Seminar Answers

Plato’s Academy


1)What was it that had a profound influence on Plato’s and his work?

The execution of his teacher Socrates, accused of corrupting the youth of Athens.

2)What did Socrates’ death reveal to Plato?

The disparity between the law and justice, between ideals and reality.

3)What was the Apology?

This was an account of Plato’s plea to save Socrates.

4) Who was Academus and why is his name significant today?

A Greek hero. Plato named his school after him.

5) What was taught in Plato’s academy?


Philosophy, mathematics and gymnastics.


The Eternally True, Eternally Beautiful, and Eternally Good


1) What was Plato’s project? In your answer explain the following terms: eternal, immutable and “flows”.

To establish the difference between what is permanent or unchanging and that which changes or ‘flows’.

2) The Sophists thought that right and wrong was something that “flowed”, and Socrates disagreed. Explain.

Socrates thought that goodness could be attained by common sense or reason and it would be the same every where because human reason is the same everywhere.

3) What is the role of philosophers, and why are they sometimes unpopular?

The philosopher is not interested in things that change with fashion, they are concerned with establishing what is permanent.

The World of Ideas


1) Plato thought that everything tangible “flows”. Explain.

Everything that can be perceived by the senses erodes or changes. The thing that does not change or erode is the “mold” or “form” from which the tangible things have been made.


2)What is the “form” of a horse, and in what way is it eternal and immutable?

The “form” of a horse is the basic characteristics of a horse. These do not change; even though every individual horse is different and will eventually grow old and die, its form according to Plato does not change. The “forms” were abstract and spiritual patterns of the things we perceive on earth.

3)What are “crocophants” and “elediles”?

A “crocophant” is a cross between an elephant and a crocodile. This cannot exist in Nature according to Plato's reasoning simply because the “form” for such a creature does not exist. The form of an animal is its pattern, or blue print. (What Plato is describing is of course reminiscent of an organisms DNA code, which acts as the molecular assembly instructions for an organism. The DNA code of an organism could also be thought of as its essence. Of course Plato was not aware of the processes of genetic evolution and that such essences “flow”.)


4)What have gingerbread men got to do with all this?

Gingerbread men are cookies in the shape of little men! If you were to see hundreds of these cookies you would think about their origin. They are used by the author to illustrate the theory of the forms.


5)What makes the gingerbread man mold perfect and beautiful?

The mold does not break and contains none of the imperfections of the cookies it cuts.

6) What is an “idea horse” and where can you find it?

The “idea” horse is the same thing as the “form” horse.


True Knowledge

1) What do philosophers try to grasp?

The eternal and the immutable.

2) What is the relationship between everything we see in nature and a soap bubble?

A soap bubble, according to the author, doesn’t last and for a philosopher would not be worth studying.

3) Why can’t we have true knowledge of things we see? Explain using the examples of: rainbows, pinecones, the product of 3x8, and the sum of the angles in a circle.

According to the author we cannot have true knowledge from our senses because we all see the world somewhat differently. It is unlikely that we can agree on which color of the rainbow is prettiest. However, our reason will give us agreement; for example, we will all agree that the product of 3x8 is 32.

Our senses deceive us. The only way to have true knowledge of anything is through our reason. The author gives the example of the pine cone which Sophie might say she “thinks” is perfectly round. Her friend Joanna disagrees. What is truly round is the sum of the angles of a circle which is 360° and this comes from our reason. The perfect circle that Sophie and Joanna use to compare the pine cone with is the “ideal” which may not exist in Nature but which we can “visualize”.

Gaarder neatly sums this up in the following way: “…we can only have inexact conceptions of things we perceive with our senses. But we can have true knowledge of things we understand with our reason.”


An Immortal Soul

1) Plato believed that reality could be divided into two regions; what are they?

The world of the senses which we perceive imperfectly, using our five senses.This world is occupied by transient things. On the other hand the world of ideas, which we perceive using our reason contains the “forms” which are eternal.


2) How do we perceive the world of ideas?

Via our reason.

3) In what way are humans dual creatures?

We have a body that “flows” or changes, and a soul that is eternal.

4) What is the relationship between the immortal soul and the world of ideas?

The soul surveys the body. This reminding makes it nostalgic for the world of ideas.

5) Explain what happens to the soul’s knowledge of the world of ideas once it enters a body?

The soul resided in the world of ideas before it enters the body. At birth the soul forgets where it came from but it is reminded when it sees things in the material world.


6. Explain how we develop a yearning for the world of ideas. (Can you see the relationship with Hamlet here?)

When we see things in Nature we have a vague reminder of the perfect form or idea from which it emanates. This gives the soul a longing to return to the world of ideas from which it came and where it was among the perfect forms. “It longs to be free of the chains of the body”. The yearning is referred to as “eros”.

This is reminiscent of Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” where is refers to death as “when we have shuffled off this mortal coil”. “The mortal coil” is the flesh that is wrapped around the soul, and it is only in death that it is free.

7) Compared to philosophers what do most people think when they see a horse, gingerbread cookies or shadows?

Most people don’t look for the eternal forms behind things. They are happy to live in the material world.

For a summary of this lesson and its connections to previous lessons go to Ariadne's Thread

Next Lesson

The issue of "eros" or the longing for the soul to return to the world of ideas is relatively frequent in art and literature the focus of the next lesson:
Aesthetics


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Nature, Art & Language