- What are the precepts of Platonic dualism?
- Line theory
- Why, according to Plato, should we yearn, think and act from the eidos?
- Platonic dualism from anthropology
- References
The Platonic dualism proposes that our world is divided by an invisible line where the important and permanent things are located (called eidos or world of ideas), and secondly passing things, ephemeral and insignificant (doxa, opinion or sensible world).
According to Plato, we must strive daily to reach and elevate our spirit, so that we only think and observe from the eidos or that world of ideas. Also, in Plato there is no relative truth, because based on this dualism, the truth is one and is on the upper side of the line.
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in having knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and shows gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms.
Philosophical dualism refers to different beliefs that the world is dominated or divided by two supreme forces that are intrinsic and sometimes opposed to each other.
These doctrines seek to explain how the universe was created and founded. However, there are other theories a little less formal that simply explain the existence of two different laws and ordinances in the world, which can coexist without any problem.
There are different authors such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Aristotle, Anaxagoras, Descartes and Kant, who have exposed their way of thinking and conceiving the world. With different theories such as that the world is divided into a kind of odd and even force, friendship and hatred, good and evil, chaos with intelligence, emptiness with fullness, etc.
However, one of the most important contributions in this area was made by the Greek philosopher Plato.
What are the precepts of Platonic dualism?
In Plato's book The Republic, we can find all his theories about dualism from both an ontological and an anthropological perspective.
Line theory
Ontologically, Plato explains and exposes the theory that lived reality is divided into two opposite poles. It is here where the famous and called "line theory" is created.
At the top of the line are all passing things, the visible and tangible, our emotions and perceptions. On this side of the line, Plato calls it the doxa, the sensible or visible world.
Known as eidos, at the bottom of the line, Plato disposes of those eternal and timeless entities, which will never pass away and will always remain. On this side, there is objectivity and the true essence of things is found. Also, it can be called the world of ideas.
It should be noted that Plato at no time denies or denies the existence of any of these realities. Simply, it locates and gives more importance to the world of ideas or intelligible because it considers that there is the true meaning of our existence, which is to raise our spirit until we can walk in the eidos and not contaminate our life by something so simple and ordinary like doxa.
The problem with the doxa and the sensible world is that it is full of imperfects and our experiences, prejudices, opinions and appearances are always present, acting as a kind of filter that prevents us from grasping what is truly essential.
Why, according to Plato, should we yearn, think and act from the eidos?
As mentioned above, Plato proposes that our true meaning to exist is found when we reach the eidos, but what are the reasons that support this approach?
Since on the sensitive side the passing predominates, in the eidos or intelligible world, there are no personalized or partial realities. Really on this side you can find the truth (understanding this as something permanent and immutable) and perfection.
Plato claimed and affirmed that when you think and act from the eidos, the ideas are real and durable, and that is precisely what differentiates the doxa from the eidos, the opinion of the truth.
Finally, it is important to mention that it is stated that from the world of ideas, thoughts are not isolated from each other, but are formed by a conglomerate related to each other.
Platonic dualism from anthropology
With more or less similar thoughts, but from an anthropological perspective, Plato establishes dualism in human existence. He considers that man has two totally opposite entities.
The first is our body, which, thinking about it from the allegory of the line explained above, belongs to the sensible world, because it is temporary and changing.
Second, there is the soul, considered as that intangible, divine and eternal element that ties us to life. This belongs to the world of ideas, because it never changes and for the Greek philosopher, it is immortal.
Therefore, man should feel more identified with his soul than with his body. In fact, the body is thought to be a kind of prison that binds us and prevents us from showing our true essence and capturing that of other people. The body passes, but the soul remains. The first is a transitory thing, the second is something eternal.
Joining this thought to another quite famous allegory of the philosopher, it does not matter what life we have lived: the goal is to ignore the shadows and get out of the caves. This is the true way to exist according to rational thought and ignoring, established by Plato.
It is definitely not easy to put aside our subjectivity and try to reach a new spiritual level. Perhaps Plato was utopian and therefore impossible to carry out.
However, if each person made an effort to live, act and think from the eidos, society would be totally different and we would achieve the common good.
It does not hurt to make an effort (however extraordinary it may be) to live from the rational and abandon passing things, dispense with the senses, partialities, subjectivities and focus on the true essence of things, and more deeply, of life itself.
This change of thought and way of living can only be possible through dialectics, considered as a technique that is capable of taking the person from the world of the sensible to fully reaching the intelligible and understanding the concept of the common good.
References
- Broadie, S. (2001, June). XIV * -Soul and Body in Plato and Descartes. In Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (Vol. 101, No. 1, pp. 295-308). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Recovered from: academic.oup.com
- Dussel, E. (2012). Dualism in the anthropology of Christianity. Editorial Teaching. Recovered from: library.clacso.edu.ar
- Fierro, MA (2013). Incarnate soul-loving body ”in Plato's Phaedo. In the footsteps of Plato and Platonism in modern philosophy, 7. Recovered from: academia.edu
- Gerson, LP (1986). Platonic dualism. The Monist, 69 (3), 352-369. Recovered from: jstor.org
- Heller, S. (1983). Apuleius, Platonic dualism, and eleven. The American Journal of Philology, 104 (4), 321-339. Recovered from: jstor.org
- Priest, S. (1991). Theories of the Mind. Recovered from: philpapers.org
- Robinson, T. (2000). The Defining Features of Mind-Body Dualism in the Writings of Plato. Recovered from: repositorio.pucp.edu.pe.