Week 3 Course Material

Course Slides and Readings

Before the third session, please read:

• The beginning of Book VII of Plato's Republic about "The Cave" up to the phrase, "I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you." The text can be found here.

• The preface and section 1.1 of the entry "Categories" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Link to text here.

• The preface and sections 1 and 2.1 of the entry "Aristotle’s Categories" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Link to text here.

• Aristotle's Categories, especially Parts 4-9. The text can be found here.

Further Reading

Optional Reading:

• Chapter 10, "Reality," in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, by Johnathan Barnes. Link here.

• Chapter 11.1, "Categories," in Aristotle by Otfried Höffe. Link here.

Assignment

After the third session, please write 300 words in response to one of the following:

1. What is an Idea or Form in Plato's philosophy?

2. Describe in your own words what Plato is trying to communicate in his cave analogy.

3. Contrast Plato's theory of the Forms with Empedocles' understanding of being and change.

4. Describe the link between Plato's theory of the Forms and truth.

5. Describe how Plato's theory of the Forms is connected to his theory of knowledge as reminiscence.

6. Explain why Plato is depicted as pointing up and Aristotle as pointing down in Raphael's School of Athens.