Term Paper on "Argument One of Plato's Beliefs"

Term Paper 4 pages (1337 words) Sources: 2 Style: Turabian

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Plato's beliefs

Plato's belief in the concept of Forms

In his philosophy Plato considered true knowledge of reality to be the knowledge of the ideal Forms of things. The Forms were the creative and original background to the world of "particulars." The world of particulars refers to the instances of the Forms, which we perceive as ordinary mundane reality. Therefore Plato argued that our knowledge of reality is essentially dualistic in that there is a dichotomy between the ideal Forms and the inferior world of particulars.

This division in experience and reality has been the focus of much criticism and many modern philosophers see this dualism as being too idealistic and out of touch with the reality of our world.

This paper will therefore provide an overview of the central arguments that Plato puts forward for his concept of Forms and will also consider some opposing views to this theory in the history of philosophy. The paper will also attempt to show that the theory of Forms and particulars is a convincing and acceptable view of reality which has relevance to our contemporary world. This point-of-view will be contrasted with those thinkers who have disagreed with the basic tenets of this philosophy.

The dualistic concept of Forms and particulars that Plato espoused has had a profound and enduring impact on modern thought and philosophy. The most often quoted example of the theory of Forms is the allegory of the cave, through which Plato explains this theory of knowledge and reality.

In Book vii of the Republic, Plato compares the human condition or state of knowledge to living in a cave. In this metaphorical comparison or allegory for the sake of argument Plato places humanity in a cave with the Forms of ideal reality outside the cave. In the allegory humanity is only aware of the shadows of the true or ideal Forms that exist outside of the cave. In other words, it is the shadows of reality which are reflected on the walls of the cave that human beings take to be the truth. The shadows constitute the mundane world of ordinary reality. However, as Plato points out, what we see in the cave or the ordinary world is not reality as such but only a representation of reality. In order to see true reality and have genuine knowledge, we must encounter the Forms or ideals outside the cave.

Therefore Plato's theory divides reality into truth and illusion. Humanity exists in the world of particulars which is only a reflection of true reality. Forms refer to the concept of wholeness and perfection which enters out word but which exists outside of it.

This world of perfection is clearly expressed by Plato in the Phaedrus.

For those which we called immortal go outside when they are come to the topmost height, and stand on the outer surface of heaven, and as they stand they are borne round by its revolution, and gaze on the external scene.... But this is the fashion of it; for sure I must venture to speak the truth, especially as truth is my theme. Real existence, colourless, formless, and intangible, visible only to the intelligence which sits at the helm of the soul, and with which the family of true science is concerned, has its abode in this region.

In the above passage Plato refers to the truth as beyond our ordinary and mundane conception of reality. It is "... colourless, formless, and intangible, visible only to the intelligence which sits at the helm of the soul..."

In other words, true reality or the Forms are the ideals of unity and perfection which surpasses our meager attempts at description and understanding. The Forms are "...not such as they appear in creation, nor under the variety of forms to which we nowadays give the name of realities, but the justice, the temperance, the science, which exist in that which is real and essential being. "

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