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Life’s Ultimate Questions “Plato”

Christopher Ullman, Instructor

Christian Life College

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Student of Socrates (469-399 B.C.)

Socratic MethodA way through persistent questioning to eliminate

the worst hypotheses by finding the contradictions “I know that I know nothing.”

Constantly seeking wisdom in Athens

Philosophy’s most famousmartyr

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Plato (427 – 347 B.C.)• Plato and Aristotle seek to answer every major

philosophical question• “Everything in philosophy after Plato and

Aristotle is just commentary”• The death of Socrates when Plato was 28 was

the turning point in his life• Plato’s influence can be detected in the history

of Christian theology through the centuries

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Plato’s Philosophy

Touches on all of these areas

• Metaphysics• “What is real?”

• Epistemology• “How do we know

what we say we know?”

• Ethics• “What is a good

life?”• Aesthetics

• “What is beauty?”

• Politics• “What is justice?”

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What Plato Opposed Hedonism

“Pleasure is the highest good” Empiricism

“Sensed experience is the only sure source of knowledge” Relativism

Ethical: “The right thing to do depends on ___________.” Epistemological: “Truth depends on ___________.”

Materialism “Matter/energy is all that there is”

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What Plato Opposed

Mechanism “All events are controlled by machine-like laws

without purpose or design” Atheism

“There are no gods” Naturalism

“Nature is self-sufficient and self-explanatory”

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Plato’s Dualism: MetaphysicalExistence is of two types:1. Particular things: always changing, never

perfect, time-limited, mere material The realm of Becoming and Appearances

2. Forms: unchanging, perfect, eternal, nonmaterial

The realm of Being and Reality

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Plato’s Dualism: EpistemologicalInformation comes from two sources:

1. Sensed experience Unreliable because of

the deceivability of the senses and the impermanence of physical things

It can never result in anything but Opinion

2. Reason Reliable because

it focuses on apprehending the Forms It alone results in Knowledge

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Plato’s Dualism: Anthropological

Humans are comprised of

1. Body

2. Soul

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Memory Keys to Plato’s Thought

• The ladder• The circle• The cave• The ring• The beast/lion/man• The chariot

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The Ladder

Thoughts must pass some tests in order to climb the ladder of knowing

• Error and sorrow result from letting a thought climb higher on the ladder than it should

OPINION

KNOWLEDGE

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The LadderOpinion• Thoughts based only on

particular sensed experiences should never be allowed to ascend higher than the lower rungs • Examples

• Images, sounds, tastes, scents• The physical objects themselves OPINION

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The LadderThoughts of universals can climb the

ladder• For example, the concepts

• “Dog,”• “Movement,” and• “Hue”

transcend the limits of a particular sensed experience

• The concepts outlast the physical object

• The concepts never change

KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge of the Forms is the only real

knowledge• Therefore, they point to the Forms

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The LadderThe middle rungs are accessible to

thoughts based on reason unaided by the senses, like

• Geometry• LogicThe upper rung is accessible to a

thought that is based on intuition, or immediate contact with the Forms

• Justice• Balance

KNOWLEDGE

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The LadderLife viewed from the bottom

rungs of the ladder appears

• Out of focus• Unordered• Avalanched by trivia

And is• Not representative of

reality

?

? ?

?

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The LadderLife viewed from the top

rungs of the ladder is • In focus• Ordered• Meaningful

And is• Representative of reality

!

!

! !

!

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The Circle What is a circle? Definition Has anyone ever seen a circle? Is there such a thing as a circle? The Idea of Circle is totally real, even though

there is no physical object that denotes it Ideas (Forms) are really real in a way that

physical objects can never be

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The Cave

There are prisoners shackled in a cave, being deceived by flickering, fire-lit images on the wall. They think that those images are what is real.

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The Cave

One person escapes his shackles and cautiously climbs up and out of the cave

Outside, he discovers what is actually real. All the objects are illuminated by a steady, non-flickering, brilliant light.

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The Ring

• What would you do if you knew nobody was watching?

• Is it better to be moral, or to be immoral?

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The Beast/Lion/Man

• Which of these should rule us?

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The Chariot

In humans, there are three powers at work: Appetites Spirit Reason

APPETITES

Spirit

REASON

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The Forms• Essence precedes existence• Essence is a necessary condition of existence

• Without essence, there are no categories, since there are no attributes that make categorization possible

• Each thing exists in at least one category• The Forms are known a priori, not a posteriori

• The disembodied soul, in the interims between reincarnations, beholds the Forms in all their glory

• Certain bodily experiences aid us in recollecting the Forms

• The Craftsman took formless material and fashioned it into the world, using the Forms as patterns

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Some of Plato’s Contributions to Theology

CreationismThe world is a handiwork of a mind

This World is Not our HomeThe soul should be on a journey

There’s More to this LifeThan living and dying, more than just trying to

make it through the day