The Truth, the Universe, and a Grain of Salt: Two Views by Plato and Carl Sagan - Essay Example

The Truth, the Universe, and a Grain of Salt: Two Views by Plato and Carl Sagan There are various ways to perceive the world, and numerous thinkers have forwarded numerous perspective. In this paper, the thoughts of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, and the contemporary thinker Carl Sagan, will be examined. Considering that both approach the question of truth and reality from a rationalist view, there are important differences between them, especially in terms of their primary methods of inquiry. Plato’s Republic is a thought-project wherein he tackled the problem of the ideal state: What would the form of a universal state look like? If everything is but a copy of the Forms, then society ought to have an ideal, universal Form. That is the basic premise underlying the Republic. In Book 7 of Plato’s work, he provides an illustration of the material world’s relationship with the ideal world in the form of the well-known “allegory of the cave”. In Plato’s allegory of the cave, a group of prisoners inside a cave are chained in a manner that allows them to see only the shadows of objects projected on the cave wall. Plato’s allegory refers ultimately to how the material world tends to make people believe that it is the ultimate reality, when it is simply a copy of the Forms. For Plato, the physical world is merely a copy or an imitation of the universal Form which, in turn, is understood to be the absolute Truth. The latter is unchanging, as far as Plato is concerned. Hence, the material world is not reality or Truth because it is impermanent and is characterized by change. Consequently, it is possible to know the Truth by “escaping the cave of illusions”, that is, by an ascent of the soul. Plato states: This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed – whether rightly or wrongly God knows (Plato 208). This freedom from ignorance is made possible by the training of the mind to rise to the level of abstraction. Plato describes a curriculum for the guardians of the state, consisting of increasingly higher levels of abstract reasoning. He begins with arithmetic, two-dimensional geometry and three-dimensional solids, and then to astronomy. After the study of patterns, a study of abstract motions comes next, until finally the student is deemed prepared for the study of the motion of thought, namely dialectic (224). Only the individual who has reached the highest level of reasoning is said to be the real lover of wisdom, hence, Plato’s popular notion of the philosopher-king. If the title of Sagan’s article were posed to Plato, it would seem that the word, “universe” will turn out vague. Does it refer simply to the material world, or should it instead refer to the Platonic world of Forms? Plato would probably answer that the material world can be known, but only as the inferior copy of the immaterial Form, and not as Truth. Carl Sagan, on the other hand, concerns himself with a different view, one that comes from a materialistic perspective. “Can the universe be known?” is a question that implies the universe to be a material entity, hence, subject to empirical evidence and observation. While he concedes that pondering about the nature of reality poses more questions than science can answer, he believes that the world that includes the unknown is better than a bland one where everything is rendered understandable. He states: A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being (Sagan 18). Sagan’s thoughts appear to be in line with the positivist view of truth as mainly consisting of correspondence between what one’s perception and the object that one perceives. This perhaps explains why Sagan emphasizes the “scientific cast of mind” (14). He states that science is concerned primarily with thinking about the world in a manner that seeks regularities. This assumes however, that there are regularities in the world. It appears that truth for Sagan consists in being able to piece together a picture of the universe based on certain regularities. Between Sagan and Plato, there does not seem to be much in the manner of similarities as much as there is in terms of differences. While both are rational in their perspectives, one is an idealist and the other is a materialist. In subscribing to an idealist frame, Plato seems to be allowing for religious faith in metaphysical terms. By designating an ideal world of Forms and positing an Ultimate Good, Plato creates a space for a Supreme Being. In fact, in can be argued that the appeal to an Ultimate Good requires a kind of faith that is not much different from the regular religious kind, since it is not easily understandable how Plato could have arrived at his conclusion that indeed, there must be an Ultimate Good. Of course, Plato does not exercise a blind appeal to the unknown. Instead, he simply proceeds rationally that for something to be true, it must necessarily be unchanging, that what is ephemeral cannot be truth. For if truth is capable of change, then truth can change into untruth, thereby becoming a logical contradiction. On the other hand, Sagan’s materialist stand seems to leave very little space for religious faith given his emphasis on what can be verified by science. Consequently, what passes as “real” or “reality” is simply that which can be observed empirically. Even then, Sagan admits that what can be physically observed is often incomplete, inconclusive, or perhaps downright mistaken, as a result of mistaken perception. However, an argument can be made for the position that Sagan leaves some space for religious faith when he states that “the scientific cast of mind examines the world critically as if many alternative worlds might exist, as if other things might be here which are not” (14). In tackling the question of knowledge and truth about the world, both Plato and Carl Sagan inevitably face the prospect of mistaken beliefs and perceptions. Plato, as illustrated in the allegory of the cave, states that people are deceived into believing that the material world is all there is. Any comfort that a person feels about having a good grasp of reality stemming from empirical observation is simply the result of a deceptive representation of the true Forms. Seen from this light, it would appear that Sagan is among those who are deceived, since any satisfaction derived from “knowing” the world is but a superficial acquaintance with the imitation of the Forms. Sagan describes this satisfaction by stating that “understanding is a kind of ecstasy” (14). What is noteworthy is the fact that Sagan illustrates the limits of the human capacity to have a complete knowledge of the world, by showing the intellect’s inability to grasp truths, ranging from the vastness of the universe, to the almost infinite minuteness of a grain of salt. In other words, man’s intellect is simply incapable of having a complete understanding of the material world either way. What causes such a finite view of the world according to Sagan is the limit imposed by the very senses designed to perceive the world. Things are not always as they appear to be. More significantly, personal biases and prejudices impede proper understanding. Simply put, people sometimes see what they want to see. This is where Sagan’s ideas intersect with Platonic thought. In sum, while Plato and Sagan are both rational in terms of approach, they each operate from differing frameworks, namely, an idealist and a materialist framework, respectively. Both can be said to have value, as they each provide their readers with significant insight into the nature of the world. Notwithstanding the many questions raised by both perspectives, such questions nevertheless increase man’s interest in the world. Works cited Plato. The Republic and Other Works, trans. by Benjamin Jowett, New York: Doubleday 1973. Sagan, Carl. “Can We Know the Universe? Reflections on a Grain of Salt” from Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science, New York: Random House, 1979, pp.13-18. Read More