Philosophy of Plato Essay

?By studying Platos visual modalitys on the someone, propereousnesss, and stochastic variables, iodin can understand his outlooks on the individual and inbred theatrical role, or telos. Plato had a teleological worldview, so he believed e actuallything in nature had an end, or purpose. In his famous simile of the Cave, along with the Sun and Line analogies, Plato out caudexs the spiritual and happy journeying of a hu small-arm from ignorance into intimatelyness and knowledge, which symbolizes a human compass his or her purpose.This essay will evaluate Platos teleological view regarding human being by analyzing his Allegory of the Cave with relative to his views of the tri berthite soul, virtues, and tropes in addition, I will determine if Platos views of virtue and happiness atomic number 18 feasible or not. Plato had an interesting view on the soul and its relation to the body. He believed that the soul had three parts the appetitive, spirited, and rational. In his f amous doing the Republic, Plato argued that the soul must be tripartite because the same thing cannot at the same time with the same part of itself act in inappropriate ways active the same (Republic, IV, 1).This argument makes sense, for if the soul was sound unmatchable part, it would contradict itself when it desires a thing at angiotensin-converting enzyme time hardly does not desire it at an other(a) time. Plato worryd the soul to virtue by comparing the tripartite soul to the ideal city-state. He stress that, in enunciate for ones soul to remain good and orderly, its parts must not interfere with one another and not do the bend of others (Republic IV, 5). This is what Plato calls furtherice, and it relates to an individual in one class not doing the line of another in another class.Accordingly, wisdom is the virtue of the rational part of the soul, relating to teachers, and courage is the virtue of the spirited part, correlating with soldiers. Finally, moderation occurs when the parts of the soul work together cooperatively, making the soul matching and complete, similar to a unified and flourishing city-state. Plato claimed that the natural purpose of humans is to reason easily, and in order to fulfill this, humans must have these virtues of their soul. Plato, like many other ancient philosophers, thought of virtue as excellence.In the Republic, Plato regarded the virtues of justice, moderation, courage, and wisdom as the most important virtues, which is clear since he included them in his musical score of the soul. For our souls to reach their purpose, which is crowning(prenominal)ly happiness, we must understand and live out these virtues in our lives. For example, according to Plato, one can master the virtue of justice by per diversitying ones work, or function, well, without interfering with someone elses business. Also, in book IV of the Republic, Socrates attempts to convince Glaucon and Adeimantus that living the double-dyed(a) bearing is the best, happiest life.Plato, through Socrates, argued, virtue is the health and beauty and well-being of the soul (Republic IV, 6). Therefore, for humans to reach our end and find happiness, we must live a guiltless life. Plato had a very unique view on dos. He believed forms, as metaphysical entities, exist in a separate universe from the fabric world and that this universe of forms is absolutely hone. Things in the material world that relate to forms argon independent of the forms themselves. For example, a knife is sharp, nevertheless Plato believed it was separate from the form of sharpness.Plato believed virtues were forms, and notably that the form of the good is the most important thing to chance upon about (Republic, VI, 1). Like the virtues, the most important forms include justice, moderation, and courage, exactly the highest form of all is the form of the good. Plato believed that understanding these forms, especially the form of the good, is crucial to ones purpose and happiness. Plato said, Every soul pursues the good and does whatever it does for its involvement (Republic, VI, 2).Platos teleological view is shown here the souls ultimate purpose is to find the good (and happiness), and if it does this, it will understand everything else. This idea is make headway explained in the Allegory of the Cave, which I will discuss in the contiguous paragraph. The Allegory of the Cave describes a person on an bright journey from ignorance to reason. Most humans be like the prisoners in the cave they are ignorant and fail to learn new things because they are comfortable with what they already know, despite the lack of reason.Plato said that humans must free themselves from their preceding(prenominal) thoughts and see that these thoughts lacked reason, just like the prisoner who saw that the shadows were actually produced from objects and were not real themselves. Once outside the cave, humans can learn about virtues and forms, sim ilar to the prisoner who sees natural objects and not human-made copies of them. Ultimately, at the end of their intellectual journey, humans will see that every form is derived from the form of the good, which is denoted by the sun in the story.Platos sun analogy is essentially indoors the Allegory of the Cave. The sun provides light, allowing us to see things for what they truly are similarly, the form of the good allows us to understand other forms and therefore gives us knowledge. His line analogy is important in linking the visible and intelligible realms as well as metaphysics and epistemology. The lowest part of the visible realm includes images and pictures and is linked with imagination. The succeeding(a) part includes the material objects themselves and compares to belief.Entering the intelligible realm, there are amount and shapes, associated with thought. Finally, the highest area involves forms and is linked, accordingly, with knowledge and understanding. In the thro ne of the highest area sits the form of the good, which is discern to understanding everything else. Plato believed that virtuous peck would do virtuous things. Initially, this seems to make perfect sense a just person will do just things and an unjust person will do unjust things. Plato believed people are motivated by desire when making decisions, whether we choose the morally right or wrong option.He does not take into account, however, that a virtuous person might have to perform some immoral acts in order to produce a virtuous end. If a good man kills a murderer because he is a murderer, this is clearly an immoral act, tho his intention is good and it is virtuous that he saved future victims of the murderer. The accomplish is important in developing virtue as seen by others, simply it does not necessarily improve ones virtue because unless the individual knows if he or she is actually being virtuous or not.Therefore, I believe Platos account of virtue is ultimately inadeq uate. Regarding Platos view on forms and the Allegory of the Cave, is it every individuals purpose to find the good? Certainly everyone would desire to understand the form of the good, but Plato seems to reserve this for philosopher-kings, the wisest people destined to rule over others. This is a study problem in Platos school of thought, as he said everyone desires the good, but since only a few seem to have the intellectual potential to reach it, only these few should pursue it in a just city-state.It is, therefore, the job of these philosopher-kings to teach about the good, but as shown in the Allegory of the Cave, people who are not enlightened have a very difficult time understanding it and may reject it altogether. Since Plato believed that understanding the form of the good leads to happiness, he must have believed that only those with the intellectual cleverness to understand it are truly able to be happy. I phone this is a major hole in Platos view of happiness, becaus e people can definitely be happy without this knowledge of the good.Platos philosophy outlines a very ordered society and soul. His strong belief that everything in nature has a purpose appears in all his philosophy. His account of the soul is relatively confused due to his tripartite view, and his view of forms is also complex and unlikely, as Aristotle and other philosophers later rejected it. As shown in the previous paragraphs, his accounts of virtue and happiness are also insufficient. Despite this, Plato was an incredibly powerful and important philosopher, and he is still effective in describing the individual and natural purpose through his philosophic beliefs.