PLATO (427 B.C. 347 B.C)

Transcription

1 CHAPTER II PLATO (427 B.C. 347 B.C) 1. Socrates the master of Plato and the Martyr of Philosophy : Before talking about Plato, necessarily we should mention about Socrates who is known as the martyr of Philosophy in the history and who has been the master of Plato. So understanding of Plato without Socrates is impossible. Socrates (469 B.C. 399 B.C.) : As already said the martyr of Philosophy Socrates did not write a single word ; so about Socrates we must draw information from a limited number of secondary sources, like the works of Plato (427B.C. 347 B.C), Aristotle (384 B.C. 322 B.C.), Aristophanes (448 B.C. 380 B.C.) a Greek comic dramatist and Xenophon (427 B.C 355 B.C.) who is known for his writings on the history of his own time, the sayings of Socrates, and the life of Greeks. Socrates father was Sophroniscus, a sculptor and his mother was Phaenarete, a midwife. He was married to Xanthippe who bore him three sons (Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus); all of them were quite young at the time of Socrates death. Xanthippe is traditionally considered a shrew. Socrates was famous for bravery both physical and 60

2 intellectual. He did not have any job; he devoted himself only to discussing Philosophy and he thought this was the most important art or occupation. 2. Socratic method of Philosophy : Socrates in his method arranged a series of questions for the purpose of helping a person to find out his veiled beliefs and development of his knowledge. His method is a negative method of hypothesis elimination in which better hypotheses occur eliminating those which cause contradictions. Socrates designed it to impel a person to analyse his own beliefs and check over the validity of such beliefs. 3. Socrates beliefs : Socrates often presented that he is aware of his ignorance. He believed that wrongdoing was result of the lack of knowledge, that is, who did wrong action knew no better to do. He always professed that he loved wisdom means philosophy. He never claimed to be wise, but he wanted to say that a lover of wisdom always must follow the wisdom. So according to his idea, Sophists were not capable of Philosophy because they did not follow the wisdom. Socrates claims that he is not a teacher but he plays the role of a midwife, explaining that he himself has 61

3 not any theory but he knows the way how to give birth to the theories of others and to decide whether they are reliable or not. According to Socrates opinion, "Virtue is Knowledge", knowledge of the Good, true Good, unchanging Good in itself. He believed that it was necessary for a philosopher should spend his life in search of the Good. 4. The political thought of Socrates : Socrates believed that the philosopher is a lover of wisdom, and is not actually wise, and it is said that, this is the philosopher who is appropriate to govern the people. Plato developed this idea in his Republic under the title of King Philosopher. It is said that Socrates was in opposition to the democracy of Athens and any form of government unless it did agree with his own ideal of republic government which governed by philosophers, and Athenian government was in opposition to that. These beliefs which are attributed to Socrates are controversial because first of all we know that Socrates always refused to enter into politics or to take part in government, since he frequently affirmed that he could not investigate the people s affair and tell them how to live when he did not yet know himself. In his point of view a philosopher was only lover of wisdom and not truly wise, so 62

4 such opinion of Socrates can support the idea that he did not believe that a philosopher must rule as a governor. Secondly, Socrates accepted his death sentence in spite of the fact that he had other options which were offered by his friends and the acceptance of death sentence by Socrates may also support the view that he did not refuse democracy because the death sentence was issued by Athenian government which was based on democracy. It is also said that probably it was Plato s disgust on death sentence given to his master that, caused him to have anti-democracy tendencies. 5. Background of Humanism in Ancient Greece and Pre-Socratic thought : In Ancient Middle East, in all the societies, mythopoeism was the rule. In mythopoeic view there is no disconnection between myth and reality. In Sumer and Egypt, between politics and religion there was no division. Their king was also their chief priest. When Sumerians faced a lack of rain or any other disasters which killed their king because they believed that after the king was killed he could take a message to the gods to help them. Pharoah in Egypt was himself a living god. Priests were tax collectors. In Ancient Middle East during the war period, if any side of it lost the battle, they thought that the god of opposite side was stronger. In the view of common people an idol was not only a 63

5 representation of a god, it itself became a god. Symbolism and reality were twisted together. In these societies the gods were in charge of everything like rain or drought, victory or defeat in battle, health or disease. Looking for condolence or seeking help from fellow humans was considered as nonsense. People might be used as agents of the gods, finally they believed that these were the gods who controlled their life and provided their motivation. Now at this time the Greeks were the first who left this world view, and they developed another viewpoint which was dominated by humanism, and as we know hermanism is also tied up with rationalism and secularism. Humanism as it is explained in the introduction of this thesis, is a belief that men are in the central concerns of human beings. In Renaissance period also the scholars had the same humanistic belief about man, according to their idea the proper study of man was man. If we compare the Greek civilization with its previous civilizations from religious point of view, we can see that the Greek gods were superheroes or supermans on a grand scale ; these gods have not only the same human physical characteristics but also have the human emotional structure ; they become furious and hot-tempered, they fall in love and sometimes fall out of love ; so they behave human like 64

