Plato’s Philosophy: An Introduction

Posted on Nov 2, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

ANNEX I. Introduction to Plato’s Philosophy

1. Sources of Plato’s Thought

Plato, a highly original philosopher second only to Aristotle, created the most important philosophical system of antiquity. His thought, while innovative, was influenced by earlier philosophers, offering new solutions to shared problems. Key figures include:

Socrates

Plato largely followed Socratic teachings. His philosophy of morality and politics stems from this influence: virtue is knowledge, and vice is ignorance. Both philosophers advocated moral determinism, believing an amoral or immoral life results from ignorance. Like Socrates, Plato believed the ultimate goal of life is goodness, an immutable concept that explains the world and facilitates understanding among people.

Heraclitus

Cratylus, Plato’s student, was a disciple of Heraclitus, who predated Socrates. Heraclitus’s philosophy, emphasizing change and flux, contrasts with Plato’s. Heraclitus questioned the objective value of knowledge, while Plato sought the true object of knowledge—unchanging, immutable science.

Parmenides

Parmenides’s philosophy served as a starting point for Plato. Parmenides asserted that only immutable, permanent, and eternal knowledge is true knowledge. This guided Plato’s focus on the world of Ideas, pursuing the immutable and rejecting the sensory world as a path to true knowledge.

Pythagoreans

Pythagorean ideas influenced Plato’s anthropology, including the soul-body dualism, applied metaphysically as the world of Ideas versus the world of senses. His ethics utilized the Pythagorean distinction between goods of the body and goods of the soul. Politically, he adopted the idea of philosopher-rulers. Plato’s admiration for mathematics as a path to scientific knowledge also reflects Pythagorean influence. His travels to Magna Graecia exposed him to Pythagorean myths concerning punishment after death and the transmigration of the soul, themes present in his work.

Zeller, a prominent scholar of ancient philosophy, argued that Plato’s theory of Ideas rests on the philosophies of Socrates, Pythagoras, and the Eleatics (Parmenides and Heraclitus). Plato attempted a synthesis, viewing concepts as permanent realities while analyzing changing realities through sensory knowledge. He acknowledged a dual reality (the world of Ideas and the sensible world) and dual modes of knowledge (rational and sensory).

2. Epistemological Dualism

Plato’s works, presented as dialogues, explore his theory of knowledge. Key texts include Meno, Theaetetus, and The Republic (Books VI and VII). His epistemology emphasizes intelligible knowledge over sensory knowledge. Three core theses summarize his view:

2.1. Levels of Human Knowledge

Developed in The Republic (509d-511d, Book VI, the Divided Line), this theory explains why philosophers should govern and how they should be educated. Plato viewed intellectual development as a journey from ignorance to knowledge, with distinct levels: doxa (opinion) and episteme (knowledge). Only episteme constitutes true knowledge. He differentiates these levels using the analogy of images and their archetypes.

A) Imagination and Belief

This level pertains to knowledge of sensible things, their images, and appearances. Imagination allows us to know images of material things, while belief allows us to know the material things themselves. Both are subjective, providing opinions, not scientific knowledge. Plato characterizes this level as follows:

  • Sensible things are transient and unstable, representing the particular, not the objective or universal.
  • This subjective knowledge leads to contradictions and dissatisfaction, prompting a search for objective, universal knowledge.
  • The mind must transcend this relative knowledge and enter the realm of reason and objectivity.
B) World of Mathematics

This realm of figures and numbers represents discursive knowledge, leading to universality and objectivity. It’s an intermediary step between sensory and pure intelligible knowledge. Its characteristics include:

  • Discursive knowledge is acquired in stages.
  • Mathematical learning relies on sensory images (numbers), connecting to the tangible world.
  • Mathematics, while grounded in the sensible, prepares the mind for abstract, intuitive, universal knowledge.
C) Dialectics

The ideal education for philosopher-rulers, dialectic is the science of Ideas and their relationships. It’s the supreme science, studying intangible, eternal, and immutable essences. Its ultimate goal is knowledge of the Idea of the Good, which illuminates sensible things and human affairs. Plato uses “dialectic” in several senses:

  • The highest science, teaching Ideas to philosophers.
  • A method for achieving the science of Ideas, using reason alone, without sensory data.
  • The art of dialogue, using language and logic to reach truth (correct use) or manipulate opponents (improper use).

2.2. The Allegory of the Cave

Presented in The Republic (Book VII, 514a-517b), this allegory illustrates the ascent through levels of knowledge. The elements and their meanings include:

  • The Cave: The sensible world of material realities and images.
  • Prisoners: Humanity, mistaking shadows for reality, representing ignorance.
  • Fire: A metaphor for the true light (the sun), casting shadows of objects carried by unseen men.

Prisoners, chained by prejudices, confuse shadows with reality. One who escapes and adjusts to the light first sees sensible things, then the source of light (fire), a metaphor for the sun. Seeing the sun represents true knowledge (noesis), illuminating the intelligible world. Returning to the cave, the escapee’s warnings are disbelieved, symbolizing the philosopher’s struggle to enlighten others.

3. Anthropological Dualism and the Theory of Reminiscence

Plato’s anthropology, found in Meno, Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Timaeus, emphasizes the soul’s pre-existence and reincarnation. Key points include:

  • The soul acquired knowledge before this life. Knowledge is reminiscence (anamnesis) of what the soul knew before incarnation.
  • Experience awakens innate knowledge. The soul’s yearning for immutable Ideas drives us towards pure knowledge (dialectic), the essence of philosophy.

4. Ontological Dualism and the Theory of Ideas

Plato’s dualistic ontology describes reality as comprising:

  • The world of non-being and becoming (the sensible world of particulars).
  • The world of the immutable, eternal, and absolute (the intelligible world of Ideas).

Ideas are not mere concepts but universal, self-subsisting realities. Sensible things are diverse and particular, copies of Ideas. The relationship between the two worlds is explained by “participation”: sensible things partake in Ideas, which serve as their models. Ideas are hierarchically arranged, culminating in the Idea of the Good, the highest reality, analogous to the sun illuminating the material world.

5. Plato’s Ethics: The Intellectual Moral

Influenced by Socrates, Plato believed humans seek the good, and virtue lies in this pursuit. Moral behavior stems from the pursuit of knowledge and truth. In Gorgias, evil is a disease of the soul curable by philosophy. The virtuous person purifies the soul from passions, achieving balance between the rational, irascible, and concupiscible parts of the soul. This balance manifests as wisdom (rulers), courage (guardians), and temperance (craftsmen).

6. Plato’s Politics: The Just State and the Philosopher-Ruler

Plato’s political philosophy, found in The Statesman, Gorgias, Laws, The Republic, and his Seventh Letter, advocates for a rational organization of the city-state, led by philosopher-rulers. In The Republic, he addresses three questions:

  1. What is justice?
  2. Under what circumstances is justice achieved?
  3. How does injustice arise and disappear?

Plato describes an ideal city’s evolution, from a simple society based on trade to a complex one requiring governance. Justice arises from the harmony of three social classes (artisans, warriors, and philosophers), mirroring the tripartite soul. He proposes a communist state with philosopher-rulers, abolishing private property and the family, and implementing a rigorous education system culminating in the study of dialectics. He analyzes the degeneration of states through timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny, arguing that his ideal state would prevent such decline.