The analyzation and interpretation of Plato’s argument and theory of epistemology Book V to Book VII are what the article consists. Starting off with Book V from Plato’s Republic it introduces the argument of philosopher versus the sight lover. This dialogue of course is narrated by Socrates through Plato’s writing. It starts off with the example that the man ran by doxa (belief) can make up and see countless of beautiful things, but unlike the awakened philosopher, the man cannot grasp beauty itself. Throughout the article, Boylu works to validate Plato’s theory of knowledge and the distinction between episteme (knowledge) and doxa (belief/opinion). The written work challenges yet support the “Two-Worlds Theory” and discusses the analogies …show more content…
Boylu often brings out different perspectives on Plato’s philosophy of epistemology through the expertise of Gail Fine, who has written, “Plato on Knowledge and Forms,” a work of compiled essays. While the author Boylu is knowledgeable on Plato’s epistemology, there should have been more depth and detail in the forms themselves than just the constant repetition that episteme and doxa are exclusively different. The analyzation of Plato’s Republic and the concept of philosophers being the ruling class for a state to avoid evil connects to my essay in the sense that knowledge derives from reason not and brings man closer to harmony. The article clarifies the answer as to how belief and opinion are in between of what is (knowledge/truth) and what is not (ignorance). I plan to use the in-depth interpretation of the difference between knowledge and belief, between a philosopher and the lover of the senses in my …show more content…
It starts off with the brief discussion of different desires lead to different goals thus different psyches and lives. The story of the Cave and the Line and Sun is the said to be the core of Plato’s epistemological, ethical, and metaphysical vision. Then Reeve goes onto expanding their meaning in-depth and their connection between each other. It elaborates wonderfully on the importance of the Cave regarding Plato’s theory of knowledge. Through the stages of the desires/soul that are represented through what type of dweller the story holds as in the bounded prisoner's cave dweller, the unbounded cave dweller, the bounded daylight dweller, and lastly the entirely unbounded. It picks up on Plato’s theory of forms as universal ideals that are systematically connected to good itself and accessed through the pursuit of truth. It stressed the connection through good itself and the rational thought of forms. Reeve concludes that since forms are a necessity for real knowledge, then knowledge is grouped with forms and both come from
In his Plato’s Republic Socrates tries to find the values of an ideal city in order to rightly define justice. Although I agree with most of his ideals for the city, there are also many that I disagree with. Some of his ideas that I accept are that women should be able to share the same responsibilities as the men, having women and children in common, , the recognition of honor based on the self rather than heredity, that the best philosophers are useless to the multitudes, and the philosopher / king as a ruler. I disagree with his views on censorship, having assigned positions in society, his views on democracy, and that art cannot be a respectable occupation.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” explains his beliefs on education of one’s soul and the core of the way they shape themselves. The rhetorical devices that Plato represents inside of his story explains how much freedom is worth in this world. The deeper meaning inside of what Plato describes can further be found out once a reader realizes the type of rhetorical devices are being used. For example, Plato portrays prisoners being locked inside of a cave without a way out. These prisoners never got to see the outside world, yet he mentions they “see shadows” which explains they are only able to catch a glimpse of reality from the outside. Plato’s use of imagery gives us a mental picture on the tease we may feel to notice reality but not be able to experience it. In reality, we do not value freedom as much as we are supposed to. We seem to not see the world as he sees it. With the help of personification, Plato uses human like characteristics to describe non-living things to give
The Theaetetus is composed of three main parts, each part being allotted to a different definition of what constitutes as knowledge. While the Theaetetus is focused primarily on how to define knowledge, the arguments faced by Socrates and Theaetetus greatly resemble arguments made by different later theories of knowledge and justification. I will argue in this essay that due to the failure faced by Socrates and Theaetetus in their attempt at defining knowledge, the conclusion that would be best fit for their analysis would be that of skepticism. In doing this I will review the three main theses, the arguments within their exploration that resemble more modern theories of knowledge and justification, and how the reason for the failure of the theories presented in the Theaetetus are strikingly similar to those that cause later theories of epistemology to fail.
In the field of philosophy there can be numerous answers to a general question, depending on a particular philosopher's views on the subject. Often times an answer is left undetermined. In the broad sense of the word and also stated in the dictionary philosophy can be described as the pursuit of human knowledge and human values. There are many different people with many different theories of knowledge. Two of these people, also philosophers, in which this paper will go into depth about are Descartes and Plato. Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy and Plato's The Republic are the topics that are going to be discussed in this paper.