6 and involve with humans in combat and love affairs, and in all kinds of human manners; and in brief, their gods are anthropomorphic; but on the contrary, in the civilizations previous to Greece we observe the gods are animal-headed and giants; they are not human like and it shows that they had not humanistic beliefs; unlike Greeks who had strong humanistic imagination and idea about the gods. We can see the humanistic imagination in Greek sculpture in which human body has the prominent rule. In Greek plays from one side we see the human dilemmas are propounded and from another side to some extent little power of gods is also brought up. Finally it should be mentioned that in the plays, poetry of the Greeks, the main interest was that how human individuals responded to the challenging circumstances. Now here the main stress was on humans and their actions rather than on the gods. So it shows that the humanistic thought was current in Ancient Greece. As we know, humanism in modern sense is grafted to Rationalism and Secularism ; so it seems necessary to pay some attention to these conceptions. Rationalism means that humans have the capacity of understanding everything. Rationalism rejects everything beyond human understanding. It rejects the phrase like, "That is only for the gods to 65

7 know". It is a belief that the power to understand the world lies within us not beyond us. It means that if humans want to know the secrets of the nature it is better to use their mind and mental power. secularism. The second conception to which humanism is grafted, would be Secularism believes that we as human beings should pay our most attention to this world and this life. This life means worldly life, and it should be in the center of our concern. Ofcourse, Greeks were concerned with the gods, but as it was mentioned before, first of all their gods were anthropomorphic and secondly the Greeks did not concern much about afterlife as the Egyptian did, but their most attention was paid to the living people and their happiness in this world ; so easily we see that there is very close connection between humanism and secularism so that we can not separate them from each other. The humanism, rationalism and secularism of Greece caused explicitly the Greek philosophers to adopt an opinion about the nature of the physical world and the place of human in it. Before philosophy culminated in Socrates and Plato and after in Aristotle, there were many schools of thought and many philosophers who had founded a long institution of philosophy. 66

8 Thales of Miletus (640 BCE) was one of these philosophers who centered his thought on the physical nature of the world. He claimed that the primary element of the earth is water and that the whole world must have taken the root from it by a natural process. He put the problem of evil under question and contemplated about organic evolution which Anaximander the assistant of Thales propounded it. In the opinion of Thales the fishes are the origins of humans. In 580 BCE Xenophanes critisized the anthropomorphism by saying that if cattle had hands and drew pictures of Gods, Gods would look like cows, and the conclusion was that : Gods are made by human beings. Pythagoras (C.570 C. 497 BC) was involved in the world and its evolution ; but he paid less attention to the primary substance from which the world is made and finally he believed that the organizing principles for reality can be explained by mathematics. Pythagoras was a mathematical genius ; he established a society ; his society attempted to interpret the world according to quantity which we observe somehow in a kind of humanism today ; but the quantitative estimate of the world was still relevant to a mystical religion ; we may call it mathematical metaphysical philosophy. 67

9 Heraclitus (C. 540 C. 480 B.C.) took the unchainging reality under question and propounded his famous world that "one cannot step into the same river twice", since the water is constantly changing, for Heraclitus the only constant was "change". We now consider the development of thought in Parmenides (515 BCE) who was a rationalist philosopher. He declared that the real is rational and the rational is real; Reality is the same thing as thought. He stated that it is the reason which should control an understanding of the world and no other measurement should be taken into account. Then the atomistic school of Democritus ( BCE) and Leucippus emerged; their school of thought is famous by the name of "Atomism". They believed that the reality is constituted of very small particles by the name of atoms and these atoms form the whole world. Democritus considered two other important philosophical problems : that is, the problem of knowledge and the problem of human conduct. He was convinced that observation and reasoning were the origin of knowledge about the world. After the above mentioned thinkers Sophists, Socrates and Plato emerged on the scene of philosophy; all of them were in search of a correct way of living. 68

