Plato
Plato (427-347 BC): disciple of
Socrates, founded the Academy of Athens
in 386 BC, truth is identified with ultimate reality consisting of Ideal, sense
experience (phenomena) provides us with merely relative truths, while our
understanding gives us absolute truth.
The phenomenal
world is tangible, perceived by the senses; the ideal world is intangible,
conceived by the mind.
Plato laid the
foundations of natural science.
Two orders of
Being: mind and matter; and two
orders of knowing: sensory knowledge and conceptual or philosophical
knowledge.
The phenomenal
world is a representation of the real world.
- the sensory
world is in a continuing state of Becoming
(development), striving for the Ideal or ontological real.
- the Ideals of
Plato become the teleological (purpose) force motivating the world of
the senses toward ultimate reality or the ideal goal.
- the Ideals
are immaterial, immutable, eternal
- the phenomena
are: material, perishable, transitory
- the soul (Ideals) unites with its body (matter)
Man is created
with a purpose, that of transforming himself into closer approximation of Ideal
Resemblance to God, is the ethical end of Man.
- knowledge of
the Ideal good is necessary in order to become good.
Hierarchy of
Pleasures (1) sensual (2) sensuous
(3) ideal
Platonic love - intellectual love of one mind for one another, one person for
another
- the social
responsibility of a collective society is to strive toward the actualisation of
the Ideal State. Thus, political
activity is a moral endeavour.
Ideal State = The
Republic (ruled by a single, wise ruler); every individual functions in
his best capacity according to his natural abilities.
- the State is
based upon the ethical ideal of training citizens to become virtuous.
Social classes:
guardians, warriors, artisans } the class to which an individual belongs will
depend upon his natural ability (derived from education).
Forms of
government: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy,
tyranny
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