Philosophy Blog

Think On

Nov 3rd

The divided line - Plato identified four stages of knowledge

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eikasia (imagination)
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pistis (practical, real-world knowledge)

dianoia (scientific, mathematical, or logical knowledge)

noesis (direct apprehension of transcendent things; wisdom)

Read this section from Plato's republic here

This can be summarised as:

Note that empirical knowledge, based on the senses but subjected to analysis just makes it into the realm of dianoia.

The Allegory of the cave - you can download this section of The Republic and an illustration here.

November 10th

Emotivism - as a logical positivist A J Ayer believed that only statements that can be checked against facts have any truth value. He therefore argued that ethical statements are 'pseudo-concepts' in that they have no objective truth value. He says

The presence of an ethical symbol in a proposition adds nothing to its factual content. Thus if I say to someone, "You acted wrongly in stealing that money," I am not stating anything more than if I had simply said, "You stole that money." In adding that this action is wrong I am not making any further statement about it. I am simply evincing my moral disapproval of it. It is as if I had said, "You stole that money," in a peculiar tone of horror, or written it with the addition of some special exclamation marks. … If now I generalise my previous statement and say, "Stealing money is wrong," I produce a sentence which has no factual meaning—that is, expresses no proposition which can be either true or false. … I am merely expressing certain moral sentiments.

November 17th

Three films. Many films present their protagonists with moral dilemmas. Se7en ends with the central character having to choose between a desire for revenge or fulfilling the wishes of an evil manipulator. Gone, Baby Gone ends with the protagonist choosing between what he believes to be right and what those around him think will be good. In Million Dollar Baby the central character must choose between his deeply held religious beliefs and the wishes of a loved one.

Choose a film that ends with a moral dilemma and explain whether you think that the protagonist made the right choice. From what philosophical basis do make your own judgement?

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Plato's Allegory of the cave

Of course Plato's vision of prisoners staring at a world of shadows is completely far-fetched.