10 Sophists brought a kind of modern humanism to the Greek society; they believed human life as shapable that can be shaped and controlled by human beings themselves. They were travelling teachers and they taught rhetoric to the sons of rich men; they gave training to the youth of Greece and taught them how to rule the country. Reality for sophists was sence perception; it was their belief that the only reality which can exist for humans is what they can grasp by their five senses. Another characteristic of their thoughts was that they were doubtful about religion; while a lot of their contemporary Greeks were not sceptical about it. Sophists believed that the only significant and noteworthy subject of studying is human and that everything else should be considered from the outlook of human. Totally they were very interested in human concerns and the same interest caused them to expand the concept of "social contract" which had to play an important role in later political theory. Protagoras (C.490 C.420BC) was the first remarkable Sophist humanist of whom there is a dependable account in Plato s dialogue. As Plato says he was a Greek teacher and philosopher. Protagoras has a famous saying that : Man is the measure of all things, of things that are, that they are, and of things that are not, they are not. 1 This is a statement that modern humanism has founded its central thought on it. 69

11 Ofcourse Protagoras was accused of impiety by Athenians because of his famous saying. They announced to collect his works from all who had copies in their possession and then burnt his books and exiled him. 6. Humanistic elements in Socrates : Socrates ( BC) disfavoured the Sophists since he thought them to be wrong morally, because for Socrates they gave training in rhetorical skills only to overcome the opposite side without considering that the opposite side might be true. Socrates accused the Sophists that they think only about how to achieve success in argument against their opposition. Socrates paid his most attention to truth ; he thought that truths exist and they are not relative as Sophists said. He believed that truth is unchanging and absolute for all time. According to Sophists opinion, truth was relative and if it is so then something would be true in one situation and false in another; therefore there is no reasonable proof for something to be true or false, and it is the matter of faith. Socrates also said that truth exists, it was his belief and belief is the matter of faith and we know that the matter of faith cannot be proven. Socrates had another belief, it was that, people are capable of discovering the truth by their own attempt, and those who are in search of truth should not depend on revelation from some supernatural sources. For Socrates every individual has the ability by his powers of reason and observation 70

12 to grasp the truth without getting any help from the outside of his reason. In opinion of Socrates searching the truth was as a duty of people. We may understand better this belief of Socrates if we consider his very famous saying, "An unexamined life is not worth living". It means that the people as human beings should examine the life. Now we face a question here that, how is it possible to examine the life? It can be mentioned that he believed that human beings can do it by grasping the truths of life, and grasping the truths is possible only through knowledge; and through knowledge they can get truths of life, and it is the great happiness of man in his life. From above mentioned we can understand that, knowledge itself is worth having for its own sake, because knowledge is not separable from truth, knowledge leads to the truth, reaching the truth is possible only by the channel of knowledge. His another point of view is that all knowledge is worthwhile and pleasant. If Socrates said : "he knows that he is ignorant" it was because he wanted to show to the people that if human being knows that he himself is ignorant then he will have a motivation to follow the knowledge ; because knowledge is pleasant and profitable so everybody desire to seek it ; but if a human individual does not know his ignorance then will never seek the knowledge ; therefore when Socrates was asked the question that why he is the wisest man among the others, he replyed 71

13 that because he knew his ignorance ; so always he loved wisdom, he did not want to be called wise but lover of wisdom. From the above mentioned we come to know that the conception of knowledge, truth, virtue and happiness are all interrelated. 7. Abstract of Socrates viewpoints : Now we can make an abstract of Socrates point of view in four short statements : 1. Truth exists 2. The human s is intelligence which is possessed by all of them is the means for discovering the truth. 3. Knowledge is worth having for its own sake. 4. Knowledge is Virtue; Virtue is Knowledge. 8. Charges against Socrates : If we go deep into accusations from the government of Athens, clearly it can be understood that Socrates had humanistic elements in his thought. Charges against him were : 1. He taught the youth to question or examine everything even their basic religious beliefs, which were most cherished views to Athenians. 2. Corrupting the youth of Athens. 72

14 3. His manner irritated many of Athenians by "question and answer technique". He asked questions for which he often did not have answers, such as "Why do you believe in the gods?" Or what is the meaning of life? Such searching questions could make people very uncomfortable and those who did not want to think about them wanted Socrates to stop. At the end as an abstract it can be said that Socrates was not really a humanist in the modern meaning but we may see humanistic elements in his philosophy. In spite of that he was religious but he did not believe that truth comes to us through supernatural or other religious resources, and it is one of the main elements which we can see in humanistic thought. According to Socrates, human values can be understood properly by a study of them in practice. There are strong humanistic elements in Socrates who was the intellectual and moral hero of the Dialogues. The strongest humanistic element in Socrates saying is the aphorism that : "Know yourself" which is the central view point in humanism, and another saying of Socrates is : "The good individual in the good society" can be, taken as a humanistic point of view in his 73

