'Compare and contrast plato and decsartes Essay\r'

'Descartes and Plato ar two of the more or less influential thinkers within philosophical system. The simile of the counteract and self-opinionated uncertainty are also two of the or so famous concepts within ism. Plato at the time of musical composition the sabotage allegory was trying to resist the increment influence of the Sophist philosophers who forwarditised semantics and rhetoric over truth. 1 Descartes by introducing thorough scepticism to philosophy was contend traditional scholastic philosophy which had dominated the philosophy for m all centuries. While both pieces of writing are separated by different ages of time and space, they comp wholenessnt many similarities as well as primordial differences.\r\nThis essay go forth attempt to compare and bloodline these two bodies of work by primaryly explaining what is Descartes’ taxonomical doubt and Plato’s Allegory of the cave forrader finally examining the similarities and differences bet ween them in the final carve up of analysis. Descartes in his first meditation introduces the concept of base of operations doubt which similarly lines suspicion on the senses and the port of things. This involves stripping away all one’s beliefs and preconceived notions in order to find the foundational fundamental principle of knowledge in which all sciences could then grow2.\r\nDescartes begins his first meditation by kinding doubt on all his beliefs, if a belief ass be even slightly doubted it must be discarded. He wants to ‘reject as absolutely false anything in which I could imagine the least amount of doubt3’ this is called radical scepticism where all beliefs must be challenged. by dint of and by means of this experiment Descartes conceded that the physical senses are not to be trusted as they rescue deceived him before, this is known as stunning deception and this revelation forces him to doubt any beliefs about the external ground and knowl edge that is arrive at by the five senses.\r\nHis examination also reveals that dreams states arouse be difficult to distinguish between argus-eyed life, this has happened before where he thought he was in bed but wasn’t. Henceforth one endnot sincerely know if they are awake observing naive veridicalism or asleep enjoying a dream, this is known as the dream shot. Descartes also uncovers the atrocious demon dead reckoning whereby all external reality observed whitethorn be just an illusion that is perpetrated by an vicious demon seeking to deceive him, also there is the problem that all previous memories about oneself could exactly just be imagination and not grounded in any reality.\r\nThe system of radical doubt leads Descartes into murky territory where he cannot consider in the instauration of anything at 1 JULIAS, ANNAS: INTRODUCTION TO PLATO’S land(NEW YORK, 1998)P. 252 2 JOHN, COTTINGHAM, DESCARTES: THE PHILOSOPHY OF MIND(LONDON, 1997) P. 21 3 JO HN CORRINGHAM, DESCARTES: MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY (NEW YORK, 2013) P. 33 all. This thankfully is changed when he discovers the cogito’ I think therefore I am’, his beginning point which saves him from uncertainty, allowing him to prove that he exists.\r\nIn Plato’s allegory of the cave, there are prisoners who are locked up within the depths of a cave. All daytime long, they are situated in front of a wall and behind them is a fire which hypothesizes vestiges on the wall. Unbeknownst to the prisoners, there are puppeteers who use the firelight to reflect shadows of their puppets upon the wall magic spell making noises ‘the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows’4. The prisoners are incognizant of this illusion and mistakenly believe these shadows are real images.\r\nOne day, a prisoner is released from his chains and allowed to take the air freely about the cave. Although it is confusing for him to see the puppets and fire, h e is forced to accept this clearer version of reality and ultimately ascents through the cave, spending a day and wickedness under the sun and the stars. As he becomes familiar with the world above, he realises the sun is the giver of light, how it casts shadows and how his prior life in the cave was an entire illusion.\r\nThis new enlightenment Plato remarks will prevent him from ever move to the life in cave, nor will his old hustles believe him if he tried to free him, instead ‘they would depute him to death5’ This consciousnessual awakening will cause the inmate to grasp the idea of good, the interminable form which will urge him to act ‘rationally in familiar or private life6’. Ultimately Plato suggests the inmate should collapse to his old friends and seek to stand by them.\r\nThe cave semblance is refer with the human condition and its’ lack of enlightenment7, for Plato the prisoners confront ordinary citizens who hold false belie fs (shadows), reality is fit(p) to them by their senses ( appearance of things) allowing them to be easily manipulated8.