PLATO (427 – 327 B.C.

- Greek term ‘Platon’ which means ‘broad’ or

‘wide’

- his real name is ‘Aristocles’ which means

‘best, most renowned’

- through his mother’s family he was related to

a celebrated lawgiver named Solon. Plato’s
father’s family traced its lineage to the ancient
kings of Athens and even further back to
Poseidon, the god of the sea.

- founded the first Academy in western

civilization when he was at 40 years old

OUTLINE

• The Allegory of the Cave

• The Metaphor of the Divided Line
• The Simile of the Sun
• The 3 Parts of the Soul
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
 THE DIVIDED LINE
FORMS
(EIDOS = ESSENCE) REASON OR DIRECT
WORLD OF FORMS KNOWLEDGE OF THE FIRST
INTUITION
PRINCIPLE
KNOWLEDGE
(EPISTEME)
(The Intelligible World)
BEING MATHEMATHICAL OR UNDERSTANDING OR
SCIENTIFIC HYPHOTESIS REASONING

WORLD OF MATTER
OPINION (DOXA) RESEMBLANCE BELIEF
(The Visible World)
BECOMING ILLUSIONS OR
SHADOWS
IMAGINATIONS
 Plato’s Theory of Form
• entities that exists in the world of form/idea ('archetype' or 'essence’)

• independent of any minds

• universal entities that exist outside of space and time

• pure and unchanging regardless of continuous shifts in human

opinions and alterations in the physical world of sensibles

• the physical world contains particular instances of the various

universal Forms
Example:
• Particular things differ in terms of what Plato variously refers to as
their “participation in,” “sharing in,” “resembling,” or “reflecting”
the Form roundness or the Form redness.

• There is only one Form of redness, for instance, although there can be
a virtually infinite number of particular things that “share” some
element or degree of redness, that “resemble” or “reflect” the essence
of pure redness. But redness (the Form) is always the same regardless
of any changes that occur in some particular object. When, for
example, a red flower fades to pale pink, its participation in the Form
redness decreases. There is, however, no decrease in the Form redness
itself.
 Plato’s Dualistic Approach

“In all these domains, one idea was stressed above all others:
that of transcendence, implying on the one hand the division of
reality into two realms – the sensible, the realm that is
continually changing, and the intelligible, the realm of
absolutely immutable – and on the other hand the distinction,
within each human being, between a mortal body endowed
with five senses and an immortal soul that can grasp the
intelligible.”
What are the Forms?
the essential ‘archetypes of things’, having an external existence, apprehended by
the mind and not the senses

Where do the Forms exist?

‘separate’ from concrete things; they exist ‘apart from’ the things we see. They have
independent existence; they persist even though particular things perish.

What is the relation of Forms to things?

the ‘cause’ of the essence of a thing; a thing may be said to ‘participate’ in a Form; a
thing may be said to ‘imitate’ or ‘copy’ a Form

What is the relation Forms to each other?

related to each other as genus and species; in this way Forms tend to interlock even
while retaining their own unity
 SIMILE OF THE SUN

Just as the sun in the allegory of the cave was at once the
source of light and life, the Idea of the Good is “the
universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent
of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and
the immediate source of reason and truth in the
intellectual; and this is the power upon which he who
would act rationally either in public or private life must
have his eye fixed.”
 THREE PARTS OF THE SOUL
REASON
“governing the soul by reason constitute wisdom”

SPIRIT OR PASSION
“the support of reason by the passions constitutes courage”

APPETITE
“rational regulation of desire constitutes temperance”

NB: The harmony of the three faculties constitutes justice, which is the
overarching virtue.