PLATO

Michael Ryan Clark

BACKGROUND

(428-347 BC)

Was 29 years old when Socrates was put to death• He had been a pupil of his• Inspired Plato to better study the conflicts in how

society is and how the true and ideal society should be.

First deed as a philosopher was to publish Socrates’ Apology

He set up his own school of learning called the Academy

THE ETERNALLY TRUE, BEAUTIFUL, AND GOOD

Plato was concerned with the relationship between

what was eternal and undeniable and what “flows”.• Similar to Socrates and the Sophists

Interested in this relationship as it relates to both

nature and in morals/society.• Goal was essentially to grasp a reality which

encompassed both. Wanted to draw people’s attention to what is

eternally true, beautiful, and good.

A WORLD OF IDEAS

Plato believed that everything in the natural world flowed.

Believed that although everything is made of material that

is subject to erosion.• But also thought that everything was made from a timeless

mold that is eternal and undeniable. His focus, unlike Democritus, was not on the changing

elements, but the original and unchanging pattern that first existed.

He came to the conclusion that there must be a reality behind the material world, the world of ideas, which had original patterns that existed from the beginning.

EXAMPLE

Everyone loves Legos

Imagine you build a Lego building and take it down

and put it back in the box.

The building cant rebuild itself, you have to do it.

You can do this using an original sketch implanted

in your mind that was the model and remains

both undeniable and eternal.

TRUE KNOWLEDGE

Plato strongly believed that we can not always

trust the evidence of our senses.

Everything in the natural world around us in

constantly flowing and changing.

His point was that we can never have true

knowledge of anything that is constantly in a state of

change.

EXAMPLE

Mr. Dunn asks the class which color of the rainbow is

prettiest.

Joe says pink, Kevin says purple, Jad says violet, and so on.• Many different answers.

He then asks what 8x3 is. All the answers are the same, 24 (hopefully). Reason is now being used instead of feeling, or the use of

senses, a strong belief of Plato. We can have inexact conceptions of things sought with our

senses, true knowledge and understanding comes through reason.

TWO REGIONS

Plato believed mainly that reality is divided into

two regions

• World of Senses- we can have approximate knowledge and incomplete conclusions through the use of our five senses.

• World of Ideas- true knowledge is gained using reason, and the studying of the original and eternal forms, not of changing ideas.

THE PHILOSOPHIC STATE

Plato’s idea of the ideal state is one governed by

philosophers.

Gives an example using the human body.• Body is composed of three parts, head (reason),

chest (will), and abdomen (appetite).• When these parts work together, a harmonious

being is formed. The ideal state would include officials who each know

their overall place. His political philosophy is characterized by rationalism,

and the idea that a good state depends on its being governed with reason.

WORKS CITED

Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World: a Novel about the

History of Philosophy. New York: Farrar, Straus and

Giroux, 1994. Print.

http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/plat.htm