15 thought since it proves that, for Socrates the human society was as much valuable as the human individual. And we can see the same way of thinking in the philosophy of humanism today. 9. Plato s life : Plato ( BC) : He was the son of Ariston and Perictione. His parents belonged to a very famous wealthy family. Plato in his younghood lost his father and Perictione remarried and Plato was grown up in his step father s house. When he was young he became a friend and disciple of Socrates. The Ploponnesian War occured between Athen and Sparta (431 BC 404 BC). Plato was in military service from 409 BC to 404 BC., but at this time he paid much more attention to a political issues than military ones. At the end of war Plato joined the oligarchy of "Thirty Tyrants" in Athens. Charmides the mother s brother of Plato was one of its leaders. Plato left it very soon. In 403 BC there was a restoration of democracy in Athens, Plato had a great desire to join politics again but for two reasons he gave it up, first because of immoderation of Athenian political life. Second, the capital punishment of Socrates impressed him a lot and changed his idea of having to do with politics in Athens. After the death of Socrates, Plato established his Academy and managed it until his death. What was the reason of Plato to establish the Academy is to say that he had already observed the 74

16 inadequacy of the Athenian government and he was hopeful to instruct the young people in his Academy and enable them to become statesmen for leading the cities of Greece. About his philosophical view it can be said that it is not so easy to understand. He wrote about thirty dialogues. Plato considered a great range of philosophical topics like metaphysics, ethics, political philosophy, music, poetry,.... The theory of Forms is one of the most important parts of his philosophy. 10. A brief introduction to Plato s theory of Forms and the "Allegory of the Cave" : Plato continued the way of his dear master Socrates by teaching and ofcourse he accepted the view points of Socrates but we do not know how much Plato added to Socrates philosophy. If here we pay briefly to Plato s philosophy it can be said that one of his main point of views was the "Ideals" or "Forms". He believed that the real objects are exposed to decay, but the Ideals they reflect, remain perfect and indeed the real world is always imperfect. If we want to give an example in this connection we can say that it is impossible to draw a circle which absolutely be a perfect circle even if it is drawn by the best instruments and with great care; but if we want to imagine a perfect circle it would 75

17 be so easy for us. Therefore Plato was interested in and concerned with the world of perfection, rather than imperfect, changing material world, his concentration was about Ideals or abstractions like mathematics. For Plato the concept was important and the physical material is not to the point. We conclude from Plata s theory of Ideals (Forms) that, truth and beauty are not relative. The world of Ideals exists and the Ideals or Forms are absolutely perfect. Truth does not depend on one s point of view. Plato in his famous Allegory of the Cave, depicted the humans condition of thought, and that, how they can improve that condition. According to Allegory of the Cave a group of people are chained in the bottom of a cave and their backsides are towards the mouth of the cave in such a way that they can see only the back wall (bottom) of the cave, their knowledge about outside comes from the shadows they see on the wall as events occur outside the cave. Now if anyone of the prisoners in the cave be able to escape from the cave and observe the reality that exists outside he becomes excited and when he returns back to the cave and explain what he has seen to his fellow prisoners and ask them to follow him to see the outside, they refuse, because they are comfortable 76

18 with the life they are used to, this way of life has become a habit for them and giving up a habit causes indisposition, so they do not want to upset, their life by something strange even if it is something greatly superior. Plato illustrated the situation of human thought and daily life in Allegory of the Cave. For Plato outside of the cave is the world of Ideals and abstraction that we may find in mathematics and other "pure" endeavors. If we ask a question from ourselves that what could be the purpose of Plato by using the Allegory of the Cave, such a terrible and shocking Allegory? It can be mentioned that he might have intended to encourage people to act rationally and to think about the true aims of life. 11. Some interpretations of the "Allegory of the Cave" : There are interpretations of the "Allegory" which are specifically relevant to our own society and to the present time. 1. The Allegory of the Cave may be viewed as a devastating criticism of our everyday lives as being in bondage to superficialities, to shadow rather than to substance. Truth is taken 77

19 to be whatever is known by the senses. A good life is taken to be one in which we satisfy our desires. We are unaware that we are living with illusion, superficial knowledge, and false and conflicting ideals. Our lives are dominated by the shadow-play on the walls of our cave made by newspaper headlines, by radio broadcasts, by the endlessly moving shadows on the television screen, by the echoing voices of opinion makers It is of course a political allegory. The life in the cave is the life of politics. Both the leaders and the public are ignorant and corrupt, without true knowledge of themselves or of the world, motivated by greed, power, and self-gratification. They are chained in bondage to ignorance and passions, to mob hysteria for or against fleeting issues, believing in current ideologies which are the illusions, the shadows of the moment on the walls of the cave It is an allegory of the philosopher-king. The liberated one, having made the ascent to know the truth and the good, has a mission : to return to the cave, to bring enlightenment, to bring the good news, even though he may be killed for his services. Plato was thinking of Socrates; we think of Jesus. 4 78

