B)to What Extent Is It True to Say That the Forms Teach Us Nothing About the Physical World?
A)Explain the Concept of the Forms?
Plato developed the theory that behind every concept or object in the visible world there is an unseen reality which he calls its ‘Form’. These Forms exist in the world of the Forms separate from our world of sensory perception. Within the world of the Forms the pattern or the objects and concepts for the material world exist in a state of unchanging perfection. Plato suggested the idea of forms in his book “De Republica”, which is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, and the idea of dualism. Plato suggested that there are two worlds (dualism) we live in one of sensory perception and the true forms live in one of rational knowledge.
Plato believed the world we live in is only a world of appearances and that it wasn't actually that real. He believed that their was another world, this is called dualism. He believed this other world is where the true forms of everything existed and only left a mere imprint on our world. Plato argued this world was immutable (unchanging) and that it was only a world of ideas and concepts that made every object like what it is. For example there are lots of different types of cat. He believed in the world of the forms that what makes a cat a cat existed there and is imprinted onto our souls allowing us to identify all the different types of cat as cats.
The Cave is a famous analogy/allegory written by Plato which he uses to explain some parts of his theory of Forms. Within the analogy many of the key factors are symbolic of a situation that people can more easily understand and interpret themselves. The actual cave represents the world we perceive, the empirical world and the world of sensory perception. It acts as a barrier to the truth because our perceptions may be flawed. The prisoners chained so all they can do is looking in front represent us. We are trapped in the physical world of illusion with our handcuffs being our flawed senses and experiences. The shadows caused by the
Plato developed the theory that behind every concept or object in the visible world there is an unseen reality which he calls its ‘Form’. These Forms exist in the world of the Forms separate from our world of sensory perception. Within the world of the Forms the pattern or the objects and concepts for the material world exist in a state of unchanging perfection. Plato suggested the idea of forms in his book “De Republica”, which is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, and the idea of dualism. Plato suggested that there are two worlds (dualism) we live in one of sensory perception and the true forms live in one of rational knowledge.
Plato believed the world we live in is only a world of appearances and that it wasn't actually that real. He believed that their was another world, this is called dualism. He believed this other world is where the true forms of everything existed and only left a mere imprint on our world. Plato argued this world was immutable (unchanging) and that it was only a world of ideas and concepts that made every object like what it is. For example there are lots of different types of cat. He believed in the world of the forms that what makes a cat a cat existed there and is imprinted onto our souls allowing us to identify all the different types of cat as cats.
The Cave is a famous analogy/allegory written by Plato which he uses to explain some parts of his theory of Forms. Within the analogy many of the key factors are symbolic of a situation that people can more easily understand and interpret themselves. The actual cave represents the world we perceive, the empirical world and the world of sensory perception. It acts as a barrier to the truth because our perceptions may be flawed. The prisoners chained so all they can do is looking in front represent us. We are trapped in the physical world of illusion with our handcuffs being our flawed senses and experiences. The shadows caused by the