Philosophy of Man人的哲学.pptVIP

Philosophy of Man PLATO He is an Athenian philosopher He was born at around 428-7 BC and died at the age of eighty or eighty-one at 348-7 BC His parents were Ariston and Perictione His actual given name was apparently Aristocles. “Plato” just started as a nickname Plato founded a school known as the ACADEMY Plato’s Philosophy IDEALISM There are two worlds: the world of sensible things and the realm or world of ideas. Those in the world of sensible things are not real since they change, pass in and out of existence. They are inconstant and unreal. Those in the world of ideas are real since they are universal, immutable and eternal. Man in his present earthly existence is only an imperfect copy of his original self, the perfect man in the realm of ideas. By knowing and constantly recalling his former self and his perfections and by constant imitation of his ideal exemplar, man can regain his perfection which he lost during his earthly existence and his imprisonment in the body. Contemplation Consists in the communion of the mind with universal and eternal ideas To Plato the ideas are inborn, already present in the mind of man from birth but they are partly forgotten. They have only to be revived and recalled Contemplation means recollection or remembering of past perfect knowledge QUOTATIONS FROM PLATO “The true lover of wisdom is always looking for the ON” - the one in the many, the unity amidst variety, the universality underlying individuality - we are searching for the idea behind the things that we see. Love Can be Compared to a Ladder Absolute Beauty is Completely Independent of the Senses According to Plato, therefore, love is more perfect the further away it is from matter, from the bodily senses and self-interest. The lowest type of love is that based only on merely physical attraction; since being purely physical, it is not even elevated to the level of the human It is merely sensuality not love In the light of Plato’s philosophy, is there such a thing