20 The most famous work of Plato was The Republic. In this book his concern was the conception of the perfect state. His concern was politics and how to establish a government and how to educate a ruler, philosopher - king, and how to rule. Plato accepted Socrates three theories which was mentioned previous and expanded his work with three extra theories of his own as follows : 1. Human individuals who achieve the knowledge of right thinking can live virtuous lives, 2. and constitute a Nation that is completely ordered, 3. and If everyone can be organized in such nations, the world will be entirely ordered. Now here it is advantageous to be paid little about some other important theories of Plato in detail. 12. Main Philosophical points of Plato : Virtue is Knowledge (Theory of knowledge) Generally can be said that Plato accepted the saying of Socrats who told that : Virtue is Knowledge. Following what is really good and useful, is wisdom and obeying what is harmful, is foolishness. 79

21 Plato supposed that the knowledge is achievable and granted two characteristics to knowledge, he believed in the knowledge first of all should be inerrant and secondly it should be about the real subject that is, the subject of knowledge should be the real, and the true knowledge should possess both these two characteristics and any state of mind which could not possess both characteristics, it will not be able to have true knowledge. For Plato sense perception was not true knowledge, because it lacks both of the characteristics. He accepted Protagoras belief about sense relativity and perception but not general and universal relativity, on the contrary, knowledge for Plato was absolute and inerrant and it is achievable. Plato accepted the theory of Heraclitus who claimed the objects of sense perception i.e. individual, sensible, particular things are always constantly becoming and changing, so they are not merited to be the objects of true knowledge. They come to existence and then disappears, they are infinite in number and are not clearly definable so they are not capable of being subjects of knowledge. The subject of true knowledge should be constant and permanent and also should be comprehended by clear definition which is included universals as it was for Socrates. We can obtain essentially constant and permanent knowledge only of those precepts which are about universals, because it is only the universal that, is unchanging, permanent and reliable. The goal of knowledge for Plato who accepted it from Socrates 80

22 was the definition i.e. to crystallize and make steady the knowledge by clear and unambiguous definition. For example if we want to define goodness, so we should insert the knowledge about goodness in a definition by which, the mind expresses the essence of goodness. Particular essential laws change but, the concept of goodness remains just the same, therefore definition is involved with the universal and so the true knowledge is the knowledge of the universal. The knowledge of the highest universal is the highest type of knowledge, meantime the knowledge of particular is the lowest type of knowledge. According to Plato s theory of knowledge, the concept of universal is not an abstract form which would be empty of contents or objective reference, but for each and every true universal concept there is an objective reality correspond to it so the universal concepts have objective reference, and the reality which is correspond to them has a status higher than sense perception. Plato s theory of knowledge is described through (1) his Allegory of the Cave, (2) his metaphor of Divided Line (3) his theory of the Forms. 81

23 13. The Analogy of the Divided Line : Plato offers his theory of knowledge from section 509 to the end of the Book VI of the Republic. 5 He describes it by giving a diagram which is known by Divided Line. Take a line divided into two unequal parts, one to represent the visible order, the other the intelligible, and divide each part again in the same proportion Plato presents his theory of knowledge diagramatically by Divided Line and allegorically by the Allegory of the Cave of which mention was made before. Plato for showing the level of knowledge, considered a vertical line and divided it into four parts, and each part from the lowest to the highest shows a level of knowledge. The levels of knowledge consist of: imagining or conjecture, belief, understanding and reason. Each level corresponds to its own objects and has its own method for knowing them. He has made the main division between knowledge and opinion. The objects of knowledge are in the intelligible world and the objects of opinion are in the visible world. 82

24 Diagram : The Divided Line Thought Objects Knowledge Reason (Dialectic) Understanding (Science, Mathematics) Higher forms Forms of Science and Mathematics Intelligible world Opinion Belief (Perception) Conjecture (Imaging) Things, objects Shadows, Images Reflections Visible world Imaging (conjecture) : The first lowest part on the divided line of knowledge belongs to the zone of imagining or conjecture and its objects have the lowest degree of truth. It is the level of knowledge in which mental activity is at minimum, as in the awareness of such objects as shadows, after-images, reflections in water or in mirrors or in smooth, shiny surfaces. 7 Here Plato seems to refer to artists like painters and sculptors because for him their works were only images, shadows, copies. Why did Plato not consider the artists so valuable? Plato is suspicious of all forms of communication which use images, such as painting, poetry, sculpture, drama, religious ritual. These art forms use images to provide fantasy rather than truth, and Plato feared that the passions of the public are easily stimulated, influenced and controlled by their persuasive imagery. 8 83

