EAST TEXAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION
PLATO
A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO
DR. JEPH HOLLOWAY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE
PHILOSOPHY
RLGN 1353
BY
JARRYN DICKENSON
OCTOBER 29, 2009
PLATO
Life
Plato was born in 428 B.C. in Athens to Ariston and Perictione. Both of his parents
were from wealthy families that had lived in Athens for a long time. While Plato was still
young, his father died. His mother remarried a man named Pyrilampes. It was with this
set of parents that Plato grew up.
Between 409 and 404 B.C. Plato fought in the Peloponnesian War. After the war
Plato decided to pursue a life of politics rather than war. This ambition was ended after
the execution of Socrates, Plato’s teacher in 399 B.C. After Socrates death, Plato moved
to Megara. For the next 12 years Plato traveled in Greece, Egypt, and Italy. “In Italy he
learned of the work of Pythagoras and came to appreciate the value of mathematics.”1
Pythagoras’ teaching would be one of the foundational aspects of Plato’s Forms.
In 387 B.C. Plato moved back to Athens and founded the Academy where he taught
until his death in 347 B.C. “It was on land which had belonged to a man called
Academos, and this is where the name "Academy" came from.”2 Plato’s plan for the
Academy was to train young statesmen. Plato was absent from Athens in 367 B.C.,
though. Following the death of Dionysuis I, Plato went to Syracuse to tutor the new ruler,
Dionysuis II. The plan failed and Plato returned to Athens.
1
1
J.J. O’Connor and E.F. Robertson, “Plato,” MacTutor History of Mathematics
Archive, http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Plato.html (accessed
October 25, 2009).
2
J.J. O’Connor and E.F. Robertson, “Plato.”
2
Metaphysics
Plato’s view of the world was a combination of the views of people before him with
the addition of his own ideas. Three men were instrumental in assisting Plato in forming
his beliefs on metaphysics, or his world view. Theses three influences were Heraclitus,
Parmenides, and Socrates. Socrates was the most influential because of the fact that he
was Plato’s teacher.
Heraclitus believed that the world was constantly changing. “For Heraclitus, the
ordinary objects of the physical world seem to be continually changing. The only
constant, the underlying commonality, is the pattern of change itself.”3 Heraclitus
believed that the world was constantly creating and destroying. He also said that a person
cannot step in the same river twice. This is because of the constant flow of the river. The
river was a symbol of change to Heraclitus. Plato called this the world of becoming. This
is the visible world in which people live.
Parmenides took this a step further and said that there is only being. He believed that
you could not even step in a river once. “Parmenides argued that there is and could be
only one thing, Being. One could not even think or say what is not.”4 Parmenides even
said that motion is impossible because that would cause the Being to move to somewhere
where it is not. Plato called this the world of being. Plato did not think that motion was
impossible, but he did believe in a constant being. He called this being the Forms.
Everything that one sees is an image of a Form.
3
Silverman, “Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology.”
4
Allan Silverman, “Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology,” Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/plato-metaphysics/
(accessed October 25, 2009).
3
Plato’s philosophy of life can be best understood using the analogy of the cave, which
he wrote in the Republic. In this analogy Plato has his teacher Socrates, imaging a cave.
In this cave, people were chained and faced a blank wall. They had been like this their
whole life. A large fire was behind them with a walkway in between the prisoners and the
fire. On a raised walkway, other people would walk carrying things on there head,
carvings of people and animals. This would cause shadows to appear on the wall in front
of the prisoners. They would also here the sounds echoing in the cave. What they saw
was all they could perceive as real.
One prisoner was freed and allowed to stand up. This prisoner was shown the images
that cast the shadows onto the wall. But he believed the shadows to be more real than the
images. This prisoner would want to look at the fire, but because it is bright, he would
return his focus to the shadows on the wall. This prisoner was then forced out of the cave.
He began to look around and see things such as the sun and physical world. He wanted to
tell the other prisoners so that they would also be enlightened. It would not be a great idea
for this former prisoner to return to the cave. Upon returning, he would be unable to see
after seeing the sun and the other prisoners would probably kill him.
