Today’s lesson will be successful if…

You are aware of my expectationsWe have started our course in Philosophy

What does this mean?

Expectations:

• In groups create post it notes – One colour: your expectations of me– 2nd colour: my expectations of you

– NEED: Highlighters, Pens, Folder, Dividers, Textbooks

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Main Notes sectionCues

Questions Summary

Note taking, in class, but mainly at home

Today’s key questions…1. Who was Plato?

2. How did Plato view the world?

Ancient Greek Philosophy: Plato

Title: Who influenced Plato?

Sub Title: Socrates

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What is Beauty?What is Justice?What is Truth?What does it mean to be a good Citizen?

Pre-existing Matter

Not creatio ex nihilo

Title: Who influenced Plato?

Sub Title: Heraclitus

Heraclitus“You can never step in the

same river twice”

The world is in a state of Flux/Change

“Something is no more ‘X’ than it is ‘Y’”

Who was Plato?

PLATO was…A DUALIST…

AN ABSOLUTIST…

A RATIONALIST…

• Plato believed that the soul and the body are two separate entities. • He also believed that there existed a world beyond this one.• Dualism is the belief in two distinct principles/having two parts.

• Objective truths exists – universal, unchanging in all circumstances.• Things are either intrinsically right or wrong.

• The belief that knowledge is based on the use of REASON. • Reality has a logical structure that we can ‘work out’ using our reason.

CAN OUR SENSES BE TRUSTED?

Lesson 2 - Analysis of Plato’s Cave

• Complete the card sort.• Then go to the bottom of your Connell Notes

Page and summarise your learning from yesterday.

Plato’s Cave Play Doh

• In groups, create a Play Doh version of Plato’s Cave. You have 10 minutes.

• Label what each part of the story represents using one colour card

Philosophical Knowledge and Reasoning

• A priori – a statement which is knowable without any reference to any experience (before/prior to experience)

e.g. mathematics 5+7=12

• A posteriori – a state which is knowable only after experience

e.g. my front door is green

2+2= 4

2

2+2= 4

2A PRIORI

True knowledge cannot exists in a world which is in a state of flux –

The world is continually changing.

True knowledge can not be found here!It is found in the Realm(World) of the

Forms (more on this later!)

Today’s key questions…1. Who was Plato?

2. How did Plato view the world?

3. How does he demonstrate his theory through his allegory of the cave?

Lesson 3: Strengths and Weaknesses of Plato’s Allegory

• A priori – a statement which is knowable without any reference to any experience (before/prior to experience)

e.g. mathematics 5+7=12

• A posteriori – a state which is knowable only after experience

e.g. my front door is green

Using what you know so far,

• Create a table in your groups of the strengths and weaknesses of Plato’s allegory.

EXPLAIN do not just DESCRIBE!

TASK…Your first A level essay

Three pens, three different colours

An E grade answer will DESCRIBE the allegory

A C grade answer will EXPLAIN the allegory

An A grade answer will EXPLAIN why Plato used the allegory

The Realm of Appearances

The Realm of the Forms

Lesson 4: The World of the Forms

Which one is a dog? What would Plato say?

According to Plato’s Theory of Forms, every dog that we encounter in the world around us participates in the ‘ideal’ or perfect dog that exists in the world of the Forms

– a realm that humans can only access through their ability to reason.

The Realm of Appearances

The Realm of the Forms

‘And we say that the particulars are objects of sight but not of intelligence, while the forms are the objects of intelligence but not of sight.’

The Republic 507b

The true essence of

trees

Ahh … these are all poor

imitations – mere

shadows – of the true

essence of tree.

The divided line

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0l2iqfaEao

“...We customarily hypothesize a single form in connection with each of the many things to which we apply the same name. ... For example, there are many beds and tables. ... But there are only two forms of such furniture, one of the bed and one of the table.”

What is beauty?

So how do we recognise the Forms?

Socrates asks a slave boy questions about geometry. At first the boy gives the wrong answer; when this is pointed out to him, he is puzzled, but by asking questions Socrates is able to help him to reach

the true answer.

As the boy wasn't told the answer, he could only have

reached the truth by recollecting what he had

already known but forgotten.

This story can be found in Plato’s dialogue ‘Meno’.

The Realm of Appearances

The Realm of the Forms

Explain Plato’s theory of the Forms. What would you put in this essay?Plan it with your table.

Plato’s Aims

• To show the contrast between the Realm of the Forms and the Realm of Appearances

• To explain a philosophers search for knowledge

• To show the ignorance of humanity – the reliance on the senses and the feelings of hostilities towards philosophical ideas

Glossary

• Check through your glossary. What words do you still need to know?

• Check with everyone on your table that you all have the same/similar definitions.

• Are any missing?