The Platonic Forms
Concept of the Forms (or Ideas) is Platonic |
| Socrates unworldly, but not otherworldly |
| used as the mouthpiece for Plato's ideas |
| Presentation through Socrates is qualified in two ways: |
| 1. Socrates is pursuing the best hypotheses available |
| 2. Compares his presentation to a swan-song |
| Jokingly suggests he now has powers of prophecy! |
| Phaedo is the first presentation of the Forms |
| a careful and gradual argument |
Central topic of the dialogue: What happens to the soul after death? |
| Existence of the Forms used to prove immortality, and |
| discussion of immortality used to present the Forms! |
| Shift in Greek concept of the soul |
| Homer: a 'gibbering shade' |
| similar to concept of Sheol in Genesis |
| good example of primitive conception of the soul: two souls |
| conception of the soul in Phaedo |
| or two simultaneous developments? |
| a modification, not replacement, of traditional religion |
Plato: A sharp division between body and mind |
| The pursuit of philosophy is a preparation for death |
| a turning from the body to the soul |
| The body is source of emotions, desires, fears, illusions |
| causes war; subject to disease |
| Only the soul can grasp truth and knowledge |
| Soul reasons best when it separates itself from the body |
| possible to limited extent while living |
| Only the dead can be true lovers of wisdom! |
| A true philosopher has no fear of death |
| philosophy a purification of the soul |
| Virtues of philosophers are more logical than those of other men |
| Wisdom a cleansing and purification |
| philosophical virtues purge the soul of desires and fears |
| Presented to support argument for immortality of the soul |
| humans exposed to knowledge before birth & forget at birth |
| remember through proper questioning (Socratic dialectic) |
| or, as here in Phaedo, when we are reminded by an object |
| Two equal sticks bring to mind |
| The Equal itself! -- the Form of equality. |
| the equality of the sticks is imperfect |
| therefore we must have prior knowledge of the Equal |
| Similarly, beautiful, good or just people, things and actions are deficient in some way |
| They are not the Beautiful itself, the Good itself, or the Just itself |
| 1. Simple, unmixed with anything else |
| 4. Divine patterns from which everything in the world is derived |
| this world is a collection of copies of the Forms |
| it is thus less real than the Forms (cf. the allegory of the cave) |
| Invisible, simple, unchangeable, deathless, divine |
| Thus it dwells in the same 'realm' before and after death |
| Therefore it gains knowledge of the Forms |
| (Nota bene: language is inadequate to express the nature of such a realm) |
| Forms actually exist in a higher, invisible, transcendent realm |
| not merely abstract concepts |
| Plato doesn't insist on the precise relationship between the Forms and the world |
| Any possible expression is a metaphor |
| a person 'shares' in the Beautiful |
| an event 'participates' in the Just |
| something 'imitates' the Good |
| through the Beautiful (the Good, the Just) all things |
| become beautiful (good, just) |
| to ascertain objective truth |
| He believed reality can be known and that reality is rational |
| distinguished between the Real (the Forms) |
| and the not fully real (this world) |
| a secondary, or derived reality |
| yet he believed a true philosopher will engage the world, not withdraw |
| role of the "Philospher-Kings" in The Republic |
| least likely to abuse power |
| Socratic method or dialectic |
| inductive pursuit of universal definitions |
| worked from particular instances to generate abstract concepts |
| abstract ideas not merely communicable thoughts |
| everything is thus a copy of divine Forms |
| A possible way of viewing this claim: |
| Plato was so impressed by the power of astract ideas that |
| 1. he saw them as more real than the physical world |
| 2. believed they were the source of everything in the world |
| 3. believed they were 'higher' and 'realer' than everything in the world |
| physical world derived from spiritual |
| Note that Plato reached these conclusions by reason alone |
| Plato's teaching on the Forms had little immediate impact |
| e.g., Aristotle disagreed |
| as a culture, the Greeks tended to focus on this world |
| But its ultimate impact was tremendous |
| the "Realists" in Medieval philosophy |
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