In order to gain a better understanding of how truth is discovered rather than manufactured, one must examine the philosophy of Plato. A quintessential concept in Plato’s philosophy is the idea of being versus Being. In Plato’s Republic, the philosopher claims that there are two different realms within reality: the visible world of being, and the intelligible world of Being. In the world of Being, there exists what Plato calls the Forms. The Forms are Plato’s First Principle; he claims that the Forms are perfect, eternal, and non-changing objects in the intelligible realm, and these are the essences of the physical world; these are how things ought to be (INCLUDE CITATIONS). Examples of the Forms include the concepts of beauty, justice, and
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He describes the pursuit of Truth through the Allegory of the Cave. In this allegory, there exist a few prisoners who are shackled to the wall within a cave of darkness. The only sources of light within the cave is a fire in the middle, and the light that peers through the entrance, which is a distance away from the fettered individuals. Trapped within the dark confines of the cave, the prisoners can only see their shadows on the wall as a result of the fire in front of them. Therefore, their knowledge of reality is limited only to what they see through their five senses; they assume that what they see is true. For example, they assume that the names they know and use to describe things within the cave are true descriptions of what they see (515b). They also assume that the sounds they hear are derived from the beings within the cave (515b). The prisoners automatically subscribe to the reality they experience and do not analyze whether their observations are true. The philosopher makes the claim that the prisoners of the cave are akin to humans, for these prisoners “have (never) seen anything of themselves and one another besides the shadows that the fire casts on the wall of the cave in front of them” (515a). The prisoners’ observations and assumptions of reality represent how human beings tend to subscribe to blind faith; they assume that what they …show more content…
Unlike his mentor Plato, Aristotle believed that the essence of all beings is Substance. Substance is the first principle of all things, according to Aristotle (VII, 1). The philosopher defines substance as that which cannot be predicated, but that “of which all else is predicated” (VII, 3). Everything else, such as matter, qualities of the matter, and etc., proceed substance. And in order to come to these conclusions about the essence of the world, Aristotle uses the methods of scientific inquiry, experimentation, and deductive reasoning. Whereas Plato believed that one should aim to understand the physical and intelligible worlds through a priori contemplation, Aristotle believed that one must experience the world and use the deductive method in order to understand the two
He describes the pursuit of Truth through the Allegory of the Cave. In this allegory, there exist a few prisoners who are shackled to the wall within a cave of darkness. The only sources of light within the cave is a fire in the middle, and the light that peers through the entrance, which is a distance away from the fettered individuals. Trapped within the dark confines of the cave, the prisoners can only see their shadows on the wall as a result of the fire in front of them. Therefore, their knowledge of reality is limited only to what they see through their five senses; they assume that what they see is true. For example, they assume that the names they know and use to describe things within the cave are true descriptions of what they see (515b). They also assume that the sounds they hear are derived from the beings within the cave (515b). The prisoners automatically subscribe to the reality they experience and do not analyze whether their observations are true. The philosopher makes the claim that the prisoners of the cave are akin to humans, for these prisoners “have (never) seen anything of themselves and one another besides the shadows that the fire casts on the wall of the cave in front of them” (515a). The prisoners’ observations and assumptions of reality represent how human beings tend to subscribe to blind faith; they assume that what they …show more content…
Unlike his mentor Plato, Aristotle believed that the essence of all beings is Substance. Substance is the first principle of all things, according to Aristotle (VII, 1). The philosopher defines substance as that which cannot be predicated, but that “of which all else is predicated” (VII, 3). Everything else, such as matter, qualities of the matter, and etc., proceed substance. And in order to come to these conclusions about the essence of the world, Aristotle uses the methods of scientific inquiry, experimentation, and deductive reasoning. Whereas Plato believed that one should aim to understand the physical and intelligible worlds through a priori contemplation, Aristotle believed that one must experience the world and use the deductive method in order to understand the two