Plato is the founder of western objective idealism, and his philosophical system is extensive and profound, which has a great influence on his teaching thought. The following is my thesis on Plato's philosophy. Welcome to reading.
Part I: Plato's Philosophical Papers 1. The proposition of idealism
If there is any milestone in the history of western philosophy, it is Socrates. Prior to this, western philosophers mainly discussed the origin of nature. Since Socrates, philosophers have not only paid attention to natural philosophy such as origin, but also began to explore and pay attention to moral philosophy, that is, "virtue is knowledge." Attention to people's inner world has also been greatly improved. Like "know yourself". Socrates thinks that knowing oneself is knowledge of virtue. To improve people's inner state, we must distinguish between true and false, beauty and ugliness, and good and evil. However, the specific virtue varies from person to person and from time to time, so the most authentic and eternal virtue needs our constant exploration and hard work. It inherits and profoundly reveals Socrates' inner principles and the definition of mind. So in the end, Plato founded it.
Plato grew up in a war full of Democrats and optimates fighting for power and profits, and witnessed the scene of them killing each other, which deeply influenced him. The democratic regime was abolished after the war, and Plato was disappointed with the regime that violently suppressed the people. After the restoration of the democratic regime, the regime brutally executed Socrates. Under such a social background, he began to have the lofty ambition of "ruling the country and leveling the world". He believes that as long as people become kind and their hearts are purified, society and the country will be stable and peaceful. Therefore, he tried to "rule the country by virtue", advocated philosophers to rule and transform the country and strive for an "ideal country", and Plato's theory of ideas was further improved under such a social background.
Second, the content of ideological theory
Plato believes that the real thing is eternal, and everything we usually perceive is changing, so it is untrue; This kind of real existence is an absolutely eternal concept, and the concept is not just an ideological or moral field that exists only in people's minds. It exists independently of things and people's thoughts and does not depend on people's subjective consciousness. General concepts can also be called "ideas".
And our objective and independent real world is actually composed of all ideas, that is, the world of ideas. Everything we feel in our daily life is illusory, and only the world of ideas is the most real and authentic. In this way, in Plato's theory, there are naturally two different worlds, the "real world" and the "phantom world", which are opposite. Therefore, the fundamental symbol of Plato's real reality (that is, ideas) is eternal and certain things, and those changeable and unclear things can never be "real reality." This view runs through Plato's whole theoretical system.
Regarding the connection and relationship between the real world and the phantom world, he put forward the "split theory" and "imitation theory" on the basis of "imitation theory", that is, ideas are prototypes, and individual things are only produced by "imitation" prototypes, while "split theory" means that individual things exist because of "split".
Therefore, there are both connections and differences between ideas and concrete things, ideas are eternal, concrete and individual things are relatively changing, and all kinds of things have ideas, which are divided into four levels, and the concept of concrete things is the lowest level; Following the high point is the concept of science; Then there is the concept of artistic morality; The highest idea is "goodness", which is also the goal pursued by other ideas.
Plato's continuous exploration and exploration of epistemology eventually led to the theory of idealism, so epistemology and idealism are very important and inseparable parts of Plato's philosophical system. As we all know, in daily life, perceptual perception is constantly changing, but the world of ideas is the object of eternal knowledge, so if we want to find a real understanding, we must realize ideas. The actual essence of thought is actually a general concept of things, so knowledge is actually an understanding of general concepts on another level. This general concept can only be truly realized through thinking activities. Plato divided the object of knowledge into "two worlds", one is the eternal knowable world (the world of ideas), and the other is the visible world that produces changes (the world of feelings), so the same knowledge is also divided into intellectuality and rationality. Moreover, there are four different levels of rational and intellectual belief imagination from high to low, so our understanding of the world depends on the authenticity of the object we know. This theory still has certain significance in the history of the development of human philosophical understanding.
Third, the influence of idealism.
We can find that Plato's idealism can actually be regarded as the theoretical basis of Christian theology. He thinks that the real world is imperfect, but there is actually a perfect world, that is, the "world of ideas". Therefore, when people pursue their ideals, they pay attention to the world of ideas and ignore the real world. If this goes on, people will be afraid to face the reality and treat themselves correctly, so they have to turn to the gods for help.
