Proposal

Thomas Tapp

Philosophy 1301

Professor Soden4/21/21

Plato’s Philosophy

In my final research paper, I plan to discuss a philosopher known as Plato and his philosophy of ‘Knowing the Real and the Good.’ Plato is by any way among the most astounding writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most wide-ranging, penetrating, and persuasive writers in the history of philosophy. Numerous individuals consider him as one of the most important philosophers who ever existed. He is renowned as the father of idealism in philosophy. Plato is possibly well-known to college learners for his parable of a cave, which is found in Plato’s republic (Kamtekar, 2017). His actual name was allegedly Aristocles, signifying ‘best reputation.’ He was given that name after his grandfather, as it was common in Athenian society. In his philosophy of ‘Knowing the Real and the Good,’ he claimed that Good is the highest form and that all objects aspire to be good. He believed that actual reality is found through the senses.

The main questions I hope to explore in the final research paper include, what was Plato’s contribution? What was Plato’s view of the good? How did Plato believe in the actual reality? What did Plato say about ethics? What is Plato’s notion of the real? Does Plato believe in God? Who is a just person, according to Plato? What is the aim of education, according to Plato? What does Plato compare the world to? What was Plato’s method of teaching? and What did Plato say about ethics?

Some main points I hope to make or verify are that Plato referred to universal as forms and believed that the forms were truly reality. He was one of Socrates’s students, and his teaching mode was writing dialogues in which teachers asked questions. That kind of teaching is referred to as the dialectic method whereby a teacher asks questions that help learners define terms. He had a belief that there are truths to be discovered; that knowledge is possible. Furthermore, he thought that truth is not, as Sophist thought, relative. As an alternative, it is objective; it is that which our reason, used correctly, understands. Plato developed a formidable rejection of skepticism through his systematic philosophy, the perception that we lack knowledge in some significant way (Kamtekar, 2017). The same way as most other ancient philosophers, he maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics. It is to signify, well-being or happiness (eudaimonia) is the greatest purpose of ethical conduct and thought, and the virtues are the necessary skills and dispositions required to have it.

Reference

Kamtekar, R. (2017). Plato’s Moral Psychology: Intellectualism, the Divided Soul, and the Desire for Good. Oxford University Press.