Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 236 views

    Plato Epistemology

    Uploaded by

    Poncelito Kachupoy
    Plato proposes a dualistic theory of forms to address Presocratic problems of change and reality. He argues that there are two realms: the world of becoming, consisting of particular sensory objects that are always changing; and the world of being, consisting of eternal, immutable ideal forms that represent the true nature or essence of things. According to Plato, we can only have true knowledge of the ideal forms through reason, while the sensory world provides mere opinion. The theory of forms grounds Plato's epistemology by providing objects of knowledge that are permanent and universal, unlike the fluctuating particulars of the sensory world.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Plato Epistemology

    Uploaded by

    Poncelito Kachupoy
    236 views2 pages
    Plato proposes a dualistic theory of forms to address Presocratic problems of change and reality. He argues that there are two realms: the world of becoming, consisting of particular sensory objects that are always changing; and the world of being, consisting of eternal, immutable ideal forms that represent the true nature or essence of things. According to Plato, we can only have true knowledge of the ideal forms through reason, while the sensory world provides mere opinion. The theory of forms grounds Plato's epistemology by providing objects of knowledge that are permanent and universal, unlike the fluctuating particulars of the sensory world.

    Original Description:

    sdasdas

    Original Title

    Plato Epistemology (2)

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Plato proposes a dualistic theory of forms to address Presocratic problems of change and reality. He argues that there are two realms: the world of becoming, consisting of particular sensory objects that are always changing; and the world of being, consisting of eternal, immutable ideal forms that represent the true nature or essence of things. According to Plato, we can only have true knowledge of the ideal forms through reason, while the sensory world provides mere opinion. The theory of forms grounds Plato's epistemology by providing objects of knowledge that are permanent and universal, unlike the fluctuating particulars of the sensory world.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    236 views2 pages

    Plato Epistemology

    Uploaded by

    Poncelito Kachupoy
    Plato proposes a dualistic theory of forms to address Presocratic problems of change and reality. He argues that there are two realms: the world of becoming, consisting of particular sensory objects that are always changing; and the world of being, consisting of eternal, immutable ideal forms that represent the true nature or essence of things. According to Plato, we can only have true knowledge of the ideal forms through reason, while the sensory world provides mere opinion. The theory of forms grounds Plato's epistemology by providing objects of knowledge that are permanent and universal, unlike the fluctuating particulars of the sensory world.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Platos Epistemology and the Theory of the Forms

    One way we can think about Plato's theory is as a response to some of the philosophical problems raised by the Presocratics: the problem of the one and the many, the problem of appearance and reality, the problem of change. Heraclitus and Parmenides were both concentrating
    on one aspect of these problems but ignoring other aspects. Each was concentrating on just
    one side of what has been called the dilemma of change. Heraclitus, since he saw that difference must be admitted, rejected identity and tried to explain everything in terms of flux. Parmenides, realizing that whatever changes must be identical throughout its change, took identity as the basic concept and was forced to deny change. Both Plato and the Sophists were responding to the dilemma presented by this conflict between Heraclitus and Parmenides. Plato
    ends up arguing that both are right because they are talking about different types of objects.
    Reality, for Plato, is not single as many Presocratics had supposed but dual.

    The World of Becoming: The Realm of the Senses

    The World of Being: The Ideal Realm of the Forms

    Nothing is permanent, everything changes

    Eternal

    The realm of particulars

    Immutable

    Tangible/Material

    Universal

    Visible

    Invisible (Ideal forms, perfect examples)

    Mere copies or imitations of the ideal forms

    Ultimate reality

    We gain access through the senses

    We gain access through reason

    The realm of mere opinion

    The realm of true knowledge

    The realm of the body

    The realm of the soul

    Mortal

    Immortal

    Platos Epistemological Argument for the Forms


    Step One: Plato distinguishes between opinion and knowledge
    opinion

    knowledge

    is changeable

    endures or stays put

    may be true or false

    is always true

    is not backed up by reasons

    is backed up by reasons

    is the result of persuasion

    is the result of instruction

    Step Two: Plato argues that we do indeed have knowledge. This is what distinguishes him from the Sophists. Socrates' discussion with the slave boy in the Platonic dialogue Meno establishes that at least in regard to mathematics we can be said to have
    knowledge. In the Republic Plato argues that we have knowledge of justice.
    Step Three: The third step is to explain the nature of the objects that we can be said to know and it is the Forms (or Ideas) as
    the objects of knowledge that ground Plato's epistemology. What are our truths of mathematics about? Obviously not any
    particular square or triangle drawn up on the board. Rather, they are truths about ideal mathematical objects, an object that
    can be apprehended only by the intellect, by thinking and reasoning. Knowledge endures and so requires an object that endures. The Square Itself does not fluctuate like visible and tangible squares. Therefore, it can qualify as an object of knowledge.
    In recapitulating the major steps of Plato's argument, Norman Melchert reconstructs the Epistemological Argument for the
    Forms:
    1. Knowledge is enduring, true, rational belief based on instruction.
    2. We do have knowledge.
    3. This knowledge cannot be about the world revealed through the senses.
    4. It must be about another world, one that endures.
    5. This is the world of Forms.
    Plato distinguishes between the world of the forms, of which we have knowledge, ignorance, of what it not, and opinion,
    which is of this world. The Forms are nonphysical, nonspatial, nontemporal. They are the objects of thought. For Plato, a science is a body of universal and necessary truths. Every science has for its objects, and must have for its objects, forms; nothing
    other than eternal, unchanging forms can qualify to be the objects of scientific knowledge. This world of universal forms,
    which the sciences discover, has the characteristics of the Parmenidean one. In the physical world, everything is changing and
    nothing is ever exactly what it is; it is always becoming something different. In the world of Forms, everything is always what it
    is and not another thing.

    You might also like