In the sun good analogy, Plato uses the sun as a metaphor for the source of illumination where the good is the object of knowledge or the intellectual illumination. The eye needs light. With the sun we can discern objects clearly. “Well, then, think the soul is also characterized in this way. When it fixes itself on that which is illuminated by truth and that which it is, it intellects, knows, and appears to posses intelligence. But when it fixes itself on that which is mixed with darkness, on coming into being and passing away, it opines and is dimmed, changing opinions up and down, and seems at such times not to posses intelligence,”(Republic 508d). We must direct our minds there to have knowledge, or we will only have the opinion given to us by passing shadows. This analogy was followed by the analogy of the divided line. To Plato there is opinion, knowledge and ignorance. Knowledge is the absolute, ignorance is the absence of knowing and opinion is in the middle. Plato arg
2007-03-20
03:46:37
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bippidibopiddi
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Philosophy