\r\nIgnorance is then symbolised by darkness and the intellect and reason is symbolised by the light. The jaunt of the inmate from darkness to light is a fiction for education which allows one to progress from the ignorance in the depths of the cave to the intellectual plains of the enlightened one in the distant world. The outer world symbolises true knowledge, the realisation of eternal forms while the cave a hold illustrates the world of appearance and false beliefs, Woozley writes ‘most men without knowing it prevail in this shadow world’9 4 PLATO. ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE. P. 74 5 IBID. P. 75 6 IBID. P. 75.\r\n7 ANTHONY, WOOZLEY: PLATO’S country: A PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTARY(LONDON, 1989)P206 8 JULIAS, ANNAS: INTRODUCTION TO PLATO’S REPUBLIC(NEW YORK, 1998)P254 The cave analogy and Descartes systematic doubt have much in common. Both are concerned with the illusory character of the senses and external reality, for Plato quite a little place too much emphasis on the senses, on the appearance of things as illustrated in by the shadows on the wall, this leads them to hold false beliefs and to be easily misled, solely by entering the realm of thought can people free themselves by gaining knowledge and fair enlightened.\r\nDescartes through the systematic doubt also maintains that external reality cannot be truly known; the sensory deception and evil demon hypothesis cast doubt on the authenticity of the outside world. therefore the evil demon hypothesis is an almost same scenario to that of the prisoners whose sensory perception is distorted by the shadow wielding puppeteers.\r\nOnly through the listen or intellect can an individual belabor the illusory nature of the senses, it allows the prisoner to access the outside world to gain enlightenment and help his fellow inmates while for Descartes the mind by way of the cogito is the one thing that cannot be doubted which through it allows him prove the existence of the outside world in his later meditations.\r\nThe cave is an analogy which illustrates how people can possess false consciousness and how through reason and knowledge one can overcome this while systematic doubt is an instruction on how to discard false beliefs, the ascent through the cave into the intellectual world is the finishing point for Plato while the cogito for Descartes is a starting point for advertise investigation. The two authors also differ on the type of philosophy employed in their argument.\r\nPlato insists that after the ascent , the prisoner will experience the idea of the good ‘ the passkey of light in the visible world, and the immediate mention of reason and truth in the intellectual’10 the good then is the highest point of knowledge and represents Plato’s philosophy of perfect types or forms known as idealism, Descartes through high lighting the sensory, dream and demon hypothesis illustrates how the external world cannot be relied upon as a basis for true knowledge, but the cogito is a starting point, the attempt to find secure beliefs that allow a foundation for further knowledge to be be upon is known as Foundationalism which is credited to Descartes.\r\nIn conclusion, both Descartes and Plato in their attempts to challenge the prevailing doctrine of their individual times introduced two of the most influential concepts in the world of Philosophy. Descartes through his examination of systematic doubt uncovers the limitations of the physical senses in acquiring knowledge and introduces further challenges to understanding external reality with the dream, memory and evil demon hypothesis. Only 9 ANTHONY, WOOZLEY: PLATO’S REPUBLIC: A PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTARY(LONDON, 1989)P. 223 10 PLATO.\r\nALLEGORY OF THE CAVE. P. 77 through the mind alone can one grasp the nature of reality starting with the cogito. as well as Plato is concerned with the appearance of things, how the senses can deceive us and humanity like the inmates in the cave can live in a state of ignorance or darkness if they don’t use the origin of the mind to acquire knowledge and reason. Only through using the intellect can humanity gather true knowledge and escape the darkness in the cave. For both the intellect is the only means for fabrication true knowledge, the senses are illusory.\r\nDescartes systematic doubt and cogito submit the foundational starting point for the sciences while the cave allegory offers advocates a way of life for humanity to affect the world of ignorance and seek true knowledge so that those who acquire it will return to the cave and help their fellow man. Works Cited: Annas, Julias. An Introduction to Plato’s’ Republic. mod York: Oxford University Press Cottingham, John. Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy. New York:\r\nCambridge University Press, 2013 Cottin gham, John. Ed. actinotherapy Monk. Descartes’ Philosophy of Mind. London: Phoenix Publishers, 1997 Plato. The Allegory of the cave. workweek 5 Handout Woozley, Anthony. Plato’s Republic: A philosophical commentary. London: MacMillan Publishers, 1989.\r\n'