Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, and writer known for his Socratic dialogues. He believed that the material world is not the real world, but rather an image or copy of the real world of ideal forms. Plato also asserted that societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite, spirit, and reason parts of the individual soul. This includes productive workers, protective warriors, and a small governing class of philosopher kings who rule using reason.
353Socrates, PlatoThus the soul, since it is immorta.docxgilbertkpeters11344
35
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Socrates, Plato
Thus the soul, since it is immortal and has been born many times, and has
seen all things both here and in the other world, has learned everything
that is. —Plato, Meno
Love [is] between the mortal and the immortal. . . . [It is] a grand spirit which
brings together the sensible world and the eternal world and merges them
into one great whole. —Diotima in Plato’s Symposium, 202e
I [Socrates] affirm that the good is the beautiful. —Plato’s Lysis, 216d
f you have heard of only one philosopher, it is probably one of the big three:
Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle.These three were the most important philosophers
of ancient Greece and in some respects the most important, period. Plato was the
pupil of Socrates, and Aristotle was the pupil of Plato.This chapter covers Socrates
and Plato; the following chapter, Aristotle.
SOCRATES
In the fifth century B.C.E., the center of Western civilization was Athens, a city-state
and a democracy. This period of time was some three centuries after the first
Olympic Games and the start of alphabetic writing, and approximately one cen-
tury before Alexander the Great demonstrated that it is possible to conquer the
world or what passed for it then. Fifty thousand citizens of Athens governed the
city and the city’s empire. Athenians did not settle disputes by brawling but rather
I
36 Part One • Metaphysics and Epistemology: Existence and Knowledge
by discussion and debate. Power was not achieved through wealth or physical
strength or skill with weapons; it was achieved through words. Rhetoricians, men
and women with sublime skill in debate, created plausible arguments for almost
any assertion and, for a fee, taught others to do it too.
These rhetoricians, the Western world’s first professors, were the Sophists.
They were interested in practical things, and few had patience with metaphysical
speculation. They demonstrated their rhetorical abilities by “proving” the seem-
ingly unprovable—that is, by attacking commonly held views.The net effect was
an examination and a critique of accepted standards of behavior within Athenian
society. In this way, moral philosophy began. We will return to this topic in
Chapter 10.
At the same time in the fifth century B.C.E., there also lived a stonemason with
a muscular build and a keen mind, Socrates [SOK-ruh-teez] (470–399 B.C.E.).
He wrote nothing, but we know quite a bit about him from Plato’s famous dia-
logues, in which Socrates almost always stars. (Plato’s later dialogues reflect
Plato’s own views, even though “Socrates” is doing the speaking in them. But we
are able to extract a reasonably detailed picture of Socrates from the earlier
dialogues.)
Given the spirit of the times, it is not surprising that Socrates shared some of
the philosophical interests and practices of the Sophists. We must imagine him
wandering about the city, engaging citizens in discussion and argument. He was a
brilliant debater, and he was idolized by many youn.
3 53Socrates, PlatoThus the soul, since it is immort.docxgilbertkpeters11344
3 5
3
Socrates, Plato
Thus the soul, since it is immortal and has been born many times, and has
seen all things both here and in the other world, has learned everything
that is. — Plato, Meno
Love [is] between the mortal and the immortal. . . . [It is] a grand spirit which
brings together the sensible world and the eternal world and merges them
into one great whole. — Diotima in Plato’s Symposium, 202e
I [Socrates] affirm that the good is the beautiful. — Plato’s Lysis, 216d
f you have heard of only one philosopher, it is probably one of the big three:
Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle. These three were the most important philosophers
of ancient Greece and in some respects the most important, period. Plato was the
pupil of Socrates, and Aristotle was the pupil of Plato.This chapter covers Socrates
and Plato; the following chapter, Aristotle.
