Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Philosophy - Essay Example Their true forms, in Plato's mind, are permanent, eternal, and nonphysical. According to Plato, because sensory objects are not completely real, the empirical realm of tangible objects is not real. As such, any beliefs people derive from their experience with these objects are unclear and undependable; however, the principles of philosophy and mathematics, both of which are discovered through inner meditation on the Forms. These principles, according to Plato, represent the only true "knowledge." After taking Plato's views and descriptions of Forms, true knowledge is an attainable trait. Additionally, Plato asserted that knowledge is composed of two essential characteristics: certainty and genuine presence. Essentially, knowledge must be infallible and certain; there can be no room for interpretation or misunderstanding. True knowledge must be fool-proof and unwavering. Additionally, knowledge's corresponding object must be genuinely real as opposed to those objects that are present in appearance only. "Because that which is fully real must, for Plato, be fixed, permanent, and unchanging, he identified the real with the ideal realm of being as opposed to the physical world of becoming" (Plato, 2007, 9). These views resulted in Plato's... t to Plato's certain view of knowledge, Plato believed that those propositions derived through sensory experience have a high degree of probability; and as such, this experience cannot be certain. Additionally, the objects in the empirical realm, such as trees, are ever-changing phenomenon; they do not remain consistent and, therefore, the experiences will not remain constant. Plato's Republic contains his distinction between two levels of human awareness. These two levels are opinion and knowledge. According to Plato, any claims brought about by a person's experience in the empirical realm with a tangible object are classified as opinions only. Regardless if these opinions are founded on a solid base or not, opinions do not merit genuine knowledge. Knowledge, considered to be the higher of the two levels of awareness, entails logic and reasoning rather than experience. Logic and reasoning, if used correctly, will lead to intellectual insights. These insights are certain and, consequently, infallible. According to Plato, the representative objects of these intellectual insights are the eternal and permanent Forms. Therefore, according to Plato, the relationship between experience and knowledge is a complicated one. Experience does not, directly, lead to knowledge or equate to knowledge because experience is fallible and unreliable. One person may experience an event differently than another. What a person experiences at one time with a tangible object may change at a later time because tangible objects remain in a state of perpetual change. Alone, experience will result in the formulation of a person's opinions regarding an object. However, if logic and reasoning is applied to a person's experience, that person can reach a true knowledge about that object, and