Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Weaknesses of Plato's
Idea of Forms
- Plato argues that things such as art and
poetry aren't conveyers of knowledge because
they imitate things
- BUT then how strong is argument when it is based on an ANALOGY?
- He uses things from our world to express
the World of Forms - is that taking away from
what he is saying?
- How can he say that things in our world are
copies and then use them in an analogy to
present things that are Forms?
- Confusing his point
- Because things work in a reality, does that
mean reality is like an analogy?
- What link, precisely is there
between a Form of Beauty and
beautiful things ?
- Plato needs to spell
put points more clearly
- Danger in that Plato so undermines
this world that he actually devalues any
experiences we have here and now
- Does our experience of daily life and things such as relationships, learning and
making progress begin to seem worthless?
- Is sense experience totally devoid of any worth?
- Makes it seem like our lives have no
purpose, everything we experience is not
real, or is a copy
- The Third Man argument - suppose a man is
to copy the form of a man
- Origin of the Form of the Man is a copy of the
previous Form of the man
- a copy of a Form could turn out to be an infinite
series that never stopped
- This would render the Theory of Forms
meaningless as a way of explaining the
ultimate origin of concepts such as Good,
truth and justice.
- Forms could just be ideas preserved in people's minds
- Ideas of justice and beauty may not be
Forms, but ideas in people's minds that they
pass on to others, such as friends and
children
- If people die without passing on their idea then
the idea dies out
- Are there Forms of everything? bus tickets,
deodorant, TV's etc
- Although not interested in these objects, his idea spreads
to these objects also
- The proof of any other world other than the world of
appearance is yet to be proved, with no evidence, how can
we believe this?
- Can't think something into existence!