... their theories. Plato claims that objects are only crude representations of their form. In Lindberg's Beginnings, Plato had drastically diminished the reality of the material world observed by the senses. Reality in its perfect fullness, Plato argued, is found only in the eternal forms, which are dependent on nothing ... forms could have been created depending on the creator's wishes. This way, the form of an object exists within the object itself in the material world, and viewed through the senses. According to Aristotle, it is unnecessary to disengage from reality in order to view th...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of the things that we have to distinguish in Plato's ideas is the distinction between the Forms and the material world. The Forms are the ideal or "perfect equivalent" of everything that exists. The material world is the world in which we live which consists of everything being reasonable approximations of an ideal Form. ... Plato believed that for every single thing there is in the material world, there is a perfect form of it in an ideal world or "realm." One of Plato's examples of this is his idea of beauty. ... He explains that true beauty cannot exist in the material world because ...

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... but its idea's are eternal and immutable. These ideas are the patterns on which everything in the material world is built on. For example in the material world for example there is a butterfly. That butterfly dies in the material world, but in the world of ideas the idea of butterfly's remains; it is eternal, and ... eternal we can have true knowledge about it. Jacob: How do humans fit into this? Plato: Humans have a body, which flows with the rest of the material world, and will eventually die. But humans also have a soul, which is separate from the body. Our souls are immortal, this sou...

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... What all these philosophers have in common is that they believe in an intellectual and spiritual development of the human being that is completely detached from the material aspect of life. First I will establish the views of each of the first three philosophers mentioned and compare them. In particular with Marx and Maslow ... of happiness which I consider to be good is that there has to be a certain amount of prerequisites met, more specifically, there has to be certain material needs met which will ultimately allow for the true realization of the individual. For example when a person i...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... quest for knowledge lies the "Theory of Forms," which states that there is a "higher" form for everything that exists in the world. Each material thing is simply a representation of the real thing which is the form. The majority of people are unable to see the forms, only the ... ideal forms is not to be thought of as a separate reality or state of mind, but rather a blueprint by which objects in the material world are created. These various assertions are best characterized by Plato's allegorical "Cave" described in The Republic. The slaves working deep underground never dare ... to be...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... human experience is absurd. Forms are not abstractions on a proverbial pedestal but mere duplicates of things witnessed in ordinary daily life. I say the Forms are not inherent to their representative material objects, but created separately and placed apart from the objects themselves. Thus, Plato's idea that the Forms are perfect and intangible to subjective human experience, is meaningless, for all standards ... of Good changes with time and individual perceptions and cannot (as Plato felt) exist forever as a concrete standard. In general, I agree with Plato's notion that the immater...

• Word Count: 494
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... copy or reproduction of something much more essential. And so, from the beginning, the distinction and separation of the substances of our minds from material or bodily substances has seen the former prioritized over the latter, setting the two in a strictly hierarchical relationship. Perhaps such hierarchy leads to everything ... thing that doubts, and these facts cannot be disputed." So Descartes' conscious existence allowed for him to exist in an immaterial realm, totally separate from material things, like the body; in the end, he does not need his body for his existence. On the oth...

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• Grade Level: High School

... know the mind is not able to exist without a body; however, it is very possible for the body to exist without a mind. Plato splits up existence into two realms: the material area and the transcendent area of forms. Humans have access to the realm of forms through the mind, through reason, given Plato's theory of the subdivisions of the human soul ... . This gives them admission to a fixed world, impenetrable to the pains and changes of the material world. By detaching ourselves from the material world and our bodies and developing our ability to concern ourselves with the forms, we find ...

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... of the Cave. Plato's theory of forms, known also as his theory of ideas, states that there is another world that exists separate to the material world that we live in, called the "eternal world of forms". Plato's theory proposed that objects in the physical world merely resemble perfect forms in the ... no means certain. This sounds as though he is second guessing himself and that he admits that there is some knowledge to be gained from the material world. I believe that knowledge is gained through our senses and that natural science plays a key role in the learning and understanding th...

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... deficient" and found that their knowledge surpassed their hierarchal counterparts in society. Socrates tries to explain in his apology that reputation should not be based on material things or the status of oneself, but instead, on the moral righteousness of the individual. In doing so, Socrates earned a poor reputation for himself ... wisdom or truth, or the best possible state of your soul?" Socrates argues that the soul is the most important essence of a living being, no material possession or reputation can compare to it. As one can see, Socrates had no desire for wealth, honor, or e...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of his apathy for worldly goods, one of Socrates's wealthy students attempted to repay his teacher, but found the task impossible. The student Alcibiades, tried to give Socrates land and material to build a home fitting for such a great teacher. Socrates replied, "Suppose, then, I wanted shoes and you offered me a whole hide to make a pair, would it not be ridiculous for me ... said to possess pure knowledge, one must escape from the body and observe matters in themselves with t! he soul by itself. That refers to society's preoccupation with the body and material objects, while ignoring...

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• Grade Level: High School

... of the slimy desires of the flesh" (Bordo, p. 145). Augustine's theory, like Plato's, puts humanity in constant struggle with itself. The spiritual and mental is constantly striving to overcome the material and bodily aspects. These ideas have led to the dualism which exists in most modern Christians" world views. Humanity's position has been put in opposition to ... material things and the world itself. From a Christian perspective, since God created people, the world, and everything else and then deemed it good, surely humanity's prime purpose cannot be to oppose ... of a person and...

