Plato’s, The Republic, concentrated on metaphysical and educational theory Order 69093

Please use Plato’s, The Republic as the source. Everything must be on Plato’s perspective. Also talk about the allegory of the cave and respond to the critical essay at the end.

Respond to the following question with an essay of about 3-4 pages, double spaced, standard font. The focal point of your essay should be explaining the portions of text that the questions are derived from. You should conclude the essay with a brief critical analysis.

1) Plato’s metaphysics divides reality into two fundamental sectors: the sensible and the intelligible. Further, he provides a theory of education that identifies a developmental sequence through which we gain access to various levels of reality. Discuss and critically evaluate both the metaphysical theory and the educational theory.
TIPS ON HOW TO START. Please read
Begin your discussion with a characterization of the sensible/intelligible distinction. The sensible realm is comprised of those things which we gain access to through the use of our senses. This would include actual sensible objects (accessible through our senses) and images of those objects. The intelligible realm is composed entirely of ideas. This would include formal definitions, what Plato calls forms, or what we referred to as intelligible universals. It also includes more specific concepts that are derived from these forms, what we referred to as intelligible particulars.
For each of these elements of reality there is a particular way of thinking. The most elementary of these is imagination. Imagination provides access to images—the lowest form of reality. Common sense gives us access to sensible particulars. Plato calls this either belief or opinion. The type of thought that gives us access to sensible particulars is reasoning. This is a systematic, rigorous form of thought. Good examples of this would be math and some types of scientific thinking. Finally there is understanding. This is the type of pure philosophical thought that gives us access to forms.
These various aspects of reality are ranked hierarchically. Forms are the highest level of reality. They are both universal and eternal. Intelligible particulars are next. They are abstract entities that are directly derived from forms. They have a permanence that is impossible with material things. Below these two intelligible levels are the sensible levels. Sensible particulars are next. This includes tangible material objects. They are subject to change and decay. Finally, at the lowest level we have images. Images are directly derived from sensible particulars. They are limited in perspective and duration.
Having described these levels of reality and the thinking that accompanies them I would suggest an illustration of some sort. We discussed several of these in class. Note that each level of reality operates with different degrees of dependency and durability. The less dependent and more durable a level is, the more real Plato believes it to be.
Plato believes that education is central to the degrees of access that we have to reality. As such, in Book VII he outlines a program of education that at the highest level gives us access to the forms. You should review this. Discuss the chronological sequence that he provides. A good way to illustrate this would be to discuss the allegory of the cave at the beginning of book VII. Conclude with your critical comments on this theory of reality. Is this a reasonable way to think about the nature of reality? If there are problems, where do they lie.