SOCR ATES
In the fifth century B.C.E., the center of Western civilization was Athens, a city-state
and a democracy. This period of time was some three centuries after the first
Olympic Games and the start of alphabetic writing, and approximately one cen-
tury before Alexander the Great demonstrated that it is possible to conquer the
world or what passed for it then. Fifty thousand citizens of Athens governed the
city and the city’s empire. Athenians did not settle disputes by brawling but rather
I
3 6 Part One • Metaphysics and Epistemology: Existence and Knowledge
by discussion and debate. Power was not achieved through wealth or physical
strength or skill with weapons; it was achieved through words. Rhetoricians, men
and women with sublime skill in debate, created plausible arguments for almost
any assertion and, for a fee, taught others to do it too.
These rhetoricians, the Western world’s first professors, were the Sophists.
They were interested in practical things, and few had patience with metaphysical
speculation. They demonstrated their rhetorical abilities by “proving” the seem-
ingly unprovable — that is, by attacking commonly held views. The net effect was
an examination and a critique of accepted standards of behavior within Athenian
society. In this way, moral philosophy began. We will return to this topic in
Chapter 10.
At the same time in the fifth century B.C.E., there also lived a stonemason with
a muscular build and a keen mind, Socrates [SOK-ruh-teez] (470–399 B.C.E.).
He wrote nothing, but we know quite a bit about him from Plato’s famous dia-
logues, in which Socrates almost always stars. (Plato’s later dialogues reflect
Plato’s own views, even though “Socrates” is doing the speaking in them. But we
are able to extract a reasonably detailed picture of Socrates from the earlier
dialogues.)
Given the spirit of the times, it is not surprising that Socrates shared some of
the philosophical interests and practices of the Sophists. We must imagine him
wandering about the city, engaging citizens in discussion and argument. He was a
brilliant debater, and he was idolized by.
2. GREEK PHILOSOPHER, MATHEMATICIAN AND WRITER OF PHILOSOPHICAL DIALOGUES WHO? HIS 36 SOCRATIC DIALOGUES AND 13 LETTERS HAVE BEEN USED TO TEACH A RANGE OF SUBJECTS FROM ETIHIC TO MATHEMATICS. Recurrent themes through his dialogue includesdiscussing the father and son relationship and whether the intrest into his sons has much to do with how well they turn out One theory: the material world is not the real world, but only an image or a copy of the real world
3.
4. Protective, which represents the chest. (Warriors or Guardians) — Those that are adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the "spirit" part of the soul.
5.
6. The cave theory In Plato's cave, those who cast the shadows have the power to project intentionality through the formation of the icons to be cast in front of the fire. In other terms, they have a degree of control over the image cast, and a degree of control over their own intention that the director of a stage play does not have. In the case of a stage play where the play is shown several times, there is always the threat to the director of the intentions of the actors. Whereas in the casting of images on the screen or wall of the cave, the projector has the power to control, much more effectively, the casting of the image also in films, having an even greater power, the director has the ability to control the way in which the image will be perceived.With camera and film, a scene or image can be shot and reshot, so as to capture the image desired, in a way this retains a certain power to the director but, the director has a power greater than even Plato's smaller version of film as with the camera, the director can insure that a particular way of seeing things, people, and events is guaranteed, and can also make sure that everyone in the audience will view a particular scene from the same angle, will see it in the same way, such as from above looking down, from the right or left, from one end of a passageway to the other, etc.
7. Relating to media texts? In general relating to media texts such as films, Plato's Cave theory is all about moving from ignorance to knowledge. As we go from the darkness of the cave of ignorance, we slowly gain knowledge and move into the light of understanding. However,this can be a slow and sometimes painful and frightening journey. In the case of a film, The Truman show symbolises this theory in that the character of Truman starts out in ignorance as his life couldn't be any better and is led into the light, at the realisation that the life he had know was all a fake, just like the person in Plato's cave theory. He too struggles with his new found knowledge and is not sure he wants it. He too questions at time's whether he prefers the ignorance he is familiar with to the unfamiliar and scary knowledge. The film takes us on twists and turns as we all try to discover our own personal truth, as well as the truth of the world, much like in Plato's Cave theory. Also, in the end, Truman being the person from the cave becomes a fully formed human being, as he is able to live on his own and be able to think and discover the world on hisown, not connected to any system (the producers of the show, literally writing his life)