how does the inclusion of these texts from plato relate to a course in critical thinking?

by Nia Hagenes 7 min read

What is Plato's view on critical thinking in education?

Hence, Plato believes that critical thinking is vital in education. When you try to tell others about the truth, they will not always accept it, as people are often happy in their ignorance.

How does Plato manipulate the reader in this passage?

In a way Plato manipulates the reader as he implies that we are prisoners, however we believe that we are not prisoners — this makes us want to learn and search for the truth. It is easier not to challenge ourselves, and not be challenged by others.

Why did Plato believe that education is the key to evil?

Plato was known for having ideas about a perfect state, and he believed that education was one of the keys to eradicating evil and achieving this. Because if people were educated and sound, then the need for establishing laws were unnecessary; but if they were uneducated, then the laws were useless.

What does Plato mean by the world of ideas?

Plato uses the cave to symbolise a physical world; a world in which things are not always what they seem to be, and there is a lot more to it than people think there is. The outside world is represented as the world of ideas, thoughts, and reality — by the world of Ideas, Plato is talking about the non-physical forms, ...

What is Plato's ideology of logic and critical thinking?

Plato's theory is that the Absolute reality is reason, is thought. This is the fundamental thesis of Idealism. Plato, therefore, is the founder of all idealism. His greatest contribution to history of philosophy is that “Absolute reality is universal thought.”

How do you relate philosophy to critical thinking?

While philosophers emphasis on the nature and quality of critical thinking, psychologists focus on cognitive process and components used to investigate the practical problems. So philosophers emphasize critical thinking attitudes while psychologists focus on critical thinking skills.

What is the purpose of Plato's way of thinking?

In the Platonic way of thinking there is a basic idea about how things are. This is often an implicit and abstract notion that cannot be sharply defined. Reformulations of the starting point of view are permitted as all languages, including logic and mathematics have their limitations.

What did Plato say about thinking?

Plato believed in this and believed that it is only through thought and rational thinking that a person can deduce the forms and acquire genuine knowledge.

What is philosophy in critical thinking?

Critical thinking should not be confused with Critical Theory. Critical Theory refers to a way of doing philosophy that involves a moral critique of culture. A “critical” theory, in this sense, is a theory that attempts to disprove or discredit a widely held or influential idea or way of thinking in society.

Why is it important to study philosophy and critical thinking?

The study of philosophy enhances your ability to evaluate and resolve problems. It will help you to analyze concepts, definitions, arguments, and problems. It contributes to your capacity to organize ideas and issues, to deal with questions of value, and to extract what is essential from masses of information.

What can we learn from Plato?

According to Plato's educational program, we should train students in truth-seeking. It is through this search for truth and knowledge that they will develop intellectual virtues.

What is Plato's view on education?

Abstract. Plato regards education as a means to achieve justice, both individual justice and social justice. According to Plato, individual justice can be obtained when each individual develops his or her ability to the fullest. In this sense, justice means excellence.

What was Plato's ideas on education?

Plato believed in a strong state-controlled education for both men and women. He was of the opinion that every citizen must be compulsorily trained to fit into any particular class, viz., ruling, fighting or the producing class. Education, however, must be imparted to all in the early stages without any discrimination.

How do you think like Plato?

0:596:29PHILOSOPHY - Plato - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipPlato. Had four big ideas for making life more fulfilled. First big idea think. More we rarely giveMorePlato. Had four big ideas for making life more fulfilled. First big idea think. More we rarely give ourselves time to think carefully and logically about our lives and how to lead them. Sometimes.

What did Plato say about opinion and knowledge?

Plato drew a sharp distinction between knowledge, which is certain, and mere true opinion, which is not certain. Opinions derive from the shifting world of sensation; knowledge derives from the world of timeless Forms, or essences.

What is the critical thinking of Plato's allegory of the cave?

What is the critical thinking of Plato’s allegory of the cave? Plato’s ” Allegory of the Cave ” is a concept devised by the philosopher to ruminate on the nature of belief versus knowledge. The allegory states that there exists prisoners chained together in a cave.

What is Plato's philosophy?

Like most other ancient philosophers, Plato maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics. That is to say, happiness or well-being (eudaimonia) is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues (aretê: ‘excellence’) are the requisite skills and dispositions needed to attain it.

What is Plato's allegory of the cave?

Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc., without (so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms. In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads.

What is the theme of Plato's Allegory of the Cave in the Republic?

The main theme of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in the Republic is that human perception cannot derive true knowledge, and instead, real knowledge can only come via philosophical reasoning. In Plato’s example, prisoners live their entire lives in a cave, only able to see shadows. To them, these shadows are reality.

What did Plato think of the good life?

