Compare and contrast plato and decsartes Essay

Descartes and Plato be devil of the most influential thinkers indoors philosophy. The entirelyegory of the subvert and organized disbelieve are too 2 of the most famous concepts within philosophy. Plato at the epoch of writing the cave allegory was trying to resist the growing influence of the Sophist philosophers who precedentitised semantics and grandiosity over truth. 1 Descartes by introducing radical skepticism to philosophy was dispute traditional scholastic philosophy which had dominated the philosophy for many centuries. small-arm twain pieces of writing are separated by resistent ages of time and space, they share manysimilarities as well as fundamental differences.This render leave behind essay to compare and contrast these two bodies of work by get-go linely explaining what is Descartes systematic doubt and Platos Allegory of the cave in advance finally examining the similarities and differences between them in the final paragraph of analysis. Descar tes in his first meditation introduces the concept of Radical doubt which similarly places suspicion on the senses and the appearance of things. This involves stripping away all ones beliefs and gestate notions in order to find the foundational bedrock of intimacy in which all sciences could then grow2.Descartes begins his first meditation by casting doubt on all his beliefs, if a belief can be even more or less doubted it must be discarded. He wants to reject as absolutely simulated anything in which I could imagine the least amount of doubt3 this is called radical scepticism where all beliefs must be challenged. Through this experiment Descartes conceded that the physical senses are not to be trusted as they have deluded him out motion, this is known as sensory deception and this revelation forces him todoubt any beliefs about the immaterial population and companionship that is gathered by the five senses.His examination as well as reveals that dreams states can be diff icult to distinguish between waking vivification, this has happened before where he thought he was in bed but wasnt. henceforward one cannot truly know if they are awake observing realism or asleep enjoying a dream, this is known as the dream hypothesis. Descartes also uncovers the evil monstrosity hypothesis whereby all external naive realism detect may be just an illusion that is perpetrated by an evil teras entranceking to deceive him, also there is the problem that all preliminary memories about oneself could simply just be imagination and not grounded in any reality.The system of radical doubt leads Descartes into murky territory where he cannot believe in the existence of anything at 1 JULIAS, ANNAS INTRODUCTION TO PLATOS REPUBLIC(NEW YORK, 1998)P. 252 2 JOHN, COTTINGHAM, DESCARTES THE PHILOSOPHY OF MIND(LONDON, 1997) P. 21 3 JOHN CORRINGHAM, DESCARTES MEDITATIONS ON set-back PHILOSOPHY (NEW YORK, 2013) P. 33 all. This thankfully is changed when he discovers the cogit o I think thus I am, hisstarting point which saves him from uncertainty, allowing him to prove that he exists.In Platos allegory of the cave, there are captives who are locked up within the depths of a cave. All day long, they are situated in front of a wall and behind them is a fire which reflects shadows on the wall. unbeknownst(predicate) to the prisoners, there are puppeteers who use the fire hang to reflect shadows of their puppets upon the wall speckle making noises the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows4. The prisoners are oblivious(predicate) of this illusion and mistakenly believe these shadows are real images.One day, a prisoner is released from his chains and allowed to walk freely about the cave. Although it is confusing for him to see the puppets and fire, he is forced to accept this clearer version of reality and eventually heaves by the cave, spending a day and night under the sun and the stars. As he becomes familiar with the world above, he real ises the sun is the giver of light, how it casts shadows and how his prior life in the cave was an entire illusion.This newfound enlightenment Plato remarks will prevent him from ever returning to the life in cave, nor will his erst era(a) inmatesbelieve him if he tried to free him, instead they would put him to death5 This clever awakening will cause the inmate to grasp the idea of good, the endless form which will urge him to act rationally in earth or private life6. Ultimately Plato suggests the inmate should return to his old friends and try out to help them.The cave analogy is concerned with the human condition and its escape of enlightenment7, for Plato the prisoners represent ordinary citizens who hold off-key beliefs (shadows), reality is dictated to them by their senses (appearance of things) allowing them to be easily manipulated8.Ignorance is then symbolised by darkness and the intellect and close is symbolised by the light. The journey of the inmate from darkness t o light is a fable for education which allows one to progress from the ignorance in the depths of the cave to the intellectual plains of the edify one in the outside world. The outer world symbolises true knowledge, the realisation of eternal forms while the cave again illustrates the world of appearance and false beliefs, Woozley writes most men without knowing it racy in this shadow world9 4 PLATO. ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE. P. 74 5 IBID. P. 75 6 IBID. P. 75.7 ANTHONY, WOOZLEY PLATOS REPUBLIC A philosophical COMMENTARY(LONDON, 1989)P206 8 JULIAS, ANNAS INTRODUCTION TO PLATOS REPUBLIC(NEW YORK, 1998)P254 The cave analogy and Descartes systematic doubt have much in common. Both are concerned with the illusory temperament of the senses and external reality, for Plato people place too much idiom 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, only by accounting entry the realm of thought can people free themselves by gaining knowledge and becoming enlightened.Descartes done 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. thus the evil demon hypothesis is an almost identical scenario to that of the prisoners whose sensory scholarship is distorted by the shadow wielding puppeteers.Only through the mind or intellect can an individual overcome the illusory nature of the senses, it allows the prisoner to access the outside world to gain enlightenment and help his co-worker inmates while for Descartes the mind by way of the cogito is the one thingthat cannot be doubted which through it allows him prove the existence of the outside world in his later(prenominal) meditations.The cave is an analogy which illustrates how people can possess false intelligence and how through reason and knowledge one can overcome this while systemati c doubt is an instruction on how to discard false beliefs, the rebellion through the cave into the intellectual world is the finishing point for Plato while the cogito for Descartes is a starting point for further investigation. The two authors also differ on the type of philosophy employed in their argument.Plato insists that after the ascent , the prisoner will experience the idea of the good the lord of light in the visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual10 the good then is the highest point of knowledge and represents Platos philosophy of perfect types or forms known as idealism, Descartes through play up 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 rested uponis known as Foundationalism which is credited to Descartes.In conclusion, b oth Descartes and Plato in their attempts to challenge the prevailing doctrine of their respective 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 spirit external reality with the dream, memory and evil demon hypothesis. Only 9 ANTHONY, WOOZLEY PLATOS REPUBLIC A PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTARY(LONDON, 1989)P. 223 10 PLATO.ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE. P. 77through the mind alone can one grasp the nature of reality starting with the cogito. Likewise 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 dont use the power 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 intel lect is the only performer for gathering true knowledge, the senses are illusory.Descartes systematic doubt and cogito provide the foundational starting point for the sciences while thecave allegory offers advocates a way of life for humanity to feign the world of ignorance and seek true knowledge so that those who acquire it will return to the cave and help their fellow man. whole caboodle Cited Annas, Julias. An Introduction to Platos Republic. new-sprung(prenominal) York Oxford University Press Cottingham, John. Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy. New YorkCambridge University Press, 2013 Cottingham, John. Ed. Ray Monk. Descartes Philosophy of Mind. London Phoenix Publishers, 1997 Plato. The Allegory of the cave. Week 5 Handout Woozley, Anthony. Platos Republic A philosophical commentary. London MacMillan Publishers, 1989.