PLATO

Plato was the first philosopher to produce a substantial body of work

that has survived and, with Aristotle, has been the most important influence
on Western philosophy; so much so that the philosopher and
mathematician Alfred North Whitehead famously remarked that its entire
history since has been no more than “a series of footnotes to Plato.”

Born into a noble Athenian family, Plato was related to those involved in the
aristocratic rule of the Thirty Tyrants (404–403 BCE), but if his background did not
predispose him to a dislike of Athenian democracy, the trial and execution of his
teacher, Socrates, in 399 BC certainly did. Plato, then aged 30, left Athens and
travelled, possibly in Egypt, and later in Sicily, where it is likely that he encountered
Pythagorean philosophy (see p.247). Returning to Athens in 387 BCE, he founded
the Academy. Based on the principle that students should learn to criticize and think
for themselves, rather than simply accept the views of their teachers, it is generally
regarded as the first university. Many of the finest intellects in the classical world
were schooled at the Academy, including Aristotle. Plato twice visited Sicily again to
tutor Prince Dionysius in the hope of producing a philosopher-ruler, but with no great
success.
An important part of his philosophy is the dichotomy of the Ideal world of the world of
Forms and the Material world. The world of Forms is the permanent, unchanging
reality as opposed to the world of Materials which keeps on changing. The material
world is what we see around us, and for Plato, this- where we live is just a replica of
the real world found in the world of Forms. (The Republic, Books VI-VII).

This dichotomy is reflected in his idea of the nature of man. He believed that
human beings are composed of two things, a body and a soul. It is the soul which is the
true – the permanent, unchanging Self. The changing body, however, or what we see in
the material world on the other hand, is not the real self but only a replica of our true
Self. This is the reason why it is constantly changing – getting older, changing shape,
etc. The soul exists before birth and leaves room for the possibility that it might survive
bodily death. The body is seen as some sort of a prison. We can free ourselves from the
imprisonment of our bodily sense through contemplation. Contemplation entails
communion of the mind with universal and eternal ideas. We continue to exist even in the
absence of our bodies because we are Souls only.

➢ Plato was Socrates’ student. He supported Socrates’ idea that man is indeed dualistic
in nature (body and soul). However, he added that there are three (3) components of
the soul/Tripartite structure of the soul. These are:
o Reason/Rational soul – our divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices,
and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.
o Passion/Spirited soul – our basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and
empathy.
o Physical appetite/Appetitive soul – our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and
sexual desire.
➢ When conflict occurs, Plato believes it is the responsibility of our Rational soul/Reason to sort things out
and exert control, reestablishing a harmonious relationship among the three elements of our selves.
 ➢ Person differ as to which part of their nature is dominant

➢ Plato emphasizes that justice in the human person can only be attained if only the three parts are working
harmoniously with one another.

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➢ Plato believed that genuine happiness can only be achieved by people who consistently make sure that their
Reason is in control of their Spirits and Appetites.

➢ A well-ordered society, harmonious, or just society is one in which each kind of person plays their proper
role. Thus, there is parallel between proper functioning individuals and proper functioning society

o FIVE CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIETIES.

o Meritocracy: talented rules. Holding in power are chosen through their ability
o Timarchic: values honor and fame while reason is neglected
o Oligarchy: money making is valued and political power lies with the wealthy
o Democracy: the poor seize power
o Anarchy: Total lack of governance

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES

ST. AUGUSTINE SYNTHESIS OF PLATO

Saint Augustine, also called Saint Augustine of Hippo, is one of the Latin Fathers of the Church, one of the
Doctors of the Church, and one of the most significant Christian thinkers. His philosophical approach to Christian
thinking is the most influential theological system. His written works are among the foundations of medieval and
modern Christian thought (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017)

Saint Augustine was deeply influenced by Plato’s ideas. Not surprisingly, he adopted Plato’s view that the
“self” is an immaterial (but rational) soul. Giving the Theory of Forms a Christian perspective, Augustine asserted
that these Forms were concepts existing within the perfect and eternal God (The Catholic University of America
Press, 1982) where the soul belonged. Saint Augustine held that the soul held the Truth and was capable of
scientific thinking. Saint Augustine’s concept of the self was an inner, immaterial “I” that had self-knowledge and
self-awareness. He believed that the human being was both a soul and a body, and the body possessed senses,
such as imagination, memory, reason and mind through which the soul experienced the world.

He also reasoned that human beings through the senses could sense the material, temporal objects as we
interacted with the material world; the immaterial but intelligible (defined as able to understood only by the
intellect, not by the senses) God would only be clear or obvious to the mind if one tune into his or her
immaterial self/ soul.

The aspects of the soul/self, according to Saint Augustine are:

- It is able to be aware of itself

- It recognizes itself as a holistic one.

- It is aware of its unity.

Saint Augustine believed that the human being who is both soul and body is meant to tend to higher, divine
and heavenly matters because of his or her capacity to ascend and comprehend truths through the mind. He
connected the ascension of the soul with his assertion that everything related to the physical world belongs to the
physical body, and if a person concerns himself/herself with this physical world then he/she will not be any
different from animals. Saint Augustine pointed out that a person is similar to God as regards to the mind and its
ability; that by ignoring to use his/her mind (or the incorrect use of the mind) he/she would lose his/her possibility
to reach real and lasting happiness (The Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, 2017; Mendelson, 206).

➢ Augustine was convinced that Platonism and Christianity were natural partners.
➢ Agreed that man is of bifurcated nature.

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➢ The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in
communion with God. Goal of every human is to attain communion and bliss with the divine by living his
life on virtue.
PLATO AUGUSTINE

Ultimate reality: eternal realm of forms Ultimate reality: Transcendent God

Immortal soul strives achieve union with eternal Immortal soul strives to achieve union with God
realm through intellectual enlightenment through faith and reason.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS’ SYNTHESIS OF ARISTOTLE AND CHRISTIANITY

➢ Tended towards Aristotle’s metaphysical views to serve as an intellectual structure for Christianity’s ideas
of the self and reality.
➢ Rejected Plato’s radical dualism between material and nonmaterial in human beings and tended towards
Aristotle’s metaphysical views to serve as an intellectual structure for Christianity’s ideas of the self and
reality.
➢ Person: is material substance whose essence emerges from unified relationship between the body and soul.
Soul animates the body, it makes us human but the soul is incomplete when the body it animates perishes.
o Soul: Aquinas thinks that our souls are responsible for the kind of bodies we have. o Body: our bodies
not only play a positive role in our lives but they are also essential to our continued existence.
➢ To Aquinas, just as in Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us humans. ➢ The
human soul cannot perish because it is a subsisting substantial form. However, a human soul surviving the
death of a human being is not that human person it once informed.

➢ Aquinas takes the soul of someone who has died to be in an unnatural state until it animates a human body
again (at the resurrection of the body in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).
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