In metaphysics Plato envisioned a systematic, rational treatment of the forms and their interrelations, starting with the most fundamental among them (the Good, or the One); in ethics and moral psychology he developed the view that the good life requires not just a certain kind of knowledge (as Socrates had suggested)

What did Plato believe about the form of the universe?

Plato’s Theory of Forms Plato believed that there was only one ‘real’ version of anything—the perfect version. Plato believed in this and believed that it is only through thought and rational thinking that a person can deduce the forms and acquire genuine knowledge.

What are the elements that Plato referred to as the human organism?

Plato strikes an analogy between the human organism on the one hand and social organism on the other. Human organism according to Plato contains three elements-Rea son, Spirit and Appetite. An individual is just when each part of his or her soul performs its functions without interfering with those of other elements.

What is Plato's theory of education?

Historians cannot find any evidence on Plato’s early education as a child, but seeing as he belonged to an influential aristocratic family from Athens, it’s assumed that he went through the Athenian form of education that was oriented towards culture, arts, academics, and intelligence.

How did Plato categorize education?

In fact, the way Plato categorizes the stages of education is what generally influences the way we categorize and sort students into in terms of year levels. Plato divided the system of education into two – elementary and higher education – and divided classes based on age and class.

Why did Plato believe in censorship?

And because Plato was in favor of governments controlling what people learned, it was no surprise that Plato also believed in censorship of literature and art. Plato did not believe that people could discern right from wrong for themselves and could be negatively influenced by the wrong type of literature and art.

Who is the Greek philosopher who set the foundation for Western thinking?

Take, for example, the Greek philosopher Plato. A student of Socrates and later on the teacher of Aristotle, he (along with both Socrates and Aristotle) would later be cited as one of the many philosophers who set the foundation for Western thinking, including religion, philosophy, politics, and more. But what many may not realize is that Plato’s ...

Who gets to decide on everyone's knowledge?

Plato’s theory and belief in who gets to decide on everyone’s knowledge is based on the assumption that whoever is in charge would do so for the greater good. But realistically speaking, in today’s day and age, where most information is just one Google search away, limiting what we learn for the sake of one ruler’s successful reign, would (and is, ...

What does Plato believe about the teacher in the Allegory of the Cave?

Plato believed that you have to desire to learn new things; if people do not desire to learn what is true , then you cannot force them to learn.

Why did Plato use the cave?

But every so often, one of the prisoners gets free from the shackles of sense experience, turns around, and sees the light! [5] Plato uses the cave to symbolise a physical world; a world in which things are not always what they seem to be, and there is a lot more to it than people think there is.

What does the cave represent?

However, the cave also represents the state of humans; we all begin in the cave. [4] . According to Ronald Nash, Plato believed that: Like the prisoners chained in the cave, each human being perceives a physical world that is but a poor imitation of a more real world.

What is the allegory of the cave?

The allegory of the cave is one of the most famous passages in the history of Western philosophy. It is a short excerpt from the beginning of book seven of Plato’s book, The Republic. Plato tells the allegory in the context of education; it is ultimately about the nature of philosophical education, and it offers an insight into Plato’s view ...

How does Socrates compare a teacher to a midwife?

Socrates compares a teacher to a midwife, for example, a midwife does not give birth for the person, however a midwife has seen a lot of people give birth and coached a lot of people through it, similarly, a teacher does not get an education for the student, but can guide students towards the truth: Socrates as a teacher is a “midwife” who does not ...

What does Socrates say about the fire?

Socrates says: Some way off, behind and higher up, a fire is burning, and between the fire and the prisoners above them runs a road, in front of which a curtain wall has been built, like a screen at puppet shows between the operators and their audience, above which they show their puppets. [1]

What does Plato say about our senses?

In other words, “according to Plato, our senses are only picking up shadows of the true reality, the reality of forms or ideas. This reality can only be accurately discerned through reason, not the physical senses.”.

Plato’s Theory of Education

Life-Long Education

  • In Plato’s The Republic, Plato wrote that education was not limited to youth and that one could continue to learn even after they reached maturity. It wasn’t just the mind that was affected by learning, but also the soul in different stages of growth. Thus, in different stages of life, people observed certain ways of learning. It starts in infancy ...
See more on througheducation.com

Education System According to Plato

  • Today, most countries see education as a right and have structured educational systems where children of a certain age are required to attend school. This mirrors Plato’s belief that a state must have a structured system where children of both sexes must attend school. This is because he believed that every member of society, though they will each have their own specific role in soci…
See more on througheducation.com

What Plato Didn’T Influence

  • There were some parts of Plato’s theories and beliefs that, although may be seen in other people’s ideas, never made it to the general consensus of how education should be upheld. For instance, Plato believed that in order to maintain a utopian society, the government (specifically, the ruler or whoever was in charge) had to control the education and the information their people learned. H…
See more on througheducation.com