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... is elusive in modern society because we are accustomed to using science to show us that something is true. Not everything can be proven by science, since it requires significant material evidence to be a matter of fact. Therefore many issues are left out. Philosophy comes in to take the challenging topics, like the meaning of life and existence. It explores them ... in ways science is incapable of doing, since they yield no material evidence, and gives us knowledge that is even more important than that of gravity. After all if we don't know why we are here, then why are we here? In ... ...

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... Socrates begins by indicating that social change happens when there is dissension among the ruling class. As long as they are in accord no change is possible, but as all material things decay so do societies. He proposes to outline the steps by which that happens. The whole break down begins with a generation of Guardians who are not properly conceived according ... accompanies it. The oligarchic character has subordinated all of his desires except fear and has no moral conviction left. 6. Democracy Democracy, we are told, comes from the unbridled pursuit of material wealth found in an ...

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... which they find themselves. If virtue itself is not sufficient as a standard of morality, however, it is a prerequisite for morality. In Aristotelian terminology, I consider virtue to be the material cause of morality, the material from which morality is made, as it were. Without virtue morality is impossible. It is like trying to create a painting without paint. The fundamental building block is absent ... , and the painting cannot be created. Similarly with virtue and morality. It has been noted that, happiness and virtue rest upon each other. If virtue is the material cause of moralit...

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... be interested in the soul's immorality. Plato also illustrates an important statement of the obvious; that the soul must be disembodied if anything is to remain of us, as the material body clearly does not survive after death. Psychologically, Socrates and Plato may have formulated these beliefs that appealed to them because of human inabilities to come to terms with death ... of retaliation. 'Christian ascetics were to use Plato's ideas to portray the body as something evil in itself that must be suppressed and overcome, whilst for Plato physical and material things were simply un...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... unclear relationship between physical and ideal beauty through the analogy of madness. Physical beauty is a medium in which ideal beauty is indirectly manifested. He views ideal qualities as unrelated to material aspects, and as a result, the physical world is unreal. This can only occur through the sight of his ideal beauty, which incites in him powerful emotion. In From Phaedrus written ... of ideals are in fact the true reality. Plato illustrates how the lover has abandoned all objects that were previously important in his life, such as his family and other material possessions but ...

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... three and is often referred to as the argument from affinity. The theory differentiates between what is immaterial, invisible, and immortal and what is material, visible, and perishable; with the soul being immaterial and the body being material. He believed that the soul, once the body has died, will go to the world of forms. However if the soul had been unpurified ... ...

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... will to that of society. He stressed the importance of a communal system of life, in which there was no trace of private property or power in the possession of merely material goods. However, we must not become lost in the discussion of Plato's "Kallipolis ", as his "city in the sky" was a highly hypothetical set of ideas. In reality, Plato did not ... to give up certain selfish desires for society, and therefore causes a social uprising which moves the civilization to the next phase. This specific type of individual is fueled by some material or superficial vice, such as honor, money, ...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... their purposes. Aristotle, who believed as a scientist that a focus on understanding the observable world was the priority, explained reality and entelechy by the four causes. The first cause is the Material Cause, which is literally the physical components of which something is made; the second cause is the Efficient Cause, which is the method by which something is brought into existence ... what something actually is, and the fourth cause is the Final Cause, which is essentially the purpose for which something exists. Using the same example of a chair, some of the material causes woul...

• Word Count: 660
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Philosophy." par. 18). The Demiurge aims to build this world out of the Forms that guide him, and in the process uses an imperfect substance. Plato argues that since this material is imperfect, the world is not as perfect as the Forms are, and this is why humans and everything on this planet lack perfection (Irwin 112). Nevertheless, Plato believes that ... while, form is what completes matter, giving it a purpose and shape ("Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. 42). Aristotle believes that the movement from form to matter, has four concrete causes: the material cause, meaning the matter/sub...

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... all human pain and suffering. 2) The Nobel Truth of the Origin of Suffering- realizing that cravings and desire for things is inappropriate and that holes inside cannot be filled with material "stuff". 3) The Nobel Truth of the Cessation of Suffering- the ability to detach from cravings. 4) The Nobel Truth of the Way of Practice Leading to the Cessation of Suffering. The ... on other people to make myself feel better. More often than not, I would go out and buy things as well, to try to fill my emotional and spiritual holes with material "things". I would always think I felt better, but...

• Word Count: 2119
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... . Born in 545 BCE in Ephesus, a city on the coast of modern Turkey, he was a man of strong and independent philosophical spirit. Unlike the Milesian philosophers whose subject was the material beginning of the world, Heraclitus focused instead on the internal rhythm of nature which moves and regulates things, namely, the Logos (Rule). Heraclitus is the philosopher of the eternal change ... which always renews itself. Although it is likely that he took this thesis to be true, universal flux is too simple a phrase to identify his philosophy. Heraclitus accepted only one material source of ...

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... commonly expressed deals with which things in this world have a Form. Plato believes that for all physical things, a heavenly, perfect Form exists. It appears to be forgotten that not all material objects on earth are pleasant. Therefore, how can this world of Forms be "heavenly" when disgusting and rather vulgar physical things are present as well? Take vomit, for example. In ... for vomit? The notion seems to contradict with the glorious picture Plato presents of this perfect world of Forms. The argument is then; Plato must have to agree that all material objects, good or evil, have a...

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... who carry out the menial tasks necessary to the functioning of the City. This sect of the community is left to their own inclination, to enjoy and pursue physical and material pleasures, as they are not capable of grasping the Forms. The soldiers are to make up the second tier, which is the spirit. This class of the community has a limited ... philosophers and rulers, silver in the souls of soldiers, and iron and bronze in the souls of farmers and craftsmen. To ensure that the rulers are not lured into the material pleasures of the appetite or that the lower class does not desire to rul...

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