25 Perception (belief) : The second level on the divided line of knowledge is belief, that is sense perception of real objects. At this level, sense perception (belief) can not still realize the abstract concept of the object which is perceived, it does not grasp the botanist s concept of the apple, which identifies the unchanging characteristics of each species of apple. 9 Here Mr. T.Z. Lavine author of the book on which this thesis is based has taken apple as an example of actual object which can be perceived by sense perception as an object of belief. Belief which has its source in the perception by the senses of actual objects, is thus insecure. It is not based upon abstract truths or principles which are unchanging Here Plato wants to direct us to know that by sense perception in the visible world we can not attain true knowledge because of two reasons: 1. What can be known by the senses, he tells us, is only the world of flux, the world of Heraclitus, the world of particular things that are in the process of change.... We only know how things seem to be, on the basis of our perception of them not how they are. In 84

26 fact, says Plato we do not have knowledge at this level, but only opinion. It is, however true opinion, For Plato the level of imagining in comparison with the level of perception is as false opinion. 2. Plato is also trying to give us a second reason that sense perception can never give us true knowledge.... Plato is thus maintaining that sense perception can not give us certainty in knowledge or unchanging universal truths about reality. 12 Now we can ask that what is true knowledge for Plato? And how is it possible to grasp true knowledge? In third and forth levels of Divided Line we can come close to the answer of above mentioned questions. On Plato s opinion, the second level that is the level of belief is... the level on which the commonsense mind, the mind of the man-inthe-street operates. This is the type of mind that never rises above the level of thinking or talking about concrete things this city, that politician, this new scandal, the latest gossip. The general, universal characteristics of cities and their common problems, the universal characteristics of politics, are never considered by this type of mind

27 Intellect (Rational Understanding) : Leaving behind the world of the cave, the world of everyday beliefs and of artistic fantasy and the concrete objects of the visible world, we enter the third level of Divided Line of knowledge. What sort of objects are we moving to in the illumination of the sun? And what are the objects that we can know by our intellect when we go across the line into the intelligible world? Here Plato gives the answer that... the objects which we know by intellect or rational understanding on the third level of knowledge are the true concepts to which we have already made reference in contrast to the objects of belief. 14 We came to understand that the objects of sense perception are concrete, particular things, changeable, in process, in Heraclitian flux whereas the objects of intellect are abstract, general or universal concepts, unchanging in Parmenedian eternal immutability. 14. Theory of Forms (Ideas) : Plato named the objects of intellect as Forms or Ideas. Here there are some questions that we can propound. How do they Forms or Ideas give true knowledge? What are their numbers? How is their relation to the objects of sense perception? How many Forms are there? And what is the proof for being them eternally true? Whether can we know them at all or not? And if it is so, then what is the way to know 86

28 them? We know the Forms belong to the intelligible world of which the Forms or Ideas are the objects. For Plato, concepts such as the concept of a circle, a triangle, beauty, justice, as well as the concepts that make up our everyday vocabulary, such as house, yellow, man, have two crucial functions : The first of these functions is that they make it possible for us to know the actual world of things as well as the objects of mathematics, the sciences, and philosophy. Their second function is that they enable us to evaluate and criticize all these objects. 15 Now how is it possible the abstract concepts of invisible world, make us able to obtain knowledge of all objects i.e. both of the visible and intelligible world? Plato answers to us that... to think or to communicate at all requires the use of concepts. Concepts are the means by which the universe is made intelligible. The simplest statement "there is a man" uses the concept man ; "there is an apple" uses the concept apple. Each concept, such as man or apple, refers to the qualities which a group of particular things every Tom, Dick and Harry or every McIntosh and Baldwin share

29 According to Plato s point of view without the above mentioned general or universal concepts communication would be impossible. (Here we can see that Plato s complex theory of Forms is derived from Socrates s simple theory of universally true definitions.) 17 What is the definition of a Form or Idea for Plato? Forms are the eternal and immutable, absolutely true definitions of concepts : The form triangle is the set of all those qualities which define the concept triangle. These are also the common qualities shared by the entire class of particular triangles, that is, by all the particular triangles that ever have been or will be constructed (for example, the quality that the sum of the internal angles of a triangle equals 180 degrees). 18 For Plato Forms are as essences i.e. Forms or Ideas are the essence or essential qualities of particular things. So they are not just pure Ideas, subjective and merely mental entities kept within the limits of human minds. They are not particular things of which we think, something within consciousness. The forms are real, independently existing entities ; they are eternal, immutable, intelligible objects in the intelligible world. They are the essential substance of any object, of whatever is real enough to be known on any level. Actual particular things of the visible world are knowable only insofar as we can name or 88