Plato viewed reality in two parts, the world of becoming and the world of being. The
world of becoming is the world in which people live. This world is in constant change
and nothing can be trusted. The world of becoming, on the other hand, can be trusted and
things do not change. In the analogy of the cave, the world of becoming is the shadows
on the wall and the world of being is the real world outside of the cave.
4
The world of becoming is the world that is seen. People see many images of the same
thing. For example, there are many different types of each kind of animal. Each of these
images are different and have different defects. There are many types of people, dogs,
lions, and elephants. But how can these be the same but different? How come every
different type is not perfect? Plato explains this in his belief of the Forms and world of
being.
Even though the world of becoming was in constant flux, the world of being could be
trusted. In the world of being, thing do not change. Plato placed his idea of the Forms in
the world of being. “Among the most important of these abstract objects (as they are now
called, because they are not located in space or time) are goodness, beauty, equality,
bigness, likeness, unity, being, sameness, difference, change, and changelessness.”5 The
Forms stayed consistent. There was an ultimate Form of everything in the world.
Everything that is seen is in the image of this Form.
In the world of becoming, there are both images and particular objects, or the
imitations of objects and the individual objects. This would include pictures of each
animal and the animal itself. This is also known as the visible world. In the world of
being, there are the scientific concepts and the Forms, or the concept of the animal and
the form of the animal. This is the image in a person’s mind when thinking about the
animal and the ultimate form of the animal. This is the intelligible world.
Combining the world of becoming and the world of being, results in a Platonian view
of the world. One world does not exist without the other.
5
Richard Kraut, “Plato,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://www.seop.leeds.a c.uk/entries/plato/ (accessed October 25, 2009).
5
Current Influence
Human beings from all different backgrounds and cultures want to find meaning in
life. Many want to believe in something bigger than them. They want to believe in this
world of being because the world of becoming is not as perfect as it could be.
The group of people that Plato has influenced the most with his analogy of the line is
Christians. Christians believe that the ultimate form is the Triune God of the Bible.
Genesis teaches that humans were made in the image of God. When placing this next to
Plato’s theory of the Forms, a Christian would apply Plato’s teaching to his/her belief.
Many Christians have even tried to argue for the existence of God using a similar
theory. They say that with the world in constant change, something must stay the same;
or with the created realm being unreliable something has to be perfect. They would then
say that the unchanging and perfect being is God.
Plato has even influenced some people negatively. Knowing that the world is in
constant flux can cause some people to become apathetic. They do not strive for
excellence because they know that it is unattainable. Instead of bettering themselves and
the world around them, they choose to live their life ordinarily. Plato did not intend for
this to happen. Ordinary people do not get remembered. Why would Plato come up with
a theory to make it okay to be ordinary, and be remembered for it? Plato’s belief system
was a belief of why things are the way they are.
Plato’s analogy of the cave influences people to not be closed minded to new ideas
and discoveries. His teacher was killed for “corrupting the youth.” All Socrates was
trying to do was to teach them how to think. If everyone in the world was closed minded,
6
how many things that have been discovered would be looked over or even not
discovered?
Plato helped create a freedom to think and question what has already been thought.
Asking questions will do one of two things. It will either find new and better information,
or it will reinforce information already known. Both outcomes are positive. They both
make the world a better place and the person and better and more intellectual person.
Plato is much more than a moldable play thing for children. He is one of the most
important philosophers ever to live. Plato treads on grounds uncovered by previous
philosophers. The world would not be the same, had he not lived and thought.
Bibliography
O’Connor, J.J. and E.F. Robertson. “Plato.” MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive.
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Plato.html (accessed October
25, 2009).
Silverman, Allan. “Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology.” Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/plato-metaphysics/
(accessed October 25, 2009).
Kraut, Richard. “Plato.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://www.seop.leeds.a
c.uk/entries/plato/ (accessed October 25, 2009).
Zalta, Ed. “Plato.” Introduction from Ed Zalta’s Metaphysics Research Lab. http://mally.s
tanford.edu/plato.html (accessed October 25, 2009).