Treating shadows as real objects

Using our senses we think that we see real things such birds, ships and houses. If somebody says that we do not see real birds, ships and houses, they will be treated as insane. However, Plato did just that but nobody called him an insane person. He said we live in an illusory world of the senses which contain imperfect copies of the Ideal Forms. To drive home his point, Plato said, “We are born with the concepts of these Ideal Forms in our minds.”

Because of this conditioning we recognise various things in the world. We know what a tree, dog or door is. Sometimes we may not know that they are imperfect copies of the concepts in our mind. It will take a long time for us to understand that everything in this world is a shadow of its Ideal Form in the World of Ideas.

Although Plato was a great philosopher, very little is known about his life. He was born into a noble family in Athens in about 427 BCE. He was named Aristocles but he soon acquired the nickname “Plato” meaning “broad.” At the beginning he was involved in the country’s politics, but he soon became a pupil of Socrates.

The Academy

When Socrates was condemned to death for misleading the youth in Athens, Plato became disillusioned with his life in the city. After leaving Athens he travelled widely, spending some time in Italy and Sicily. However, he returned to Athens in 385 BCE and founded his school of philosophy popularly knowns as the Academy. He headed the school until his death in 347 BCE.

If not for Plato much of what Socrates taught would have perished after his death. Plato took upon himself the Honerous task of recording his master’s views on philosophy. In the Apology Plato retells how Socrates defended himself at his trial. Later Plato used Socrates as a character in his Dialogues. One major problem with the Dialogues is that we find it difficult to differentiate between Socrates’s and Plato’s ideas.

Although Plato did not agree with Socrates on certain concepts, he used his master’s technique of exploring and explaining his original ideas. In the Republic, Plato set out his vision of the ideal city State and also explored certain aspects of virtue. Sometimes he questioned the nature of the cosmos and explored how the immutable and eternal could exist in a changing world.

Virtue

Socrates said, “Virtue is knowledge” and to act justly we must ask what justice means. Plato, on the other hand, said that we should first recognise the correct form of doing anything. Such a form should be true for all societies and all time. What he meant was that some kind of ideal form of things should exist. It is here that he comes up with his World of Ideas or World of Forms.

Plato said that human senses cannot perceive the World of Ideas. The world around us is modelled on it. To illustrate his point, Plato presented his well-known “Allegory of the Cave.” He wanted people to imagine a cave in which people have been imprisoned from birth. They remain tied facing the back wall in the darkness. There is a bright fire behind them casting shadows on the wall.

When people see only the shadow of things for a long time, they conclude that they see the real objects. Even if they are let loose and allowed to see real objects, they will go back to the cave to see the shadows. Therefore, Plato concludes that the material world we live in is like the images in the cave wall. As a result, we will never see real objects which are found only in the World of Ideas.

Plato had a tremendous influence on his best pupil Aristotle. However, Aristotle did not agree with his mentor’s World of Ideas. Plato’s philosophy had an impact on Islamic and Christian thinkers. In fact, St. Augustine combined Plato’s ideas with those of the Church.

Plato is also credited with laying the foundation for Rationalism which flourished in the 17th century. Plato is a force to reckon with because his ideas still pervade the firmament of Western philosophy.