Plato and Aristotle
Plato
View of Reality
emphasis on rationalism, we must use our reasoning to understand our world.
- the divided line: illusion (eikasia) is the unsubstantiated opinion, belief
(pistis) is trust in the empirical, reasoning (dianoia) is knowledge gained
through logic and noesis is a full understanding of the forms and metaphysics
- Plato said geometry is ‘invisible except to the eye of reason’ which makes
it trustworthy as a route to knowledge
- ‘earthly knowledge is but shadow’ Plato
The Forms
- the world is an imperfect reflection of the world of the forms which is a real,
invisible and perfect world of the abstract
- knowledge can only be gained from an immutable world
- all forms have self-predication, so they are that attribute in themselves,
whereas all particular participate in that form. For example, beauty is
beautiful in itself whereas all other beautiful things are just participating in
the form of beauty.
- the Form of Good, aka God, illuminates all the other forms and gives them
value. ‘at the brightest of all realities which is called the good.’ Plato. it
is the source and reason for all other forms and enables our souls to see the
forms
The Allegory of the Cave
Plato uses the allegory to criticise empiricism and explore ‘the effect of education
and the lack of it on our nature.’
- prisoners in a cave see shadows on a wall for their whole and one escapes and
crawls out to see the outside world. ‘he who sees with his eyes is blind.’
Plato
- the prisoner is blinded by the sun but eventually sees the true images of
everything seen in the shadows but when he goes back to free the other
prisoners, they don’t believe him
- this points out how the empirical world is untrustworthy and influenced
thinkers like Descartes who developed Cartesian doubt
Strengths
1. people are aware of truth/justice/beauty without having to be taught it as the
aesthetic principle shows
Weaknesses
1. a priori assumption, ‘a wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.’
Hume
2. Dawkins and neo-darwinist rejection of the metaphysical
3. Ayer asserts that goodness can’t be defined as it’s just an emotional reaction
to something. Illustrated in his boo hurray theory
Plato
View of Reality
emphasis on rationalism, we must use our reasoning to understand our world.
- the divided line: illusion (eikasia) is the unsubstantiated opinion, belief
(pistis) is trust in the empirical, reasoning (dianoia) is knowledge gained
through logic and noesis is a full understanding of the forms and metaphysics
- Plato said geometry is ‘invisible except to the eye of reason’ which makes
it trustworthy as a route to knowledge
- ‘earthly knowledge is but shadow’ Plato
The Forms
- the world is an imperfect reflection of the world of the forms which is a real,
invisible and perfect world of the abstract
- knowledge can only be gained from an immutable world
- all forms have self-predication, so they are that attribute in themselves,
whereas all particular participate in that form. For example, beauty is
beautiful in itself whereas all other beautiful things are just participating in
the form of beauty.
- the Form of Good, aka God, illuminates all the other forms and gives them
value. ‘at the brightest of all realities which is called the good.’ Plato. it
is the source and reason for all other forms and enables our souls to see the
forms
The Allegory of the Cave
Plato uses the allegory to criticise empiricism and explore ‘the effect of education
and the lack of it on our nature.’
- prisoners in a cave see shadows on a wall for their whole and one escapes and
crawls out to see the outside world. ‘he who sees with his eyes is blind.’
Plato
- the prisoner is blinded by the sun but eventually sees the true images of
everything seen in the shadows but when he goes back to free the other
prisoners, they don’t believe him
- this points out how the empirical world is untrustworthy and influenced
thinkers like Descartes who developed Cartesian doubt
Strengths
1. people are aware of truth/justice/beauty without having to be taught it as the
aesthetic principle shows
Weaknesses
1. a priori assumption, ‘a wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.’
Hume
2. Dawkins and neo-darwinist rejection of the metaphysical
3. Ayer asserts that goodness can’t be defined as it’s just an emotional reaction
to something. Illustrated in his boo hurray theory
