Plato and Spinozas Philosophies - Essay Example

? Plato and Spinoza’s Philosophies Philosophical studies deal with the intellectual inquiry of the fundamental and basic questions about the existence, knowledge, ethics and reasoning. It’s a belief about how a person should live and deal with a particular situation. Philosophy tries to answer these key questions through critical and rational arguments. Among the many branches of philosophy includes Metaphysics, which is the philosophical study of being and knowing. Being is a very broad concept which includes the universal features of reality, like the concept of existence, the time, events, processes, outcomes, the relationship between mind & the body, and objects & their properties. Metaphysics is further categorized into two main sub branches of Cosmology, which studies the origin and nature of the universe, and Ontology, which studies the nature of being and existence. Within metaphysics there are a broad range of differing philosophical theories having dissenting opinions and expressing opposing views. Among the many influential metaphysicians include Plato and Spinoza, each known for their philosophical studies and theories with respect to their conception of reality. The aim of this essay is to highlight the important aspects of their philosophies with respect to their ontology (i.e. their conception of reality), and also to compare the two philosophies and their ethics by enlightening the most prominent of the ontologies. Plato’s Philosophy The theory of Forms of the theory of Ideas is the basis of Plato’s philosophy. It refers to the belief that the material physical world as it appears to us in reality in not the real world, but it’s only the image of the real world. Theory of Forms According to Plato, the objects that we see in the real world are not actually real, but the imitations of the real Forms. In allegory of the cave in one of Plato’s dialogue Republic that discuss the Forms, it is said that the objects that we human beings perceive in the world are characterized as shadows of real things, and the real things cannot be perceived directly. These Ideas of Forms are the foundation of good or bad behavior and they are the basis behind Plato’s dualism and they also allow him to show the immortality of the soul. The Ontological Dualism Plato speaks in defense of the notion of clear ontological dualism which has two different types of realities or worlds: The Sensible World & the Intelligible World. These two worlds are quite different in a sense that the Sensible World consists of individual realities and so it consists of more than one part forming the whole. It is the world that is invariably and always changing, the world of material, physical and space time things. Conversely, the Intelligible World is the world of Forms (or Ideas), which are the invisible universal realities and in general do not change. These Forms or Ideas can well be understood, inferred and known and they are unquestionable realities. According to Plato these Forms are not just the perception or concepts in or minds, in fact, they exist out of our senses and consciences as free and independent beings. Plato realizes that although the Sensible World is ontologically inferior and the intelligible World possesses the highest degree of reality, the reality of sensible things cannot be denied, and it also has the quality of being which originates from the imitation of the real world. The immortal entity or the Creator of the universe gives the shape of the intelligible world’s Forms to the amorphous and formless sensible objects; hence they appear similar to the Forms ("Torre de Babel"). Forms – The Essential Basis of Reality One may question what exactly are the forms? A form is something that is the essence of the objects, without the existence of these forms a thing would not be the kind of thing it is. For example, we may draw a square shaped object on a chalkboard and say it’s a square. A square as we know is a polygon with 4 sides and it’s the intelligibility of the Form “square” that allows us to believe that the object on the chalkboard is in fact square. However the square on the chalkboard is far from being perfect, but the Form of square is perfect and unchanging. It remains the same whenever anyone chooses to consider it to be drawn. Hence the Forms are perfect and unchanging realities. Furthermore, Plato believed that the true knowledge lies in the power or the ability to comprehend the world of Forms with one’s mind. In practicality, there is a form for everything or quality or everything that we perceive. For example, the form of table, chairs, cats, dogs, colors (like the quality of being red or redness), love, kindness and so on. One may also ask that if Form exist in reality and give objects their real form, how one thing (say a Form) in general can be many things in particular. So it was presumed that Form was distinct singular thing but it can cause multiple representations of itself in particular material sensible objects. The following section discusses the properties of the Forms ("Torre de Babel"). Properties of the Forms The Forms are understood to possess the following properties: 1. Transcendent to space and time - It means that the Form is not placed at some place or at some point of time. For example, there is no place or time at which the redness exists. 2. Forms are pure and are characterized by only one property. For example redness or circularity both characterize one property each of being red and circular. The individual physical objects combine these multiple Forms to take a multiple physical properties. 