30 identify them by a form, as a man or an apple, that is, as members of a class of things which share the same form, the same set of defining qualities. Particular things, such as men or apples, are real only to the extent that they measure up to, "copy", "partake of," or embody the eternal reality and truth of the form. 19 The metaphor of shadow and substance is repeated several times in Plato s philosophy. As the mention was made, shadow means concrete, particular, changing objects ; and the Forms means substance. Concrete objects of the visible world are for Plato as imperfect copies of the forms of which they take part in. Now we turn to the question which was propounded before, that how do the true knowledge issue from the Forms? In brief answer can be said that As we have already discovered, true knowledge must meet two requirements : (1) it must be immutable, unchanging, and unchangeable; and (2) it must be about what is real. 20 Second function of the Forms is their evaluative and critical function. As we came to know the forms set up the objective, universal and immutable qualities which define the concepts. Now as the second function of the Forms we can mention that... they establish standards 89

31 or ideals by which to evaluate the world of things. 21 So Plato used the evaluative or normative function of the forms of goodness and justice. As the mention was made, Plato gave the examples of triangles and circles and other mathematical objects π, πr 2, area of a circle as the universal concepts. Plato believed that these concepts were not relative to the cities or kind of personalities. Still for Plato there are three limitations for mathematical and scientific knowledge. (1) they rest upon unexamined first principles; (2) they are tied to instances, particulars, examples from the visible world ; and (3) they are piecemeal, fragmentary, since they fail to show the coordination of the forms which are their objects. 22 In the fourth level of knowledge human mind operates the method of dialectic. What is dialectic? It is the science of studying the Forms. "We place dialectic", Plato says, "on top of our other studies like a coping stone;... no other study could rightly be put above this." (Republic, 534C.). 23 Here the philosopher proceeds to knowledge of the Forms through the potency of his reason and by employing of dialectical 90

32 method,... the method of analyzing the essences or forms of all things in the universe, and seeing their relationship to one another. 24 In Symposium, one of Plato s dialogues, he presented that,... the philosopher moves toward the eternal forms out of the power of Eros, love, desire, which leads him from the love of beautiful body to the love of all beautiful things, and then to the love of the beauty of the mind as greater than the beauty of the body. "Drawing towards and contemplating the vast sex of beauty,... at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the science of beauty everywhere". 25 Plato in the Republic shows that the philosopher, applies the dialectic method to continue the unfinished task of the third level, and (1) establishes true first principles for mathematics and the sciences, (2) without employing diagrams or particular things from the visible world; (3) dialectic coordinates the forms and unifies fragmentary, isolated, unrelated sciences and mathematics into a single totality. 26 If we want to explain little more about Plato s dialectical method and make it clear to some extent, we can say : Dialectic identifies the entire range and variety of forms from forms of artifacts such as 91

33 beds and chairs; lowly things such as apples and dogs ; relations such as equality and similarity; values such as beauty and goodness and justice. By the power of dialectic the philosopher not only identifies all these forms and establishes their truth, but also moves toward organizing the forms into a single structured order of truth and value. The forms tend to constitute a hierarchical structure, a pyramid, from the many least universal to the few most universal, from the most concrete to the most abstract, from the forms of inanimate physical things to the Idea of the Good. 27 If we ask a question to Plato that how is the possibility of this knowledge? And how does the philosopher obtain this knowledge by the method of dialectic? He will give answer that The philosopher s ascent is made possible by the love of truth which enables him finally to reach the highest reality, the supreme form, the Idea of the Good is the end or fulfillment or purpose for which all things exist, and thus it alone gives intelligibility, truth, and goodness to all the other forms, which are dependent upon it, and it alone provides their coordination and unity. Seen in the light of the Idea of the Good, the plurality of the many forms becomes the unity of total reality

