Plato’s Philosophy: Understanding Reality and Knowledge
1. Plato’s Life and Work
Descended from an aristocratic family, Plato was born in Athens in 427 BC. His real name was Aristocles, but he was known as Plato (possibly due to the width of his shoulders). He began his philosophical journey under the Heraclitean Cratylus. However, the defining moment of his life and writing style (often in dialogue form) was his encounter with Socrates at the age of 20. After the death of his master, he left Athens for Megara and then, in 388 BC, traveled to southern Italy. There, he met the Pythagorean Archytas in Taranto, an encounter that significantly influenced Plato’s doctrines. He always aimed to shape social and political reality. Plato bought land in the gardens where the sanctuary of the hero Akademos stood, and the school he founded there took the name “Academy.” The Academy of Athens can be considered the first European university, as it taught not only philosophy but also astronomy, physical sciences, mathematics, harmony, botany, and more. The Academy lasted until 529 AD when Emperor Justinian ordered its closure.
Plato is the only ancient author whose works (mostly dialogues) have survived almost entirely. They are usually classified as follows:
- Youth or Socratic Writings: Apology of Socrates (not in dialogue form), Crito, Euthyphro, Laches, Ion, Protagoras, Charmides, Lysis, Thrasymachus (actually the first book of the Republic).
- Writings of Transition: Gorgias, Meno, Euthydemus, Cratylus, Menexenus.
- Writings of Maturity: Symposium, Phaedo, Republic, Phaedrus, Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus, Timaeus, Critias, Laws, and Epinomis.
Thirteen letters are also attributed to him, of which the VII and VIII provide valuable insights into his life and doctrine.
2. Reality: The World of Ideas and Scientific Knowledge
In his view of reality, Plato distinguishes between two worlds: the world of Ideas, which is truly real, and the sensible world, composed of things perceived by our senses, which are copies of Ideas. Ideas are the true reality, possessing characteristics similar to Parmenides’ Being: eternal (always existing), unchanging (immutable), and intangible (non-material). They are the models from which the Demiurge constructs the sensible world, meaning that sensible objects imitate Ideas.
These two worlds are composed of entities with different characteristics: while Ideas are unique, eternal, immutable, and intangible, sensible things are multiple, perishable, changeable, and material. This explains the infinite variety of individuals in the sensible world. We recognize them as such because they are copies, imitations of the Idea of a person, a human being, which is unique and unchanging. The Idea gives things their being, essence, and the possibility of knowing them.
Furthermore, the world of Ideas has a hierarchy: at its lowest level are mathematical Ideas, followed by Ideas of beauty and justice, culminating in the Idea of the Good. Plato compares the Idea of the Good to the sun, which gives life to material things in the sensible world. It is the ultimate principle of reality and the basis of knowledge.
Platonic Cosmology
The sensible world is a created world, unlike the eternal world of Ideas. To explain its origin, Plato uses three elements:
- The world of Ideas: Forms or Ideas serve as the model for the sensible world.
- Space or matter (Chora): Initially, Chora is formless and in chaotic motion until it receives form from Ideas.
- The Demiurge: A divine architect and craftsman who, using Ideas as models, creates the sensible world by introducing forms into Chora, resulting in imperfect copies of Ideas. The Demiurge is divine, eternal, and explains the motion and order of the cosmos, similar to Anaxagoras’ Nous.
3. Knowledge as Recollection
To explain the soul’s ascent to the Ideas, we must start with the concept of the soul as an immortal entity originating from the world of Ideas. The idea of an immortal soul is ancient, present in early civilizations and Greek religion through the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. This concept helped Plato explain how our knowledge works. To know, according to Plato, is to remember. All knowledge is already within our soul, and knowing is merely its actualization. Plato uses the Theory of Reminiscence to explain our a priori knowledge:
- The soul is immortal.
- It inhabits the world of Ideas.
- At some point, it is required to join a body. When the soul unites with a body, it forgets what it saw in the world of Ideas, leaving only a vague memory.
According to Plato, the body is the prison of the soul, and the soul is imperfect to the point that the body can corrupt it. This, along with the soul’s origin in the world of Ideas, explains why we desire knowledge. The answer is a true love for the Ideas themselves, a longing for the soul to return to its true home. This idea is explained in the dialogue Phaedo through the famous myth of the winged chariot.
In this myth, Plato identifies the soul with a chariot drawn by two horses and led by a charioteer. One horse is good, beautiful, and white, while the other is bad, ugly, and black. The chariot travels through celestial regions until the black horse rebels, unbalancing the chariot and causing it to fall from the heavenly world to the sensible world, becoming imprisoned in a body. Thereafter, the desire is to dominate and purify the black horse to return to the celestial mansion.
Plato divides the soul (the conscious mental apparatus) into three parts with three functions:
- Reason (identified with the charioteer)
- Will (identified with the white horse)
- Passions or Appetites (identified with the black horse)
A passion is any condition that the soul experiences. This approach forms the basis of Platonic ethics, which involves controlling the black horse.