Platonic Idealism: By: Dylan Isabela Jairus Marcos

PLATONIC IDEALISM
By: Dylan Isabela

Jairus Marcos
PLATO (427 – 347 B.C.E)
- Ancient Greek Philosopher

- Student of Socrates
- Teacher of Aristotle
- The Father of Western Philosophy
- His famous work is the Republic
- Famous for his Dialogues
- Founded the Academy
IDEALISM AND REALISM
Idealism is the view that things exist only as ideas, with no reality as material
objects outside of the mind.
Realism is the view that objects exist in themselves, independently of our

consciousness of them.
Plato conceives two completely different worlds:
- The sensitive realm of objects

- the world we see around us
- the imitation of the real world
- The intelligible realm of ideas

- the ideal world
- where man comes from and to which he will return
THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE BY PLATO
The Cave
• Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to some
rocks, their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that they cannot look
at anything but the stonewall in front of them.
• These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the
cave.
• Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway.
• People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their head
including; animals, plants, wood and stone.
The Shadows
• So, imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything behind or to the
side of you – you must look at the wall in front of you.
• When people walk along the walkway, you can see shadows of the objects they are carrying
cast on to the wall.
• If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that the shadows of
objects were ‘real.’
The Game
• Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which shadow would
appear next.
• If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as clever and
say that he were a master of nature.
The Escape
• One of the prisoners then escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave.
• He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can
be real.
• As he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his former view of
reality was wrong.
• He begins to understand his new world, and sees that the Sun is the source of life
and goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning
• He see’s that his former life, and the guessing game they played is useless.
The Return
• The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings.
• They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.
The purpose of human’s life is to reach HAPPINESS
– closer to the Supreme Being by freeing oneself from the real world
“Morality, education, and politics are connected to one another, therefore,

contemplating the ideas. He thinks that the soul by contemplating the ideas,
becomes increasing like Him.”
Supreme Being = Perfection

EXAMPLES
The Allegory of The Cave

• A theory put forward by plato, concerning
human perception.
• In the Allegory of the

Cave, Plato distinguishes between people
who mistake sensory knowledge for the
truth and people who really do see the
truth.
The Cave
• Represents people who believe
that knowledge comes from
what we see and hear in the
world.
• Shows that believers of
empirical knowledge are
trapped in a ‘cave’ of
misunderstanding.
The Shadows
The Shadows represent the
perceptions of those who believe
empirical evidence ensures
knowledge.
The Escape
• The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who
seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside of the
senses.
• The Sun represents philosophical truth and knowledge
• His intellectual journey represents a philosophers journey
when finding truth and wisdom
The Return
The other prisoners reaction to the escapee returning
represents that people are scared of knowing philosophical
truths and do not trust philosophers.
Reference/s:
Ethics: Learning to Live by Patricia Debeljuh
https://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/idealism
https://www.philosophyzer.com/the-allegory-of-the-cave-by-plato-summary-and-meaning/
THANK YOU!

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PLATONIC IDEALISM

By: Dylan Isabela

- Ancient Greek Philosopher

Realism is the view that objects exist in themselves, independently of our

- The sensitive realm of objects

- The intelligible realm of ideas

“Morality, education, and politics are connected to one another, therefore,

Supreme Being = Perfection

The Allegory of The Cave

• In the Allegory of the

Ethics: Learning to Live by Patricia Debeljuh

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