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Philosophy and Philosophers. TOK II Lang. Philosophers. Means “ lovers of wisdom ” Seek truth/obtain knowledge “ Where did I come from? ” “ Why am I here? ” “ What is the highest good in life? ” Greek assumptions Basic goodness of man
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Philosophy and Philosophers TOK II Lang
Philosophers • Means “lovers of wisdom” • Seek truth/obtain knowledge • “Where did I come from?” • “Why am I here?” • “What is the highest good in life?” • Greek assumptions • Basic goodness of man • Relied on man’s wisdom as a guide for behavior and means of finding happiness
Important Philosophers p.68 • Thales: Father of Philosophy • Sought to explain origin of universe • Water as original substance of all things • Socrates: Golden Age. • “Know Thyself.”“The unexamined life is not worth living.” • Teaching through questioning. Socratic method. • Absolute truth can be obtained through human reason • Virtue = knowledge, Ignorance = evil • Questioned fundamental institutions of his day. • Tried for corrupting youth of Athens, condemned to death • Drank hemlock
Important Philosophers • Plato – Pupil of Socrates p. 69 • Established the Academy in Athens • Wrote “The Republic” – ideal plan for society/govt. • Said freedom and liberty without restraint leads to anarchy • Nature of true reality: things must be permanent to be truly “real.” True Reality lies outside the physical world. • Earthly things are “shadows” of eternal “forms” from an unseen realm • Aristotle – Came to Athens from northern Greece • Studied at Plato’s Academy • Tutored Alexander • Physical world IS reality. Scientific method. • Best remembered for writings on logic, “The Organon” • Golden Mean – Everything in moderation • Syllogism (3-step logical process) • All Greeks are human>Aristotle is a Greek>Therefore, Aristotle is human!
“The School of Athens” by Raphael Plato (427-345 BC) - He pointed up, emphasizing that he believed ultimate reality was in things we cannot see, such as ideas and thoughts. Plato was a student of Socrates. Aristotle (384-322 BC) - He spread his hand down, emphasizing what we can see and touch. He was a student of Plato. What is ultimate reality?
Allegory of the Cave (Analogy of the Cave) What is an allegory? • It’s a story that teaches you about something other than what is in the story. What is an analogy? • A comparison made to show a similarity.
Purposes of the Allegory Plato’s Cave Allegory has a number of purposes: • distinguish appearance from reality • it is possible to have the wrong understanding of the things we see, hear, feel, etc. • explain enlightenment • moving from ‘shadows’ to ‘the real’ • involves pain, confusion • makes you an outcast • is a one-way trip • improves you, but • makes you a nerd • makes you mentally clumsy • cannot be taught, you must see for yourself
Purposes of the Allegory (cont.) Plato’s Cave Allegory has a number of purposes: • distinguish appearance from reality • explain enlightenment • introduce the Theory of Forms (or Ideas) • the allegory provides for an analogy: • as shadows are to physical things, physical things are to the Forms (Ideas)
Plato’s theory of Forms The visible world is what surrounds us: what we see, what we hear, what we experience; this visible world is a world of change and uncertainty. The intelligible world is made up of the unchanging products of human reason: anything arising from reason alone, such as abstract definitions or mathematics, makes up this intelligible world, which is the world of reality. The intelligible world contains the eternal "Forms" (in Greek, idea ) of things.
Platonic Forms (Ideas) Plato believed that these Forms, or Universals, are: • Eternal • Unchanging • Necessary (exist [subsist?] necessarily)
Platonic Forms (Ideas) Qualities • colors • shapes • sounds • textures • temps • flavors • odors • aspects of all • etc. Relations • lighter/darker • rounder/squarer • higher/lower • rougher/smoother • sweeter/sourer • etc. Kinds • animal • vertebrate • human • metal • steel • apple • book • sandwich • etc.
Plato’s point is that the prisoners would be mistaken. For they would be taking the terms in their language to refer to the shadows that pass before their eyes, rather than (as is correct, in Plato’s view) to the real things that cast the shadows. If a prisoner says “That’s a book” he thinks that the word “book” refers to the very thing he is looking at. But he would be wrong. He’s only looking at a shadow. The real referent of the word “book” he cannot see. To see it, he would have to turn his head around.
Such prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the things they see on the wall (the shadows) were real; they would know nothing of the real causes of the shadows. So when the prisoners talk, what are they talking about? If an object (a book, let us say) is carried past behind them, and it casts a shadow on the wall, and a prisoner says “I see a book,” what is he talking about? He thinks he is talking about a book, but he is really talking about a shadow. But he uses the word “book.” What does that refer to? Plato’s answer was: “And if they could talk to one another, don’t you think they’d suppose that the names they used applied to the things they see passing before them?” Couldn’t it be the same for us, fooled by our senses into thinking that we perceived reality, when in truth it is just a shadow of the intelligible world?
Plato’s point is that the prisoners would be mistaken. For they would be taking the terms in their language to refer to the shadows that pass before their eyes, rather than (as is correct, in Plato’s view) to the real things that cast the shadows. If a prisoner says “That’s a book” he thinks that the word “book” refers to the very thing he is looking at. But he would be wrong. He’s only looking at a shadow. The real referent of the word “book” he cannot see. To see it, he would have to turn his head around.
Plato’s point: the general terms of our language are not “names” of the physical objects that we can see. They are actually names of things that we cannot see, things that we can only grasp with the mind. The prisoners may learn what a book is by their experience with shadows of books. But they would be mistaken if they thought that the word “book” refers to something that any of them has ever seen. Likewise, we may acquire concepts by our perceptual experience of physical objects. But we would be mistaken if we thought that the concepts that we grasp were on the same level as the things we perceive. Suppose now that one of the men escaped, and got out of the cave, and saw what real people looked like, and real trees and grass. If he went back to the cave and told the other men what he had seen, would they believe him, or would they think he was crazy? http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/philosophy/plato.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FdaklIyVVY&feature=related YouTube - The Allegory of the Cave
