Question

History Test!! What did Plato believe in?

Answer 1

hold on

Answer 2

Not only is Plato the founder of modern philosophy, he was also the first to systematically philosophize about the arts. Plato used the term techne in his dialogues, which is more akin to craft than to art. Techne is a broad term that encompasses skills from woodcraft to stagecraft. Major discussions of techne appear throughout Plato's works. From his early period (399-387 BC) he talks of the arts in Ion, Symposium and Republic. His later discussions (367-348 BC) are in Laws and Sophists. Plato also addressed the arts in Phaedrus, a work from his middle period.
In order to produce a philosophy of art Plato broke the discussions of art down into several categories. Defining what exactly art is was the necessary first step to analyzing it. After this was established Plato moved on to the problems of art, such as the problem of imitation, questions on beauty and the question of whether art contains or can give anyone knowledge. All of Plato's discussions an art lead up to the value of art in society through education. What good is there in art if there is nothing to be gained from experiencing it.

Plato defines art as all skills in making or doing. So all art forms are included in his discussions, from tool making and carpentry, to music, poetry and dance. Plato believed that productive art was subdivided into production of actual objects and production of images. Images are then further divided into genuine likenesses and apparent likenesses. Apparent likenesses are images that only look like the original but have been altered in some way. An example of this is when an artist draws a flower in the foreground bigger than the flowers in the background to give the illusion of depth to his picture. Defining what is a genuine likeness and what is merely an apparent likeness is a difficult distinction to make, says Plato, since all imitations fall short of the original. With this in mind Plato says that imitation is, in a sense, both true and untrue, has both being and nonbeing. Expanding this idea to Plato's idea of eternal forms, all things that are created (including humans) are imitations of their eternal forms, therefore all things are images. Plato places art on his fourth level of cognition called imagining.

Even though all art is imitation art can embody the eternal form of beauty. Plato believes that beauty is the one eternal form that can be attained through our senses. Beauty is said to be the qualities of measure and proportion and since beauty is based on measure it ranks highly in the lists of goods. So art can be good if it embodies the form of beauty.

Since Plato believes that knowledge is the grasp of the eternal forms he denies art as having knowledge since all art is imitation. But the form of beauty, as stated above, can be embodied in art, so art can give us knowledge of one of the eternal forms. This makes art important since it can convey knowledge. Since there is knowledge in art there is also truth and art can be judged. The closer that art comes to embodying beauty the better, or truer it is. Plato sets out three qualities a person must have in order be a competent judge of art. The competent judge must have a knowledge of the nature of the original, knowledge of the correctness of the copy and knowledge of the excellence with which the copy is executed.

For the betterment of society Plato believes that the rulers (philosopher kings) must judge what art goes into the education of the society. Plato says that some art makes people sad and other art teaches people bad morals, such as the plays about gods and heroes that act immorally. These things should be censored since they do harm, or add nothing, to the society. Art should only be used in education if it promotes proper morals and is generally enjoyable. Art of this nature helps mold people into good citizens and it gives them knowledge of the eternal form of beauty.

Answer 3

Plato believed in a thing called love. He used to say, "Just listen to the rhythm of my heart, there's a chance we could make it now. We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down."

Answer 4

he believed that people were born evil and could not be trusted

Answer 5

The Republic.

Answer 6

This is the mathematics section. Please post in the History Section. @ShyannaShields23

Answer 7

i'm sorry, and thanks for all your answers.