34 Plato considers the Idea of the Good in comparison with the sun. As the light of the sun makes the concrete things of the world visible and is the source of their life, growth and value so the Idea of the Good gives truth which makes the forms intelligible and is the source of their being and goodness. Plato says of the Idea of the Good that it is "The universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this world, and the source of truth and reason in the other." And again the says, "The Good is not essence but far exceeds essence in dignity and power". 29 Therefore for Plato the Idea of the Good is the headspring of the intelligibility, truth and value of every other ideas or forms ; the Idea of the Good is the headspring of the world s moral end. Author of the book: From Socrates to Sartre, The Pholosophic Quest, Mr. T.Z. Lavine believes that there is a connection between Plato s Idea of Good and Christian God. With the ascent to the Idea of the Good, to an absolute one of truth and goodness, Plato prepared the way for the Christian God. Like the God of Christianity, the Idea of the Good is the supreme value, it is the source of all other value. The Idea of the Good is Plato s conception of the absolute, the perfect principle of all reality, truth, and value. For two thousand years, when Christians thought of God they 93

35 envisioned the divided line and the ascent out of the cave through the power of reason and the power of love to Plato s Idea of the Good The Tripartite Soul : Plato believes that man has not a simple essence or form, but there are several elements in man that are in accordance with his different natural capacities or functions. The unequivocal function of man is the power of speaking i.e. language and reason which make difference between him and other living things and the other elements are bodily appetites and spirited element. Out of these three elements reason, appetite and spirit, the element of reason which acts through the power of speaking by the language, is the most important capacity in the essence of man. There is a natural hierarchical structure. The rational element i.e. reason is a placed at the top by which man can obtain the truth, in the middle of the soul structure, the spirited element is placed and at the bottom of the structure the element of bodily appetites is situated. 16. The concept of justice and happiness of the soul : What did Plato mean by justice and happiness of the soul? As the mention was made about the soul, for Plato it consists of three parts. Pleasure cannot be considered as the highest good for humans because 94

36 pleasure can satisfy only the bodily appetites but it cannot gratify the other two parts of the soul. The human being s highest good must be the sense of well-being or happiness which comes from functioning in accordance with his or her nature, from fulfilling the needs of all three elements which make up what it is to be a person. Only the fulfilling of all three needs, with reason governing the spirited element and the bodily appetites, can satisfy the complex nature of a human being. And when each element of the self function in this way, in accordance with its appropriate role in the structured self, the life of such a person may be said to be just and he experiences this justice of the soul, this integration of his personality as well-being or happiness. 31 So according to Plato s view, morality has its base in knowing and preserving the harmony and balance between the rational and irrational elements of the soul. This balance or harmony in the soul is the justice of the soul, the soul s morality or virtue or excellence, and its product is happiness. 32 Plato does not consider the soul only as a hierarchical order or structure, but he considers it as an organism. We know that in an organism all of its parts must be in harmony so that, such organism can be considered as a healthy living organism and each part of the organism 95

37 in spite of having its own special function, all parts are interdependent too, for example in human body which contains the parts of heart, brain, kidney,... if any of these parts has disfunctions consequently and definitely it will have unfavourable effects on other parts. So For Plato it is clear that neither a life devoted exclusively to bodily pleasures nor a life devoted ascetically to the denial of bodily pleasure would be functional The Status of Women in Plato : Whether Plato really was an early feminist or not? Plato believes that women should be able to have the same social roles as well as men. Plato thinks that women and men have the same nature in respect to acting as guardians of the state, except that, woman is weaker and man is stronger. Ofcourse Plato does not want to say that there are no differences between two sexes but he says that they are equal in the nature of human. For Plato in spite of that women are physically weaker than men but he believes that this is not a sufficient reason to prevent women from being trained in warfare, and again he believes that even if women are trained the same as the men, it would be better for them to do the easier tasks. 96

38 Plato, however does not see the bearing of children as a problem in the education of women, nor is it a barrier to their role as guardian. The selection of the guardians, then, is from all classes by natural intellectual capacity of intelligence to become members of the ruling class. Plato stands out in the history of western philosophy as the first supporter (along with Socrates) of the intellectual equality of the sexes. Book V of the Republic has been hailed by the contemporary women s movement for its defense of the equality of the sexes. There is only one difference between men and women, Plato argues, and that is that males beget and women bear children. But this difference has no more to do with functioning in the political life of the city than the difference between being bald headed or having hair. Women, like men, have the natural capacities which will fit some for the ruler class, some to be warriors and auxiliaries, some to be producers. Women in the Republic will therefore share in the life of all three classes. 34 Supporting the women by Plato can give us a hint that, this idea of Plato about women is one of the humanistic elements of his thought, since humanists believe hardly in the equality of men and women s rights. 97

39 NOTES AND REFERENCES 1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy CD-ROM General Editor. Edward Craig Consultant Editor Luciano Floridi 2. From Socrates to Sartre : The Philosophic Quest by T.Z. Lavine Bantam Books March 1984, P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P

40 19. Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P Ibid P