Western Thought

Philosophy of Man (Humanities 2)

by Bro. Edilberto “Bert” B. Concordia

PLATONISM
PLATO (428/7 – 348 B.C.)
 A pupil of Socrates. One of the greatest ancient Greek Philosophers.

Salient Points of his philosophy are:

1. Knowledge is not sense -perception, not what simply appears to me.

2. Virtue is knowledge and the source of knowledge is virtue. It is not abstract but concrete knowledge,
not theoretical but practical knowledge. A man must know what is good so that he may do good.

3. Virtue can be taught, and there are four cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage or fortitude, temperance
and justice

4. Man is knower and possessor of an immortal soul.

5. Man, in this life should imitate the example of his former self, more specifically he should live a life of
virtue in which true human perfection consists.

A. THEORY OF IDEALISM
 Man, in his present earthly existence, is only an imperfect copy of his real original self, the perfect
man, in the realm of ideas.
 Man can regain his perfection which he lost during his long earthly imprisonment in the body as
punishment for sin:
a) By knowing and constantly recalling his former self and his perfections.
b) By constant imitation of his ideal exemplar by the practice of virtue.

 Man, who is now imperfect can be perfect again. Man’s perfection consists in constant recollection
and imitation of his former perfect self.

B. THE ONE AND THE MANY

 According to Plato, “the true lover of wisdom is always looking for the ON” (Greek for being, one),
the one in the many, the utility amidst variety, the universality underlying individuality- in short,
the IDEA behind the things that we see. This theory is called “IDEALISM”
 Theory of Idealism – the individual things that we perceive exist in space-time. These are not real
since they change, pass in and out of existence, and therefore are inconstant, unreal. It is the IDEA
behind these changeable, individual, and finite things that alone is real – being universal,
immutable and eternal.
  The individual men that we know and see are, in this sense, not real since they come and go. They
are only the external manifestations, the reflections and replicas of the unseen universal,
immutable and eternal IDEA – Man in the realm of Ideas.
 This concept of reality is similar to the Oriental. Reality is one and universal, in which all individual
things are one.
 Originally, man existed as a pure mind, an ideal man, with all his pristine genuine perfections as a
perfect Man in the realm of Ideas.

C. MAN AND KNOWLEDGE

 According to Plato, man was omniscient, all knowing, before he came to be born into this world.
However, being separated from the paradise of truth and knowledge and his long exile on earth,
he forgot most of the knowledge he had.
 However, by constant remembering, and doing good, he can regain his former perfections.

D. MAN AND CONTEMPLATION

 Essential component of Plato’s idealism is contemplation or meditation. Contemplation as
contemplated by Plato consists in the communion of the mind with universal and eternal ideas.
It is a way available to mortal man while serving life sentence on earth- to free himself from his
space-time confinement to ascend to the heaven of ideas and there, commune with the immortal,
the infinite and the divine verities.
 To Plato ideas are inborn, always present in the mind of man from birth but these are partly
forgotten. They have to be revived and recalled.
 To him contemplation means recollection or remembering of the past perfect knowledge of all
things which the soul had already acquired directly by intuition before it was joined to the body.
Man need not go outside himself to be one with eternal ideas. He can enter into the heaven of
his own mind to discover and enjoy the eternal truths and beauties of existence hidden therein
through inward contemplation.

E. CONTEMPLATION AND IMITATION

 Contemplation for Plato does not mean passive thinking or inaction, much less mere speculation.
It is not only knowing and appreciating the GOOD, but the constant doing of the GOOD, more
specifically, it means IMITATING THE GOOD EXEMPLAR AND LIVING THE GOOD by leading a good
life.
 HAPPINESS CONSISTS NOT MERELY IN CONSTANTLY KNOWING GOOD BUT IN BEING AND
DOING GOOD.