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Plato

In The Apology, Socrates states, “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our different ways – I to die and you to live. Which is better only god knows.” Based on his ideas of forms, intelligible versus visible worlds, being and becoming, the soul versus body, and reality versus appearance, Plato would respond that it is better for Socrates to die because it is the just, good, and rational course of action. To better understand this response, we need to examine some of Plato’s views on the above concepts.

Central to Plato's philosophy, though at most implied by Socrates, was his Theory of Forms. This theory entailed a "two-world" perspective. One world is our everyday world of change and impermanence. The other is an ideal world populated by ideal "Forms.” The first, the "World of Becoming," was in flux; the latter, the "World of Being," was eternal and unchanging (as demanded by Parmenides). In Plato's theory, the two worlds were interrelated, with the World of Becoming in which we live defined by the World of Being. It was in this latter world that ideal Forms were said by Plato to exist. The idea of an unchanging view of the everyday world was understood by the ideality of the Forms, defining the world despite the fact of continual change. Plato believed we would be able to get a glimpse of this world through reason.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave contains the key to his study of man's knowledge of Ideas or of the "prime intuition," and provides a memorable image of the Forms. In this Allegory, Plato described human beings living in an underground cave which contains a mouth reaching up toward the light. The people in the cave are chained at the neck and legs so that they cannot move, but can see the light. They can also see behind them at a distance a great and ever-burning fire, and near a low wall in front they are able to see a screen against which puppets are

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Plato. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 17:14, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686125.html