-Plato formulated a duel nature to the universe called:
Platonic Idealism
or
Dualism
-Dualism has TWO distinct worlds:
1. The World of Forms (Ideas)- real, stable, and permanent; 'Where is dwelleth the true,
ideal, forms of all things'
2. The World of Experience- illusory, transitory, and unimporant; our experience of the world
through the distortion of our senses and perception.
-The only way out/the only way to get a glimpse of the W.o.F. is to let go of the senses and spend time contemplating.
The only TRUE knowledge is the knowledge of the forms.
-Plato concluded that the only way to achieve true knowledge of the Forms is through reason and contemplation.
The forms reside in our memory from birth; we traumatically forget them and must use reason to recover this lost knowledge.
Given: Evil is due to lack of knowledge.
Given: There is ONE and only ONE good life for all.
Given: Intellectual training enables one to know the nature of the good life.
Who instructs?
Those who are gifted will develop their mental powers and undergo rigorous intellectual training that
will do more for them than to develop virtuous habits (because they must finally be the rulers of the ideal society).
i.e. Philosopher Kings!
-Philosopher Kings would understand the nature of the good life. This would guarantee their acting "rightly"
or morally hence, would ensure their being good rulers. If a person acquires knowledge, he never would act evilly.
SO!
Use reason to bring knowledge which will then offer virtue. Everyone wants to be happy- Goodness will bring
happiness.
Allegory of the Cave
-Allegory: a symbolic story meant to explain or establish a point.
-We are chained, facing the back wall of the cave. Behind us are people(?) that carry out the true form of
things. Behind them is a fire that makes the true forms' shadows flicker on the wall we face. What we prisoners
experience is only a distorted image of the "truth".
