Reference no: EM133364778

Questions

1. The character of Socrates speaks of education as a 'turning of the soul' from the realm of appearance (i.e., the sensible) to 'reality', (i.e., the intelligible). What might this mean exactly? What might this kind of education look like?

2. This is truly one of the central ideas in at least Western philosophy, though certainly also in Indian traditions at least: that what is most real in the world is invisible--or rather, insensible; and that what we perceive with our senses is either a complete illusion, or at least a lesser form of reality, analagous to the way a shadow doesn't fully exist as much as the thing casting the shadow and the light itself. There are several versions of this general idea, and Plato offers his own in some of his dialogues (i.e., the 'theory of forms/ideas'). Before getting into his own view, I want you to think about the following and respond: what exists that cannot be seen, heard, touched, etc., if anything? Is this more or less real? And if you can answer that at all, what criterion are you using to define 'real'--that is, what makes something more real than something else?