3. The forms are the perfect examples of their property. For example, the form of circularity is circular and all circles are simply the copies of this perfect form. 4. Forms are ultimately real – It means that the forms are not material objects but still they are the real entities. The material and physical objects occupy their reality only from the form(s) they are representative of. 5. Forms are the actual causes of the things. They tell us why the thing is and/or behaves the way it is, and they are the origin of the being of everything. The Theory of Ideas and the Role of the Soul The ontological dualism and the concept of sensible & intellectual world is applied in the anthropological dimension of the theory of forms by dividing the human being in two distinct parts of body and soul. Plato believes that the human being as a whole constitutes two different substances of body and soul. Body connects us to the sensible world and material objects, whereas the Soul represents the more superior aspect of us and it relates us to the intellectual world. Plato’s ontological dualism thus creates a radical split in human beings: The soul which is the superior part, considered to be immortal, and it has the knowledge of morals and ethics; and the body which is the inferior and materialistic part subject to mortality and corruption, it the reason of our wrongness and ignorance. Like this the Plato put forward the idea that our body is the basic reason for all our needs, pains, distresses and woes. We have a body and therefore we have a desire to fulfill the wants we encounter. Therefore, our most important job is to sacrifice the bodily/worldly desires and to practice the philosophy. This idea is dearer to many religions as well. Hence the soul plays a great role in our existence and reality, and it even affects the human behavior. Plato identifies three different functions or elements within the human soul. The first and the most important one is the rational element which functions as the intellectual knowledge and guides the other two elements in making decisions and choices (good or bad). The second is the irascible element (high tempered) demonstrated as the beautiful horse symbolizing the strength and will power. The third is the concupiscent element (immoderate) demonstrated as a bad horse symbolizing the lustful and immoderate desires and vigorously passionate. The rational element of the human soul is ought to sanctify the individual of his bodily desires and passions and so it has the ruling role of the human behavior ("Torre de Babel"). Immortality of the Soul The immortality of human soul has been demonstrated by Plato in several different dialogues and arguments. The most important and notable one is based on the Reminiscence Theory. In this dialogue Plato has spoken in favour of the thesis of To Know is To Remember. He argues that since we do not have the readily occupied and absolutely correct knowledge of the universe, we learn through our soul. For example, when we say a mathematical theorem is true, we don’t just say it because we have learnt and understood it, but because we “remember” the relations amongst the Ideas (or Forms) our soul had the actual knowledge of in the intelligible world before actually incarnating in our body. In this way, since we perceive the material objects and the sensible imperfect world, it cannot fulfil the purpose of the strict knowledge we want to acquire, but since we have the correct knowledge, it infer that it should have come from the prior experience. And hence, to know about something is to update a knowledge already known and experienced. This is called the Theory of Reminiscence ("Torre de Babel"). Spinoza’s Philosophy Benedict Spinoza was the famous Dutch philosopher of the 17th century. The importance of his work was in philosophy and ethics was realized only after his death. His great work of literature, the posthumous Ethics, earned him the title of one of the most influential and recognized Western philosophers. In this piece of work he opposed Descartes’s mind-body dualism. His philosophy with respect to his ontology is discussed in the following paragraphs. Ontology of Infinite Substance “Substance” is defined by Spinoza as follows: “By substance I understand what is in itself and is conceived through itself, i.e., that whose concept does not require the concept of another thing, from which it must be formed” (Spinoza and Curley). This means that substance is just anything that can be thought about and understood without associating it with any other thing or idea. In his version of ontological argument, Spinoza proposes to put forward the concept of an infinite substance. Spinoza believed that the God necessarily exists and is abstract and impersonal. To proof this he has put forward deductive arguments and defined God as in absolutely infinite substance and that such substance must necessarily exist. Like Plato and Descartes he first used to believe in the mind-body dualism that they are two separate distinct substances, but afterwards he changed his views and opinions in favor of monism and that the mind and body are not distinct substances but a single identity. Spinoza asserted that every single thing within the Universe is one distinct Reality (or substance) and the whole Universe is governed by the same set of rules which are applicable on all the substances including us. According to Spinoza’s philosophy God and Nature are the two names for the same infinite substance that necessarily exists and all the lesser “entities” are the modes or modifications of the infinite substance. Ontology of Infinite Attributes Attributes are defined by Spinoza as, “By attribute I understand what the intellect perceives of a substance, as constituting its essence” (Spinoza and Curley). Simply stating, attributes are the properties that distinguish one substance from the others. His ontology of infinite attributes asserts that the infinite substance (which he also calls God or Nature) is in actual a being of countless infinite attributes. Of these many attributes thought and extension are just the two. Attribute of thought means how we can understand the substance or the