Works Cited Plato.