|
Topic |
Teaching |
Quotes & Notes |
|
Socrates v. Sophism & Skepticism "Crito we
owe a cock to Aesculapius. Pay it and
do not neglect it." |
§
There is
objective knowledge §
of truth §
and value §
we can
arrive at dialectically, by reasoning
together §
like legal
reasoning -- thesis v. antithesis -- but §
the object
is to discover the truth §
not winning
the argument §
and not just
agreeing either! §
Three
innovations §
Universal
definitions §
Inductive
dialectical method §
Ethical
emphasis §
Ironic
practice §
Virtue =
knowledge: denial of akrasia |
§
“A man who
really fights for the right, if he is to preserve his life, even for a little
while, must be a private citizen, not a public man." §
“The
unexamined life is not worth living.” §
“And is not
this the most reprehensible form of ignorance, thinking one knows what one
does not know." §
"[A]nd
if . . . I am wiser in anything, it would be in this, that not knowing . . .
I do not think I know." §
“When people
make a wrong choice of pleasures and pains – that is, of good and evil – the
cause of their mistake is lack of knowledge.
… So that is what 'being mastered by pleasure' really is--ignorance,
and most serious ignorance.” (357d-e). |
|
Knowledge |
§
Received
issues §
appearance
v. reality §
one v. many §
problem of
change §
possibility
of knowledge §
How is
change possible? §
Cases other
than absolute creation or destruction. §
assume
variation (i.e., change) §
of something
that remains one and the same thing (i.e., unchanged). §
Two realms §
sensible
things: changing “visible” reality. §
unchanging
Forms that things can take. |
§
"[I]
remind you of the distinction we drew . . . between the multiplicity of
things that we call good or beautiful or whatever it may be and, on the other
hand, Goodness itself or Beauty itself and so on. Corresponding to each of these sets of many things, we
postulate a single Form or real essence, as we call it." NOTE §
Plato's
"Ideas" are Objects of
Knowledge: e.g. the idea that we share of The
Dog, The Tree, etc. §
not private
mental events -- mere thoughts |
|
The Forms |
§
General
character: unchanging natures that individual things temporarily
"participate in" or "resemble": immaterial, insensible,
unchanging. §
Mathematical
Application §
Mathematics
embodies knowledge & makes discoveries. §
That are not
about sensible things. §
Ethical
Application: There are objective values. §
Scientific
Laws: always & everywhere true §
Beliefs
are based on perception and are
unreliable due to the vagaries of sensible reality. Harry is a bachelor.
The light is red. §
Knowledge of
unchanging truths is secure: Bachelors are unmarried. What's red is not green. |
§
"[Geometers]
are not reasoning, for example, about this particular square and diagonal
which they have drawn, but about the
Square and the Diagonal; and so in
all cases." §
"[T]he
many things we say can be seen, but are not objects of rational thought;
whereas the forms are objects of thought, but invisible." REMARKS §
Two minds
with a single thought §
meaning §
communication
(c.f. Gorgias) §
Universals
v. Prototypes §
Articulating
the real essence -- the Form -- defines what it is to be a thing of
that type. |
|
The Divided Line |
§
IDEAL REALM:
THE FORMS: objects of thought §
Higher
Forms: Goodness, Beauty, Etc. §
Objects of
Intelligence (intellectual insight): Pure Reason §
Universals §
Lower Forms:
Numbers and Geometrical §
Objects of
hypothetical thought: Understanding §
Abstract
Particulars §
PHYSICAL
WORLD: sensible objects; concrete particulars §
Things,
Objects: Bill, MJ; rocking chair, folding chair. §
shadows,
reflections images |
§
"Take a
divided line divided into two equal parts, one to represent the visible
order, the other the invisible; and divide each part again in the same
proportion, symbolizing degrees of comparative clarity and obscurity." §
"And
now you may take, as corresponding to the four sections, these four states of
mind: intelligence for the highest,
thinking for the second, belief for the third, and for the last
imagining. These you may arrange as the terms in a
proportion, assigning to each a degree of clearness and certainty
corresponding to the measure in which their objects possess truth and
reality." |
Next: Plato & the Forms