RATIONALISM

RATIONALISM

1. Plato

   • Knowledge as recollection: Slave boy example - PROMPTED AND NOT RECOLLECTION
   • Allegory of the cave - illuminates the philosophers' task. Shadows on the wall - we believe what we see is real - ESCAPEE SEES REALITY!
     • There are universal forms in the world that are abstract, spaceless, timeless. E.g: a chair has the form chairness - IT CAN BE CHIPPED AT AND RESHAPED BUT WE WILL STILL RECOGNISE IT AS A CHAIR BECAUSE OF THE FORM
       • CRITICISMS: ARISTOTLE: leap to forms = mysterious PLATO'S OWN CRITICISM: third man argument - form of man requires man or equals an infinite regress!