Secondly, Plato has always believed that human reason is more reliable than God, so we should believe that people can get rid of the bondage of God. He rebuilt Plato's Academy in Florence, which had a certain influence on western society. On the basis of idealism, Plato further perfected his ethics and aesthetics. He believes that only goodness is the only basis and standard of people's moral judgment, and we should make art alive. We must discover its goodness and beauty and recognize its idea. There are many things in the world, which are constantly changing, so beautiful things are unpredictable at the same time, but even so, beautiful ideas are truly eternal. Therefore, in order to truly understand and grasp eternal beauty from the heart, we must first grasp the concept of beauty.
Plato's idealism holds that there is actually a fundamental and unchangeable understanding of the law after different things, which provides a theoretical basis for people to explore the laws of the real world. Everything in life is imperfect, but there is a perfect idea outside it, so we can pursue perfection in life. For example, if the law is not perfect, we can pursue to fix it. Plato's idealism holds that the spirit of ideas controls material life.
Therefore, in the history of love in the world, people often say "Platonic love". "Platonic love" has had a far-reaching impact on generations. Plato believes that true love is a pure spiritual attachment that transcends all reality, so spiritual communication is more important than physical desire.
Chapter two: Plato's philosophy, a very profound subject, often makes us flinch. However, philosophy comes from life and is higher than life. It is an abstraction of the most common things and a summary of the most realistic theory. After learning philosophy, I know more about life, know how to find truth in life, learn a kind of thinking, a kind of ability to summarize and experience, learn to find philosophy in life and sublimate life. This course is western philosophy, and western philosophy and eastern philosophy are inextricably linked. For thousands of years, East and West have been exchanging ideas and philosophies. However, western philosophy has a unique sense of mystery, and the thoughts and theories of many western philosophers also have a great influence on our lives. Their philosophy is reflected in our daily life. As long as we understand it carefully, philosophy is around us. Plato, I believe everyone knows more or less. In order to get in touch with him better, we should first understand his life profile, the background of his times, and keep pace with the times to create heroes. Plato must have something extraordinary, which made his extraordinary life.
We have all heard and yearned for this romantic word-platonic love. In our hearts, it is the symbol of the most perfect love and the power of love beyond the secular. So, what is true Platonic love, and is our understanding correct? Let's take this beautiful word into the world of Plato, a great western philosopher, and listen to how Plato described this beautiful love for us. To understand Plato's view of love, we need to understand his thoughts, interpret his world outlook and explore his philosophical ideas. I believe that every philosopher has his own ideas and extraordinary ideological achievements. Let's listen to their hearts and appreciate the greatness of philosophers.
Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher (about 427- 347 BC), is also one of the greatest philosophers and thinkers in the whole western philosophy and even the whole western culture. His philosophical thoughts have influenced the development of European philosophy and even the whole culture. He, his teacher Socrates and his student Aristotle are called the three great philosophers of ancient Greece. Plato was born in Athens and studied under Socrates when he was young. After Socrates' death, he traveled around the world and engaged in political activities in Egypt, Asia Minor and southern Italy in an attempt to realize his noble political ideal. After the failure of his activities in 387 BC, he fled back to Athens, established a college near a gymnasium called Agal College, and taught there for 40 years until his death.
Plato did not realize his political ideal, but his teaching ideas were well spread. In teaching, Plato attached great importance to the understanding of universality and generality, especially to the cultivation of students' thinking ability, and believed that concepts and truth were the products of pure thinking. At the same time, he believes that students can recall the conceptual world through the shadow of the conceptual world in the phenomenal world, and acknowledge the stimulating effect of feeling in cognition. He particularly emphasized the role of early education and environment in children. It is believed that what children come into contact with in childhood has a permanent influence on him, and the teaching process should arouse students' memory through the perceptual inspiration of specific things. Plato's teaching system is pyramidal. In order to develop rationality, he set up a comprehensive and rich curriculum system. He divided students into several age stages according to their psychological characteristics and gave them different teaching subjects. At this point, Plato's relatively complete pyramid teaching system has been formed.
