1. PLATO Michael Ryan Clark

2. BACKGROUND  (428-347 BC)  Was 29 years old when Socrates was put to death He had been a pupil of his Inspired Plato to better study the conflicts in how society is and how the true and ideal society should be.  First deed as a philosopher was to publish Socrates’ Apology  He set up his own school of learning called the Academy

3. THE ETERNALLY TRUE, BEAUTIFUL, AND GOOD  Plato was concerned with the relationship between what was eternal and undeniable and what “flows”. Similar to Socrates and the Sophists  Interested in this relationship as it relates to both nature and in morals/society. Goal was essentially to grasp a reality which encompassed both.  Wanted to draw people’s attention to what is eternally true, beautiful, and good.

4. A WORLD OF IDEAS  Plato believed that everything in the natural world flowed.  Believed that although everything is made of material that is subject to erosion. But also thought that everything was made from a timeless mold that is eternal and undeniable.  His focus, unlike Democritus, was not on the changing elements, but the original and unchanging pattern that first existed.  He came to the conclusion that there must be a reality behind the material world, the world of ideas, which had original patterns that existed from the beginning.

5. EXAMPLE  Everyone loves Legos  Imagine you build a Lego building and take it down and put it back in the box.  The building cant rebuild itself, you have to do it.  You can do this using an original sketch implanted in your mind that was the model and remains both undeniable and eternal.

6. TRUE KNOWLEDGE  Plato strongly believed that we can not always trust the evidence of our senses.  Everything in the natural world around us in constantly flowing and changing.  His point was that we can never have true knowledge of anything that is constantly in a state of change.

7. EXAMPLE  Mr. Dunn asks the class which color of the rainbow is prettiest.  Joe says pink, Kevin says purple, Jad says violet, and so on. Many different answers.  He then asks what 8x3 is.  All the answers are the same, 24 (hopefully).  Reason is now being used instead of feeling, or the use of senses, a strong belief of Plato.  We can have inexact conceptions of things sought with our senses, true knowledge and understanding comes through reason.

8. TWO REGIONS  Plato believed mainly that reality is divided into two regions World of Senses- we can have approximate knowledge and incomplete conclusions through the use of our five senses. World of Ideas- true knowledge is gained using reason, and the studying of the original and eternal forms, not of changing ideas.

9. THE PHILOSOPHIC STATE  Plato’s idea of the ideal state is one governed by philosophers.  Gives an example using the human body. Body is composed of three parts, head (reason), chest (will), and abdomen (appetite). When these parts work together, a harmonious being is formed.  The ideal state would include officials who each know their overall place.  His political philosophy is characterized by rationalism, and the idea that a good state depends on its being governed with reason.

10. WORKS CITED  Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World: a Novel about the History of Philosophy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994. Print.  http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/plat.htm