|
In the Name of Allah
PLATO(2)
Other Viewpoints of Plato, the son of Ariston
·
The word "Plato" in Greek is a fragrant plant.
·
Plato was from an
aristocratic and influential family in Greece and was advised by his
father to be a student of Pythagoras (some say both Socrates and Plato
were students of Pythagoras).
·
He belonged to a family with a high academic status and was
knowledgeable in many areas of science.
·
He was born in 427 BC and died in 347 BC.
·
The person who gave value to "emotion" and "intelligence" in the world
was Plato.
·
He said, "Feelings are superficial; realities are eternal."
·
He said, "The soul, spirit and intelligence existed in other worlds.
When they entered the body, they forgot those worlds." (In other words,
this shell should be removed for the person to become pure and move
towards Allah).
·
Plato said, "All good things are systematic." (What he means is that
just as air should be harmonious, all the deeds of a man should be
systematic too in order to be good.)
·
He believed, "Women and men have the same capacities! The only thing
different is how these capacities are displayed."
·
He said, "Women are weaker than men in spirit."
(Professor
Mousavi: I am not sure which spirit Plato is talking about. Is he
discussing the divine spirit? Or maybe he means the animal spirit. The
divine spirit is equal for all. Most probably here his intention is not
the divine spirit.)
·
Plato said, "I thank God for being born a man and a Greek. I thank God
for being born a free man; to be able to speak freely and to live like a
free man."
·
He said, "Man has obtained his love from the world of divine power not
from the material world. This viewpoint of his is famous as "Platonic
love" which is very detailed.
·
He believed, "The love of a wife for her husband is only for his heart
but the love of a man to his wife is for her body, not heart.
(Some say
the reason why a woman should have one husband is that she seeks her
husband's heart and the reason why a man can have more than one wife is
that he has nothing to do with the woman's heart and only seeks her
body.)
Plato's Theory of Forms
Plato believed the reality of whatever exists in this world, including
essences and corporeal faculties exists in another world and this world
is only an image or copy of the real world (Mir Damad agreed with this
viewpoint, Mulla Sadra accepted it to some extent and Abu Ali Sina
(Avicenna) rejected it.)
He said
all birds, reptiles and other creatures of the world have their origin
in another world called "the world of forms". What exist in this world
are copies of the realities in that world.
Some
scholars have accepted Plato's "theory of forms" to some extent and some
have rejected it.
Mir Fendereski was a renowned Iranian philosopher, poet and mystic of
the
Safavid era.
He had some poems on the subject we are discussing:
Everything
you see in this world, like a beautiful and shining eye,is a face of
what exists in the world above.
If the face
here climbs the ladder of wisdom,it will be united with its origin.
Apparent
senses fail to comprehend this,even if Abu Nasr or Abu Ali Sina.
Plato's
viewpoint on Ruh (soul)
Cebes
believed the body has a connection with the soul. As soon as the body is
destroyed, the soul is destroyed too.
In the
next article we shall discuss how Plato rejected Cebes's viewpoint and
talked about
how Er, the son of Armenius, returned to life after death.
|