n created a unified system covering all areas of human thought
Doctrine of the Forms:
n recognized change in the material world of particulars
n preserved stability in the immaterial world of universal Forms
n Forms = principles of permanence, eternity, reality, unity, perfection,etc.
n the soul journeys from appearance to reality
n the Cave Allegory is symbolic, the Divided Line tells what it represents
Allegory of the Cave | Divided Line |
| |
* The Sun * | * The Good * |
4. objects outside the cave | 4. the immaterial forms [reason] |
3. shadows, reflections outside the cave | 3. mathematical images [understanding] |
2. objects on the roadway and fire | 2. material objects in the world [belief] |
1. shadows on the cave’s wall | 1. images, shadows in the world [conjecture] |
n for Plato, level 4 is “the real”, knowledge
n levels 2 and 3 are hypotheses, definitions, “jumping off points” to the real
n levels 1 and 2 are sense appearances, or opinions
n doctrine of participation - material things share in the likeness of the forms
n all the forms are united in the form of the Good (a principle of unity)
n eros - the human love or spiritual desire which causes man to want to know the forms and the good
Yorum Gönder