Final Exam Questions Plato’s Divided Line works to explain how a person separates knowing from being, otherwise known as the intelligible and visible worlds. He does this by separating the ‘steps’ a person takes in achieving ultimate knowledge into four sets. Images, Objects, Concepts, and Forms in the form of being, with Eikasra, Pistas, Dianoia, and Noesis being their counterparts in the form of knowing. He calls this The Divided Line which is illuminated by The Good. Every man begins the divided line at its lowest level (Images/Eikasra) and through time, they may develop the ability to ascend The Divided Line all of the way to the highest form of knowledge. (Forms/Noesis) Plato goes through the progression of The Divided Line in The Myth
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(The sun’s position high in the sky, being able to see everything in this sense, the Suns ability to shed light on the world, and in turn, objects, and The suns ability to provide nourishment and growth being the others.) Socrates is saying that The Good is of itself, the object of knowledge, and that without The Good knowledge in itself would cease to exist, as well as the distinctions between forms in the visible …show more content…
They are strapped down and can see only one side of the cave’s wall, while a fire with passing objects is behind them on the opposite wall, casting the shadows of said objects against the cave’s wall visible to the prisoners. This is the only reality these prisoners have ever known. Plato then ponders a situation where one of the prisoners is freed, and is forced to ascend The Divided Line all the way to its completion, Noesis. At the beginning of the story, the prisoner quickly grasps the distinction between Images (the shadows he has been seeing) and Objects. (The actual objects casting said shadows) At this point, the prisoner has obtained the Image-Object Distinction and has the tools necessary to achieve understanding of
(The sun’s position high in the sky, being able to see everything in this sense, the Suns ability to shed light on the world, and in turn, objects, and The suns ability to provide nourishment and growth being the others.) Socrates is saying that The Good is of itself, the object of knowledge, and that without The Good knowledge in itself would cease to exist, as well as the distinctions between forms in the visible …show more content…
They are strapped down and can see only one side of the cave’s wall, while a fire with passing objects is behind them on the opposite wall, casting the shadows of said objects against the cave’s wall visible to the prisoners. This is the only reality these prisoners have ever known. Plato then ponders a situation where one of the prisoners is freed, and is forced to ascend The Divided Line all the way to its completion, Noesis. At the beginning of the story, the prisoner quickly grasps the distinction between Images (the shadows he has been seeing) and Objects. (The actual objects casting said shadows) At this point, the prisoner has obtained the Image-Object Distinction and has the tools necessary to achieve understanding of