Contribution of Platos Republic on the Good - Essay Example

Contribution of Plato’s Republic on "the Good" “The form of good-in-itself” is the idea derived from Plato’s Republic making him to be recognized as a philosopher. However Plato has not said much about the idea as seen in this material. The relationship between the cave, the divided line and the sun; dramatic images that were used by Plato in coming up with the idea of form of good in itself are discussed in essence by this paper. The relationship between the cave, the divided line and the sun should be considered using allegory application and applied as a whole1. Thesis statement: Contribution of Plato about the form of good in itself might be seen to be small in quantity but big in quality. Divided line In the cave, divided line is said to be parallel to ascent which is described in the cave parable implying that for all terms in epistemological promotion there exist corresponding different objects or object. Looking at the analogy of divided line, it is worth noting that forms are different from things which are perceptible. Also, accessing epistemic things is not related in any way to intelligent forms. The cave In the cave case, is not indicated whether it is parallel or corresponding to the divided line. However, four categories of objects are given in the cave such as2: I. Echoes and shadows II. Artifacts which cast the shadows and are puppetlike III. The sun IV. The animals and people who stand for artifacts. The stages in ascent of the cave The stages in the ascent of the cave are given as prisoners being chained, prisoners in the cave who are not chained, those who use sun’s light to view things which are perceptible and those who see the sun and understand the power of the sun. States of mind which are four in number are distinguished as for four unique stages using the ascent from the cave as3: A. eikasia – chained prisoners who are in the cave -- echoes and shadows; B. pistis -- prisoners who remain in the cave and are not chained -- light of fire’s artifacts; C. dianoia -- escapists from the cave – things which are perceptible and seen by sun’s light; D. noêsis or epistêmê – those who not only see the sun but also understand the power of the sun – the sun itself Chained prisoners The prisoners are grouped by four. To begin with the chained prisoners, it is realized that they only heard echoes and saw shadows and made such echoes and shadows to be what is true and real. Unchained prisoners The unchained prisoners who are not able to be up the steep which was considered to be steep saw artifacts and fire that casted shadows on walls4. Such prisoners are said to see more clearly and correctly since they were seeing what is closer to real or more real. However, before prisoners grew accustomed to what they saw, they are forced to think the shadows are true as compared with what they were then able to see. Prisoners in the cave The prisoners, who managed to be in the cave via the rough steep wall, are said to be in day light and they are dazzled at the beginning. After the dazzling they saw shadows, reflections and perceptible things in that order5. Afterwards, they saw the sky, the moon and the stars. Prisoners who are out of the cave The prisoners who managed to be out of the cave are said to have seen the real sun or the sun as it is. After seeing the sun itself, they realized that the sun is responsible for the change of years and seasons. Such prisoners are said to have overseen everything in topos of visibility. This group of people is said to have seen all the visible; they have attained the final goal of visibility. The sun is responsible for the provision of light which is used in seeing things. This sun is viewed to be analogous to good6. The term good refers to intelligible realm of what is known and intelligence. It is clear that the sun represents the things seen and sight in visible realm. It is evidently seen that the sun gives the eyes the power to see and makes visible objects to be seen. It is therefore the good which makes people to access knowledge and make the known things to be true. As one is still in intelligible realm, for knowledge and truth to be achieved, the good is responsible. Form of good is therefore regarded as source of light and progenitor of knowledge and truth in visible realm of intelligible realm. This is actually sun simile’s clear echo. It is claimed that one must have good in order to conduct public business or individual affairs7. Through this, it is visible that Plato works the talk by showing his interest in educational and ethical ramifications. I do agree with Plato’s analogy to some extent but it is real that the normal way of making conclusion is reversed from his parable. I concur with him as seen below: First, since the prison cell stands for the region which the sight can access and sun’s light is equated to fire light, it is true that sight of things on earth’s surface and upward journey are like the ascent of the mind as seen in intelligible realm8. It is therefore clear that it is easy to see good in the realm of knowledge. Such easy view of good will facilitate the doing of fine and the right in everyday activities. Second, sun which represents good is responsible for the provision of light as seen in the cave parable, as well as the intelligible realm of good that is actually the provider of knowledge and truth. Simile for the sun is taken to be the cave image9. Lastly, judging from the parable, what can be access by seeing is represented by prison dwelling. Sun’s light is likened to fire in the cave meaning that illumination of visible things is through the power of the sun. I concur with Plato that the intelligible realm of the sight of things on the earth and upward journey refer to the ascent of mind. The ascent considers the use of divided line; lines’ intelligible section. Good is regarded as being responsible for all things which are fine and right. Every fine and right thing is the responsibility of form of good. On the other hand, I do not agree with Plato regarding the idea that ultimate project of knowledge quest is made from forms. This disagreement exists due to the following reasons: To begin with, the Plato’s parable is not clear since the four stages in the cave’s ascent are not clearly indicated. The terms in epistemology do not have different objects or different categories as shown by the parable of the cave. Second, the types of objects which are said to be four in number are not well presented since perceptible things and reflections are also mentioned, thus creating confusion. It is true that the night sky, the stars, the moon and sun’s reflection are mentioned. Third, having checked the relationship between pistis and eikasia and using the analogy of divided line, it is clear that they vary. Looking at Eikasia, originals and likeness should not be mistaken as it is seen in the acts of prisoners who were chained. Conclusions on perceptible or originals should be arrived at after using likeness in real life situations. It is quite confusing for one to mistake forms for visible forms especially when one is a geometer. The conclusions seen deal with forms but such conclusions cannot be applied to hypotheses since they are defective. Fourth, the object of noêsis is suggested to be the form of good. Looking at the divided line, all forms are regarded as noêsis’ objects10. Assuming that good is meant to refer to all forms in the cave parable, it still shows that forms cannot be seen as the only noêsis’ objects as seen by the divided line. It is true that forms and other perceptible things or objects of a certain type of ontology can be said to have varied epistemic means. Indeed, such different epistemic means will be treated differently using subjections of the line which are different11. Fifth, once one has grasped all the forms, it becomes extremely difficult to identify each image and recognize the real image or the image itself12. The prisoners have pistis or doxa alone whereas philosophers own gnosis which creates nothing but confusion. Sixth, the parable of the cave is not related to the divided line in a parallel manner since each term in the proportion of epistemology has its unique objects in the parable of the cave. Finally, telling whether seeing things from up on earth’s surface during upward journey as ascent of the mind to the realm of intelligibility; this is questionable but it is only God who can tell whether such a statement is true13. Having analyzed this paper, it is clear that Plato’s idea on the form of good itself is a small contribution in philosophy and yet the recognition from the same is worth discussion. In my opinion, I can state that Plato came up with an idea which is not expected from an ordinary brain. Plato’s work is reversed but yet making sense. Looking at the four groups of prisoners - unchained prisoners, chained prisoners, prisoners in the cave and prisoners out of the cave - it is expected that unchained prisoners could have seen the sun itself as compared to prisoners out of the cave. Moreover, when considering the unchained prisoners, it becomes awkward for prisoners to think shadows are true things. It is normal for one to think the real thing is a shadow but not the vice versa. Applying such a parable in normal life is hectic but Plato did it successfully. As seen from my thesis statement, I presume to claim correctly that the work of Plato might be small in quantity but huge in quality as far as philosophy is concerned. Bibliography Bruell, Chris. On the Socratic Education: An Introduction to the Shorter Platonic Dialogues. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999. Gillespie, Mathews. The Use of Eidos and Idea in Hippocrates: Classical Quarterly. Varia Socratica: Oxford, 1911. Grube, Mark. Plato: Five Dialogues. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2002. Read More