Plato’s Philosophy: Ethics, Politics, and the Theory of Ideas
Understanding Plato’s Philosophy
Plato’s philosophy is best understood as:
- A reaction to the philosophical and epistemological doctrines of the Sophists.
- A thought that originates from research and discontent with the political situation of his time. Recall the death sentence Athenian democracy imposed on Plato’s teacher, Socrates.
The fundamental concern of Plato is humanity (morality and ethics) and the state (politics), and the pursuit of happiness and knowledge in both the private (ethics) and public (political) spheres. We can say that Plato subordinates the happiness of the individual to the state. This is because a human being can only attain happiness within a human community (society-state) and requires the cooperation of its members to evolve.
Only in a just and harmonious state will just and happy individuals be formed.
For the creation of that ideal state, Plato considered what kind of leaders would bear this responsibility and determined that only philosophers could, because they alone know the truth. At this point, it is important to highlight the importance Plato gave to education, as it would be the means by which future leaders would become familiar with the truth. Thus, the purpose of Platonic education is to bring students to the truth about justice, beauty, good, etc., and also to teach them how to govern themselves, and then to govern the city.
The Theory of Ideas
The existence of truth (as opposed to the theories of the Sophists) and the possibility of attaining knowledge depends on realities that, unlike sensible things, are eternal and immutable. Plato gives these realities the name of Ideas.
Therefore, education should be based on the approach of future rulers to the Ideas. Thus, Plato’s philosophy, by positing the existence of different degrees of reality, also addresses knowledge, as it is the way to approach each level of reality:
- A theory of knowledge or epistemology (which differentiates between opinion and knowledge).
- A theory of reality or ontology (which differentiates between the sensible and intelligible).
Both are based on the theory of Ideas, to be explained by the two Platonic dualisms and the metaphor of the line:
Sensible World and Intelligible World (Ontological Dualism)
The theory of Ideas is an ontological dualism:
- On one hand, we have the higher level of reality, or the intelligible world of Ideas. These are eternal realities, perfect, immutable, immaterial, innate, and everlasting, and only intelligence can access them. Ideas have a hierarchy, based on their degree of reality (the Idea of Good, the sun of the myth of the cave, is the supreme idea and it involves all the others).
- Moreover, the level of sensible reality, the world our senses perceive. This is a world of appearances, an imperfect reality (colored by chaotic matter), apparent and subject to change. Therefore, it has less reality than ideas.
Although there is a relationship between these two levels of reality: imitation or copying. That is, the sensible world imitates or copies ideas (how do the ideas of the Supreme Good Idea).
Knowledge and Opinion (Epistemological Dualism)
- The opinion or doxa. Plato believes that from the changing forms of the sensible world, we can never gain knowledge in the strict sense, but mere opinion.
- Scientific knowledge or episteme. To attain knowledge of what is truly real, we must turn our soul toward the realm of the conceptual and abstract, to the contemplation of eternal ideas, straying from the deceptive senses and the sensible world.