Kt7

Plato’s history

Grek philosopher 427-347BC founder of philosophical idealism and one of the greatest greeek writers.
Born of an aristocratic Athenian family. He became one of socrates’ followers ,when his teacher died he
withdrew to a neighbouring city of megara, after a while he returned tio Athens and begun in a
gymnasium outside the city ,called the Academy

The academy was a formal philosophical school , with its own property and structure. There was an
insist of communal life and mathematics as it is drawn from pythagorians life style. it is said Platos took
this view as having met the student of Pythagoras . the academy resulted to emerging of grerat
philosphers such as Aristotle, Xenocraates and Speusippus who became the ssuccessor of Plato

Writings of Plato’s have much based on politics, religion, virtue, soul, knowledge and life of his teacher
Socrates. He pictures the genial irony of his master. He comes with the idea of dualism as concrete
(matter) and form (world of permanence)

Pre Plato’s view considered the world as tangible (Thales, Anaxiemenes and) and untangible
(Anaximander). Plato’s comes in reconciling the two philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides who spoke
of the real and the unreal

Heraclitus speaks of the changing as the idea of constancy and universal change
Plato’s view on matter

He took it from doctrine of flux which speaks of being and becoming, one and many and permanence
and change. For Heraclitus change is the very nature of the world, substance itself. That becoming is a
constant process of becoming .

Matter should enable us to reflect and contemplate the form to which our spirits originates. Ever thing
that exists in matter is in becoming state and it only attains the perfrection as the end goal. Matter is
observed on perception level such as height, colour and characters. The external world perceive what is
in the raeal world eg animal is a copy of the animal that is in world form.

Matter is dependent to form thus matter can not exist out of form. It is a world of sensible paarticulars,
Plato’s view on form

He derives it from Parmenides who speaks of everthing exists had always existed. Nothing can come out
of nothing. And nothing that exists canbecome nothing. For change is an illusion the real world is
changeless, immovable, mass of one kind of substance, the world is eternal and only the mind can attain
the truth of it.

The form is whatever is eternal, unchanging , universal absolutes and immutable. It should exist out of
reality behind what we percrive in material world. Every material world should have the reality of it
behind the percreption level. It can only be encountered in the from.

Form can exist out of matter. For Plato speaks of the one, the good , and the truth to exist
independently to the matter. It is the idea teken by St A gustine who later speaks of the one as the
mighty to whom all attributes some elements.
Reconciliation

Is doing what seems to be new but it is not. Everything is said to be done in the world of form. This is a
reminder principle. In dialogue of meno a midwifery method is used to meno to answer what seems to
be new. In Republic when there is an incidence of a carpenter producing a chair. For a carpenter
produces what was already created in nature for he only makes the copy of it

Knowledge

True knowledge exists s

Physical and non physical

Non physical elements are expressed by physical elements. Non physical elemnts for Plato include
untagiable ( love, justice, courage, temperance, virtue and hatred) this elements are expresse out by
physical world such as crying ,

Commonness element

For Plato speaks of of commonness as an attitude to which all other matter attributes to the form. A dog
with a tail attributes the commonness to the real dog.