Week #3 / Gorgias

Review in your own words Gorgias argument that nothing exists and Allegory of the Cave Basically , in one of Gorgias writings titled , On Nature or the Non-existent ' his main argument and position was that absolutely nothing exists . Moreover , according to him , even if anything did exist or is proven to exist , there is no information that can be gathered about it . Lastly , even if something can be known about the thing that is proven to exist , that information cannot be communicated with or share to other human beings

On the other

hand , Plato 's Allegory of the Cave ' is possibly the best example of his Theory of Forms ' which was one of his most widely-known ideas . In the Allegory of the Cave , Plato narrates the story about prisoners in a cave . These prisoners only saw shadows of the objects placed in front of them . According to Plato , as the shadows of these objects change form and move around , the prisoners were able to describe , label , and name them based on their appearance and shape . For example , if the shadow assumes the form and shape of a dog , an eagle or a cat , the prisoners would be able to say that they are seeing a dog , an eagle or a cat . Plato 's allegory is considered the best example and illustration of his theory of forms

Plato 's Theory of Forms generally states that the Forms of objects are not simply the objects or materials that people identify through sensation as they are the most fundamental and greatest form of reality Furthermore , according to him , Forms are basically the highest level of reality that cannot be defined through merely using the human senses Instead , a person must first grasp the true essence of the thing itself before he or she can understand its form

In other words , forms are objects of reality that cannot simply be defined through mere tasting , smelling , touching , seeing , or hearing but rather , as Plato argues in his theory , by getting more or less acquainted ' with them . For example , object A ' is a woman and object B ' is an ornament and both objects A and B are beautiful Suppose that this statement is true , it can then be concluded that both the woman and the ornament share a similar characteristic or property - beauty . Based on Plato 's arguments , since they are both beautiful , this is called the universal beauty or true beauty ' which is highly different from the individual beauty of the woman and the statue . In short , according to the theory of forms , a person can only conclude that the lady /woman is beautiful ' or the ornament is beautiful ' if and only if he or she has been acquainted with beauty itself , which they can associate with the woman or the statue

In relation to the Allegory of the Cave , like the perfect circle , the main reason that the prisoners are able to describe and identiy the shadows based on their forms and shapes is because...