Plato is one of the most familiar and commonly studied philosophers. His work is of the highest intelligence and full of thought-provoking attributes. Plato’s “Allegory Of The Cave” is perhaps one of the works most easily related to life. This allegory creates a sense of advancing into the “light” of understanding and knowledge.
Plato’s concept of The Allegory of the Cave is an idea based on his theory of forms. The theory argues that our knowledge of reality/forms is not real knowledge; only our knowledge of these forms can be considered as real knowledge. The Allegory of the Cave was a conversation between Glaucon and Socrates. Socrates was explaining the cave to Glaucon. There’s a group of prisoners who ...
In conclusion, Plato's story of the cave brings up many philosophical points and most importantly, addresses the issue of society's role in our lives. To some degree, we are all influenced by the thoughts and actions of others; however, at the same time, we have the ability to question, draw our own conclusions, and ultimately make our own choices.
He describes the Allegory of the Cave as, “Imagine human beings living in an underground, cavelike dwelling, with an entrance a long way up, which is both open to the light and as wide as the cave itself” (514a). From his brief description of the cave we can see that this sets the foundation to explaining the Divided Line through the tale. The human beings living in an underground cave like dwelling suggest the ignorance one experiences as explained in the Divided Line, the long entrance hints at the Divided Lines Hierarchy steps, and the light at the end of the cave would be knowledge as explained in the Divided Line.
I intend to show the validity of Plato's arguments about his theory of Forms. Aristotle, along with others, cross-examines Plato's proposals. Yet, I happen to see the potential of his point of view and would like to take a deeper look into his theory. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the theory of Plato's Forms from his perspective and that of several others, including Aristotle.
Socrates, if one reads any of Plato’s works, seems to be a man of intense and never satisfied curiosity. He employed the same logical actions developed by the Sophists to a new purpose, the pursuit of truth. Many credit Socrates with the birth of critical philosophy in that he would accept nothing less than a full account of h...
The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand abstract reality requires the understanding of mathematics and finally the forms or the Ideals of all things (the world outside the cave). But our understanding of the physical world is mirrored in our minds by our ways of thinking. First comes imagination (Socrates thought little of creativity), then our unfounded but real beliefs. Opinion gives way to knowledge through reasoning (learned though mathematics). Finally, the realization of the forms is mirrored by the level of Understanding in the Ways of Thinking. The key to the struggle for knowledge is the reasoning skills acquired through mathematics as they are applied to understanding ourselves. The shadows on the cave wall change continually and are of little worth, but the reality out side the cave never changes and that makes it important.
The Republic is an examination of the "Good Life"; the harmony reached by applying pure reason and justice. The ideas and arguments of Plato center on the social settings of an ideal republic - those that lead each person to the most perfect possible life for him. Socrates was Plato's early mentor in real life. As a tribute to his teacher, Plato uses Socrates in several of his works and dialogues. Socrates moderates the discussion throughout, as Plato's mouthpiece. Through Socrates' powerful and brilliant questions and explanations on a series of topics, the reader comes to understand what Plato's model society would look like. The basic plan of the Republic is to draw an analogy between the operation of society as a whole and the life of any individual human being. In this paper I will present Plato’s argument that the soul is divides into three parts. I will examine what these parts are, and I will also explain his arguments behind this conclusion. Finally, I will describe how Plato relates the three parts of the soul to a city the different social classes within that city.
Plato's Theory of Forms draws parallels to The Allegory of the Cave, highlighting the concept of human beings being ignorant to true perfection. In the writing Plato uses symbols to convey a veiled meaning. The philosopher says, “The prisoners s...
Plato was the pupil of the ancient philosopher, Socrates. Plato’s undertaking was to the existence of a special class of existence known as “ideas” known as Forms. Plato was able to create his metaphysical inception of Forms by studying the Ontology of his predecessors such as Parmenides. According to Plato Forms are the only genuine entity of study that can provide us with absolute knowledge. Plato is faithful to the perseverance of a world that is unbiased and mind independent. Previous philosophers believe that our senses, which are our illusive access to the world are wholly mistaken about the reality we live in, Plato also shares this belief. “The Form of Good” is known by Plato as the intellectual brilliance of all Forms. In Plato’s famous book...
First of all, people should be able to differentiate between the philosophers who are true and those who are false. At the first, Plato’s concept of philosopher was the wisdom lover then he proceeded to identify a true philosopher as the man who has access to the Form. This form show the purity of thought where philosophers can see the reality of the life not the fake life. For example, blue jeans and sky are the same colour b...