He wrote a lot in his life, and his teaching thoughts were mainly concentrated in the Republic and the Law. Plato is the founder of western objective idealism, and his philosophical system is extensive and profound, which has a great influence on his teaching thought. Plato believes that the world consists of "the world of ideas" and "the world of phenomena". The conceptual world is real and eternal, and the real world that human senses come into contact with is only a faint shadow of the conceptual world, which is composed of phenomena, and each phenomenon presents temporary changes due to factors such as time and space. Plato's Republic also painted an ideal picture of utopia for us. Plato believed that countries should be ruled by philosophers. His utopia requires everyone to have his special function in society to meet the overall needs of society. But in this country, women and men have the same rights, and men and women are completely equal. Plato further developed his thoughts on the role of law in his last work, Law. He emphasized that law is the crystallization of all human wisdom, including all social thoughts and morals. Ideally, he respected the rule of the king of philosophy, "no law or regulation is more powerful than knowledge"; Starting from reality, he emphasized that human beings must have laws and abide by them, otherwise their lives would be like the most savage beasts.
Knowing Plato's philosophy, we can easily understand his view of love. Plato thought: "When the mind abandons the body and yearns for the truth, then the thought is the best." When the soul is infected by the sins of the body, people's desire for truth will not be satisfied. When human beings have no strong demand for * *, their mood is peaceful. * * is the expression of * * in human nature and the nature of every organism. People are so-called higher animals because human nature is stronger than * * and spiritual communication is beautiful and moral. "So, Platonic love is a kind of spiritual love between the opposite sex, pursuing spiritual communication and rejecting * *. Plato's love is an ideal view of love, an extremely romantic but impossible view of love, and a pure spiritual rather than physical love that our modern society lacks. Plato said that there is only one person in this world. She (he) is perfect for you, and only for you. In other words, everyone has his perfect partner, and there is only one. This is a perfect concept of love between men and women, and it is a state that is difficult to achieve. Although we can always stick to this belief and move on on the road of love, the reality is not always as expected. We are trying to find the person who is waiting for us in a corner of the world. However, this process is sometimes so long and painful that Plato's love is ideal.
There is a philosophical story about the origin of Platonic love: one day, Plato asked Socrates, "What is love?"
Socrates said with a smile, "You go to the wheat field and pick the biggest and best ears of wheat. You are only allowed to pick it once in the process, you can only go forward and you can't look back. " Plato did as Socrates said and never came back for a long time. Socrates asked him if he picked it. Plato shook his head and said, "at first I thought it was easy and confident to go out, but I came back empty-handed!" " Socrates continued, "What is the reason?" Plato sighed and said, "Good is hard to see, but I don't know if it is the best, because I can only choose one, so I have no choice but to give up;" "So, I walked on to see if there was anything better, but the more I walked on, the more I found it was not as good as what I had seen before, so I didn't pick it; At the end of the day, I realized that the biggest and most full ear of wheat had been missed, so I had to return empty-handed! "
At this time, Socrates said meaningfully: "This is' love'". Then came Platonic love. Platonic love is a kind of spiritual love, which contains profound philosophical thoughts. It is true that not everyone can get it and understand it. This love beyond * * is also closely related to Plato's philosophy and teaching philosophy, which fully embodies his idealism theory. He advocates political equality and freedom, emphasizing teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and adapting to the times. From Plato's thoughts, all his theories reflect an idealized state, which is also related to his failure to realize his political ideal. When he was young, he was keen on politics, hoping to participate in political affairs and govern the polis fairly, but his practical experience told him that all the polis, including Athens, could not do this. Finally, he believes that only under the guidance of correct philosophy can justice and injustice be distinguished, and only when philosophers become rulers or politicians become real philosophers can city-state governance be truly fair. After studying western philosophy, we know that philosophy is not so profound, but it is actually around us. Moreover, many things in life can rise to the height of philosophy, just like love around us. We long for platonic love. Although we can't achieve such pure spiritual love, we can aim at it. Philosophy and life are the best ways for us to learn. We can have a deeper understanding of philosophy and a more detailed understanding of the true meaning of life. In my later life, I will use philosophy more and combine it with practice.
;