The Theory of the Ideas and Plato’s Ontology - 2075 Words

I. THE THEORY OF THE IDEAS AND PLATO’S ONTOLOGY I. 1. The ontological dualism The theory of the Ideas is the base of Plato’s philosophy: the Ideas are not only the real objects ontologically speaking, but they are the authentically objects of knowledge epistemologically speaking. From the point of view of ethics and politics, they are the foundation of the right behaviour, and anthropologically speaking they are the base of Plato’s dualism and they even allow him demonstrate the immortality of the soul. Plato defends a clear ontological dualism in which there are two types of realities or worlds: the sensible world and the intelligible world or, as he calls it, the world of the Ideas. The Sensible World is the†¦show more content†¦The objects to which names (such as Socrates or Napoleon) refer are individuals; but we have certain problems about the objects to which other terms (nouns, abstract adjectives and abstract nouns) refer. We call them UNIVERSAL terms because they do refer to a plurality o f objects. For that reason Plato deduces there must be universal beings matching up those universal concepts of which there are plenty of individuals or examples; â€Å"The Green† would match the concept of green, â€Å"The Kindness† would match the concept of kindness, â€Å"The Beauty† would match the concept of beautiful, â€Å"The Truth† would match the concept of truth. Those beings which match universal concepts are called Ideas or Forms. c) The possibility of scientific knowledge: science strictly talking cannot deal with things which are continuously changing; the sensible world is continuously changing, so science cannot study it; it has to study an immutable world. The second premise shows a clear affinity with Parmenides of Elea and Heraclitus of Ephesus: what is given to our senses is a world ruled by continuous change, by mutation. As far as the first premise, we have to think about something permanent in those objects we want to have knowledge about if we want this knowledge to be true. Is there any knowledge that is always true and not just sometimes true? If there is, then we have to think there are thingsShow MoreRelatedIntroducing Plato s Theaetetus : A Dialogue About The Nature And / Or Limits Of Human Knowledge969 Words   |  4 PagesIntroducing Plato’s Theaetetus Plato’s Theaetetus is a dialogue centrally about the nature and/or limits of human knowledge (episteme). Episteme can be translated in many ways, such as knowledge-how, knowledge by acquaintance, knowledge that something is the case, etc. Plato is primarily interested in establishing that something exists, e.g. justice, and then understanding what that something is and why it is what it is. All of these claimants can be utilized for this purpose. 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