Chapter 8 Self-Quiz

. Knowing something, according to Plato,

requires having evidence provided by your senses.

puts you in touch with reality.

is the result of persuasion.

means it is very, very unlikely that you are mistaken about it, though that is always possible.

. The objects of knowledge, Plato says, are

things you can see and touch.

the things believed in by everyone in your culture.

items in flux, continuously changing from moment to moment.

Forms (intelligible realities).

. Forms are related to visible things by being

mirror images of them.

ideas of them in our minds.

their cause and explanation.

identical with the class of things having something in common with a given thing.

. In Plato's Divided Line,

the sections must be equal in length to do the symbolic job he requires of them.

the intelligible world is related to the visible world as visible things are related to images of them.

the intelligible world is related to the visible world as images are related to the things they are images of.

science is portrayed as the way to ultimate truth, where the soul can find "traveler's rest and journey's end."

. The Form of the Good

is explained by Plato in terms of still other Forms.

is the one and only Form that can be seen with the naked eye.

is the ultimate explainer.

is located by Plato in the absolute center of the Divided Line.

. Plato tells us the Form of the Good is like the sun in

dazzling our eyes when we first look at it.

being located at the extreme end of the intelligible world on the Divided Line.

no way whatsoever.

being to truth and knowledge what the sun is to light and sight.

. In the Myth of the Cave,

the prisoners represent all of us before we begin to search for wisdom.

the prisoners are forced to look directly at the fire, though that hurts their eyes.

the exit represents access to the visible world, lighted by the sun.

no one who escapes and sees reality as it is would ever return to that dismal place.

. According to Plato, education is

supplying the facts to those who need them.

everyone's job.

valuable because it pays off in the acquisition of marketable skills.

turning the soul of the student toward the real.

. The ladder of love

begins with a vision of Beauty itself, and leads beyond it.

leads its climbers to more and more satisfying objects of love.

begins with erotic love (eros), but leads the climber beyond it to an altogether different kind of love.

shows us a pattern that is precisely the reverse of that which we find on the Divided Line.

. The philosopher, Plato says, cultivates dying. He says this because

philosophizing attaches us to intelligible realities, and so separates us from the body.

he realizes we all fear death and need help to approach it with courage.

philosophers hate life.

the wise Silenus has said that the best thing for a human being is not to be, and the next best is to die soon.

. The soul, Plato tells us, has distinct parts, each of which has a function. For instance, there is:

the ego, which is the reality principle

the id, or the set of unconscious desires present in every soul

the superego, or one's conscience

reason, which guides

. Happiness, according to Plato, is

a matter of how you feel.

determined by how many of your desires are satisfied.

a condition of harmony among the parts of the soul.

something even a bad person can experience.

. A moral person

may have a rough time in life, but will be admired by all in the end.

may or may not be a happy person.

is the person considered by a community to be moral.

will be a happy person.

. The lesson of the sailors-on-the-ship analogy is that

statesmanship, like navigation, requires knowledge.

sailors are generally an unruly lot.

whoever has power in a state had better watch out, for there are always others ready to snatch it away.

democracy is the best form of government.

. The paradox of the Third Man

is resolved by Plato, who shows decisively that it poses no danger to his views.

arises from principles Plato is deeply committed to.

proves that Plato's doctrine of the Forms is correct.

involves at least three male human beings.

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