idea that gives rise to the thought of that substance. Attribute of Extension means how we can understand the substance through its physical extension in the space. The shape, the breadth and the depth is what is meant by the extension. It therefore follows from this assertion that if God is a substance, God has extension as one of His attributes. Ontology of Finite Modes Spinoza defines modes as, “By mode I understand the affections of a substance, or that which is in another through which it is also conceived” (Spinoza and Curley). Modes are the modifications of the substance, that is to say the particular things that exist in the world – the matter. His understanding of the being and existence, unlike Plato, treats the physical and mental worlds as the identical. According to him the mind and the body both are the part of the universal substance with no difference between the two. Spinoza also conceives the God that does not guards the universe and exercise control by divinity, but rather as a deterministic system of which every single thing in the universe is part. Hence, according to Spinoza’s ontology God is the entire natural world with no personality. Comparison between the Plato and Spinoza’s Philosophies Plato’s philosophy is based on the theory of forms. As mentioned in the earlier parts of the essay, Plato asserted that the objects that we see in the real world are the imitations or images of their real Forms which exist independently in another dimension. Contrary to this Spinoza proposed that the universe is composed of infinite substance and substance does not need the concept of any other thing from which it must be formed. So according to Spinoza everything in the universe is a reality and has its own attributes. Plato’s ontology is based on the clear ontological dualism. There exist two different realities or distinct worlds which he names the Sensible and the Intelligible World. Plato believed that there must be something perfect beyond this imperfect world, because if this imperfect world is the only reality and one derives knowledge by perceiving it through senses, how would we have any conception of perfection? However he concludes that the reality of sensible objects in undeniable and they have the quality of being which originates from the imitation of the real world. Contrary to this Spinoza’s philosophy puts forward the point that every single thing within the Universe is a distinct reality with a separate identity (i.e., the substance) and the whole universe is governed by the same set of rules. According to Spinoza God or Nature are the infinite substance and all the lesser entities are the modes or modifications driving from it. As mentioned earlier, Plato’s ontological dualism creates a radical split in human beings. His philosophy says that the human being as a whole constitutes two different substances of body and soul. Body connects us to the sensible world and material objects, whereas the Soul relates us to the intellectual world. Plato also puts forward the idea that our body is the basic reason for all our pains, sufferings and distress. The soul is thus the essence of the human beings and plays a great role in our existence and reality, and it even affects our behavior. Conversely, Spinoza’s understanding of the being and existence treats the physical and mental worlds as the identical. As per Spinoza’s philosophy both mind and body are the part of universal substance and are considered as a whole. The concepts of God, deity and acquiring knowledge through thought is also different in both the philosophies as explained in earlier parts of the essay. Comparison of Ethics Spinoza supports subjectivism about the moral values and ethics that is to say that the knowledge and values are dependent on and limited by your subjective experience. His ethical values are very much close to his metaphysical system. This can also be seen in the following claim: “As far as good and evil are concerned, they also indicate nothing positive in things, considered in themselves, nor are they anything other than modes of thinking, or notions we form because we compare things to one another.” (Spinoza and Curley). According to Spinoza, good is anything that is known to be useful for us. Whereas evil is anything that prevents us from the good. By these definitions, the goodness or badness of any action or thing is not measured by its attributes belonging to that thing by its very nature, but by whether it is certainly known to be useful for us. Now comparing this with the Plato’s ethical teachings, we find that the ethical and moral refinement means to guide the soul by rightness and the goodness and to fulfill their basic purpose. The most important task is to sacrifice the bodily desires and to practice the philosophy. Because those who practice philosophy will return to their original place i.e. the intelligible world, where they lived before and those who let the evil take over themselves and indulge in their uncontrollable passions will have to face a judgment and to pay for their faults in life. Conclusion It can be said that both the philosophies, the ontology and the ethics, have their own significant meanings that help us better understand ourselves, our origin and also to a certain degree help answer questions about existence, knowledge and ethics. Both Plato and Spinoza’s philosophies have tried to present critical and rational arguments in favor of their believes, however due to our limited knowledge and understanding of the being, existence and all the surroundings it is not possible to give a conclusive thought about any of these key questions of the life. Works Cited "HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY - SUMMARIES." Torre de Babel. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2012. . Spinoza, B., and E. M. Curley. The Collected Works of Spinoza. I. Princeton University Press, 1985. Read More