UGFN1000

In Dialogue with Nature

Plato, Republic
David Lindberg, The Beginnings of
Western Science
1

Text 1a: Plato, Republic

Text 1b: David Lindberg, The Beginnings of
Western Science

Core Question
What is real?
Reflection on knowledge

Darwin
Carson
Kandel
Aristotle medieval
scholars
Watson
Poincar
Plato
Newton
e
Western view

Text 1a: Republic

A Socratic dialogue
written by Plato
around 380 BC
Political philosophy,
Justice,
Epistemology, etc.

Text 1b: The Beginnings of

Western Science
Chapter 2: Introducing
Platos world of forms
Background
Platos two worlds
Allegory of the cave

Implications

Today
The Beginning of Ancient Greek
Philosophy
Plato and his Philosophy
Plato and Modern Science

The Beginning of
Ancient Greek
Philosophy

Greek Mythological Thought

Greek Mythological Thought

Before 6th century BC:
Sun and Moon as deities

Natural phenomena as
mighty feats willed by
god
Capricious , nonpredictable world
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The Beginning of Ancient Greek Philosophy:

A New Mode of Thought

Early 6th century BC:

Exclude God in the explanation Heraclitus
(fl.500 BC)
of nature
A new set of answers

Things behave according to

their natures
A search for unity behind
diversity and order behind chaos
An orderly, predictable
world

The Beginning of Ancient Greek Philosophy:

An Orderly World for Inquiry

Early Greek Philosophers started a serious

and critical inquiry into the nature of the
world
Composition of the cosmos
Changes and their causes
General explanation of earthquakes, eclipses

10

Plato and his

Philosophy

11

Plato
[Text 1b: Para. 28-29]
428 BC 348/47 BC
Classical Greek philosopher
Mentor: Socrates
Student: Aristotle
Socrates + Plato + Aristotle: laid
the foundations of Western
philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy:
the origin of modern
science

12

Plato
[Text 1b: Para. 28-29]

Plato was born into a distinguished

Athenian family, active in affairs of
state
After the death of Socrates (399
BC), Plato left Athens and visited
Italy and Sicily
Plato returned to Athens in 388 BC
and founded the Academy
13

Platos
Academy

"Let None But

Geometers Enter
Here"

14

Three Important
Philosophical Issues at the
Time of Plato
[Text 1b: Para. 35-36]
1. The nature of fundamental reality
2. The problem of change and stability
3. Epistemological concerns
(How to reach true
knowledge/ true reality?)

How did Plato address these issues?

15

Platos Philosophy: Two

Worlds
[Text 1b: Para. 32-34]
World of Forms/
Intelligible
The forms are
Realm/
1)incorporeal , intangible
Knowable
, and insensible
Realm
2)Eternal and absolutely

changeless
3)Objectively existTrue reality is located only in the
world of forms
The corporeal object is an
imperfect replica of the form

Sensible World/
Material Realm

Changes take place

16

Platos Philosophy:
Demiurge
[Text 1b: Para. 30-31]

The divine craftsman (the Demiurge)

constructed the cosmos according to an
idea or plan (forms)
Everything in the cosmos are replicas of
eternal ideas or forms
Always imperfect replicas because of
limitations inherent in the materials
17

A divine craftsman to the

cosmos ~
A carpenter to
his tables
From the idea of a table in the
carpenters mind to the actual tables
The carpenter replicates the mental
idea in each table imperfectly
No two tables are exactly the same

18

Form and its imperfect

replicas:
Diving as an Analogy

19

Three Important
Philosophical Issues at the
Time of Plato
[Text 1b: Para. 35-36]
1. The nature of fundamental reality
True reality world of forms
2. The problem of change and stability
World of forms changeless; sensible world
with change
3. Epistemological concerns
(How to reach true knowledge/ true
reality?)
By sense experience? By reason?
20
Find
out yourself!!!
[Text 1b, Para. 36-38]
Aristotle
alsoitaddressed
these three

How should we acquire

knowledge?
What do you think?

