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Summary - H573/01 Philosophy of Religion - Plato
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Notes covering the H573/01 Philosophy of Religion topic of Plato, with explanation and notes covering all the necessary content for the exams.
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Dillon Precious PlatoPlato on Mind and Body:
Plato argued that the soul is immortal and a part of the World of Ideas (also known as the
World of the Forms)
The body is part of the material world
o But as the soul is immortal and imperishable, it moves on.
Plato could argue this by basing his thinking on the idea of the Form.
The soul is the essential, immaterial part of a human, temporarily united with a body, before
returning to the World of the Form.
The body is a physical thing, existing in time and space. As such, it has extension.
The mind has no such extension – it does not exist in time and space.
o Because it exists in the realm of the Forms, the mind can access universal truths
from the world of Ideas.
This distinction between the mind and body is called dualism – the distinction between
thinking soul and doing body.
Plato quotes:
o “Good people don’t need laws to tell them to act responsibly and bad people will
find a way around the laws”.
o “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say
something”.
o “The hour of four departure has arrived, and we go our ways – I to die, and you to
live. Which is better, only God knows”.
Plato and the Forms:
Are all form the same?
Good is the highest form in the world of the forms, as all objects aspire to be good.
o
The idea of the Form of the Good was understood by alter Christian thinkers as a way of
explaining God. It is also useful or explaining the nature of evil.
Any good act that we carry out in this world is a pale imitation of the perfect Good that
exists in the world of ideas.
The Form of the Good:
Plato believed that all of us understand something to be “good” as he thinks that we are
born with a dim recollection of the “form” of justice, or goodness, etc.
o This is called “A Priori”.
This shows Plato’s belief that this knowledge was a recollection of A Priori experience, from
an earlier existence (for example we know that 2+2=4, even though we may be taught it, it
just makes sense).
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