The lower Forms depend for their existence on the higher Forms. Plato believed that the physical world around us is not real; it is constantly changing and thus you can never say what it really is. There is a world of ideas, which is a world of unchanging and absolute truth. This is reality for Plato. Does such a world exist independent of human minds?
Plato and Aristotle both have great philosophical views on the theories of matter and forms and dualism. Plato’s Theory of Forms state that forms are universal factors or ideas in which the world becomes intelligent as a result. However, the intelligence must gain the knowledge about certain aspects in a non-physical way (If knowledge is pursued then it will be found within ones self). Plato believes that there is a distinction between the mind and body. Plato recognizes matter and form as being separate entities.
Explain the Allegory of the Cave The allegory of the Cave was made by Plato when he tried to explain human ignorance and how almost all humans don’t see our true reality. It refers to the Cave as what we perceive reality to be and how we are chained to a wall to only see this perceived reality. Plato tries to make us a see a world in which the prison was to be released from his chains. Where he would feel intense pain by the light outside and dazed but the new world he begins to see, where he would also struggle to adjust at all to truth of reality and his new surroundings. After he realises that what he previously thought to be reality was in fact a lie, he tries to forget about his past life.
Plato’s theories of forms are: allegory of the cave, divided line, platonic form, platonic realism, division of the soul, philosopher king and memories of the soul. Plato believed that the form of circularity exists apart or separately from individual coins and other circular objects, and that they are dependent on it for their existence as circular things, as explained earlier. Sometimes his forms are referred to as ideas, and the theory of forms is also said to be the theory of ideas. Ideas are some what misleading because, from Plato’s forms say they are not the type of ideas that exists in people. To him objects in this world are not eternal, and so the beliefs about objects cannot always be correct and cannot always have truth.
Explain, with examples, Plato’s theory of the Forms Plato’s theory of the form is based on the idea that there is another world that contains universals such as ‘Good’. He believed our innate knowledge of forms such as ‘Justice’ comes from within our souls and show themselves in our physical world as particulars. We can also identify Forms in everyday objects such as similarity and equality. In this essay I will explain his ideas in more detail: When Plato refers to a Form, he doesn’t mean the word ‘Form’ in the sense of an outline e.g. a mannequin.
The memory of the World of Forms is lost in the trauma of birth and the physical demands of the body. Plato uses the cave to represent the world of sense experience and the area outside of the cave is the World of Forms and transcendental ideals. He shackles his prisoners in the same way the soul is shackled by the body and the trauma of birth. Therefore Plato believed that after transmigration the soul forgets everything that it learnt in the World of Forms, thus learning is remembering. The prisoner who escapes is a philosopher, a seeker of Truth, whose journey out of the cave is a
In Republic book VII Plato explains his analogy of the cave. Plato uses the analogy to help explain his ideological role in the two worlds which are the World of Forms and the Physical world. Plato states that the analogy would inform others how the World of Sense participate nothing but an illusion, therefore the true realism would be found in the everlasting World of Forms. Plato’s illation begins in a cave. The cave symbolises the World of Sense, a figure of captives are tired by their ankles and necks so that they are unable to change direction.
He leads them from the cave and shows them reality, challenging all they have ever known. Returning to the cave the prisoners reject what he has shown them, although the saviour realises he cannot go back to his former vision. He becomes an outcast with knowledge without friends. The difference between the fire and the sun is key to understanding the analogy. The light of the fire gave the prisoners their limited vision, showing only shadows, whereas the brightness of the sun allowed and expansive view of reality.
In the Wachowski brothers’ 1999 film, The Matrix and Plato’s Simile of the Cave, the utopian sub-concept illusion versus reality can be found within both works. The Wachowski brothers allow the viewer to see how reality and illusion can be mistaken for the other, using a number of contrasting ideas found in Plato's Simile of the cave, showing that at times the dream world can be safer than real life. The matrix is a simulation that creates an illusionary world where people are prisoners from reality, much like Plato's mythological story, the Simile of the Cave. The cave holds prisoners who have been chained and held captive since childhood, with their heads fixed to stare at a wall in front of them. They see only reflections and shadows.
2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm). In Plato’s Allegory, three prisoners are chained and forced to view a wall which shows shadows from the outside world. The shadows create a false image of reality, causing the prisoners to have a distorted perception of life.