21

Platos philosophy is
hidden in his Allegory
of the Cave
Can you connect the Allegory with Platos
two worlds??? Text 1a, Para. 18, Text 1b, Para. 32-34

22

n adaptation of the allegory

23

24

Allegory of the Cave and

Education
Outside the
Cave

Education
In the
Cave

Where are you

now???
25

Different Levels of Reality

[Text 1a: Para. 11]
Outside the
Cave

Education

SOCRATES: He would need

time to get adjusted, I
suppose, if he is going to see
the things in the world above.
At first, he would see shadows
most easily, then images of
men and other things in water,
then the things themselves.
From these, it would be easier
for him to go on to look at the
things in the sky and the sky
itself at night, gazing at the
light of the stars and the
moon, than during the day,
gazing at the sun and the light

Mos
t
Sun
real

The things
themselves
The statues
Les Shadows
s
real

In the
26
Cave

Lets Experience It!!!

27

28

29

Scientific Knowledge:
Approaching the Most Real
Research on Malaria
1898: Human
experiment
demonstrated the
transmission
Is it real?

1897: Mosquito
transmits malaria
parasites
How did it get into
blood? species of
1888: Several

malaria parasites
differentiated
Only 1 type?

1880: Malaria parasite

30
found in patients blood
30

Plato and Modern

Science

31

Similarities to Modern
Science
[Text 1b: Para. 39]

1. Seeking the Shared

Characteristics
When Plato assigned reality to the forms, he was,
in fact, identifying reality with the properties
that classes of things have in common.
What does Lindberg mean?
The bearer of true reality is not (for example) this
dog with the droopy left ear or that one with the
menacing bark, but the idealized form of a dog
shared (imperfectly, to be sure) by every individual
dogthose characteristics by virtue of which we
are able to classify all of them as dogs.
32

33

Similarities to Modern
Science
[Text 1b: Para. 39]

1. Seeking the Shared

Characteristics

34

Similarities to Modern Science

2. Idealization
Idealization is a prominent feature of a great
deal of modern science; we develop models or
laws that overlook the incidental in favor of the
essential.
Theories development in
modern science
Natural laws

Mathematical laws

Idealization (Para. 39)

Experimental data

Observations
35

Similarities to Modern Science

2. Idealization

Genetic Law

Idealized
Ratio

3:1

(Different
sets of
experiments)

Idealization is a prominent
feature of modern science. We

Genet
ic
Law

36

Similarities to Modern Science

2. Idealization
Idealization is a prominent feature of a great
deal of modern science; we develop models or
laws that overlook the incidental in favor of the
essential.
Theories development in
modern science

World of
forms???

Natural laws

Mathematical laws

Idealization (Para. 39)

Sensible

Experimental data

Observations
37

Summary
Greek Mythology

Greek Philosophy
An orderly
world for
inquiry

3 Philosophical
Questions
Reality
Change
Epistemology

Plato:

??
World of
forms

Sense?
Reason?

True Reality

Allegory of the
Cave

Changes
Sensible
world

Modern Science
Seeking
shared
characteristic
s
Idealization

38

Tutorial Next Week

Read Texts 1a and 1b before next
tutorial
Reading Guides and Mini-Dictionary

Bring your textbook!!!

39

What is PASS?
PASS = Peer Assisted Study Session
For subjects students usually find difficult
Open to everyone
Weekly one-hour, non-compulsory sessions.
Students work in small groups to consolidate
understanding & develop study strategies
Discuss the texts, and voice your questions and
opinions
Better grades in UGFN1000!

Who are the PASS

leaders?
Students got good grades in UGFN1000
Have gone through the PASS leader
training
Facilitate group discussion, help you to
clarify difficult concepts, and improve
your study skills

PASS Sessions
Time

Venue

Leader

Language

1st session

Text

Fridays,
MMW 715 Sherman
16:30-17:30

Putonghua

16 Jan

Text 2

Fridays,
16:30-17:30

AIT G05

Timothy

Cantonese or
English

16 Jan

Text 2

Mondays,
12:30-13:30

YIA 410

David

Cantonese

12 Jan

Text 1a & 1b

Tuesdays,
12:30-13:30

YIA 511

Hei

Cantonese

13 Jan

Text 1a & 1b

Self introduction of PASS leader will be uploaded together with the

lecture ppt.
You are free to join any of the above groups.
**Announcements will be made on eLearn.

Major references
Plato, Republic / translated by G.M.A. Grube, revised
by C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing,
1992.
Plato, Republic / translated by C.D.C. Reeve.
Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2004.
Lindberg, David C., The Beginnings of Western
Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Henry, John, A Short History of Scientific Thought.
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Wikipedia, The Republic (Plato), 16:30, 5
September 2011.
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END

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