Reflection 13

Plato believed in idealism. According to Plato, the world is just a copy of an ideal world. This means that things only exist because an idea of them exists in our minds. The first principle of idealism is absolute truth. Plato taught that there's truth in everything, and that one should hunt for truth because it is infallible and everlasting.

The second principle of idealism was developed because Plato did not believe in materialism. He felt that if the elenchus was used, it could help people become less materialistic. His third principle was developed because Plato felt that knowledge was not nature but nurture. Although, he believed that the soul is born with knowledge but when placed in a body, the knowledge is lost. This left the person a lifetime to search and recapture this knowledge.

Plato once said that if something could change forms then it was not real. This belief however is outdated. Science today proves that although something may change, it is still real. Plato also believed in immortality of the soul. He thought the soul was around long before birth and holds all the knowledge because of this, when we are born, the knowledge escapes the soul and we are lank a blank sheet of paper.

We know nothing and have to learn all the things we once knew in our souls all over again. He also believed that the soul cannot die; his theory was it is there before the human body and it will be there after the human body. According to Plato the human body dies, but the soul does not. Plato's argument was "death must come from life and life from death."

Plato has impacted modern Western education in many different areas. His sayings [quotes], beliefs, and dialects have been considered and even used in raising children today. Plato believed that children should not be raised by their parents but by society. In a way that is what we're doing today.

Today, teachers have taken the role that parents used to play in the lives of children back in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamian times. Teachers basically raise children today if you look at in a metaphorical sense. Whereas parents spent the majority of the time with children, teachers now spend that time with children after age three. So in just one of his quotes, Plato has impacted western education in a major way.