English subtitles for clip: File:Ikusgela – Platon.webm

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ACADEMY

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That's the name we give to secondary
or tertiary education institutions.

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Academy is also a body of
established opinion in a particular field.

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But the name is a bit older,

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it was coined about
2400 years ago.

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It was the name that the
philosopher Plato gave his school,

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in honor of the
mythological hero Academus.

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The name he gave his
school has come down to us,

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but also the echo of many of the
ideas that Plato developed there.

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Plato was born in
Athens in 427 BC.

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He received the education
that corresponds to a wealthy

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family member in the
advanced Greek civilization.

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At the age of 20,
he met Socrates.

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And he was marveled, so he
decided that he would be his student.

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From then on, he dedicated himself
to studying philosophy and truth.

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Plato was critical with
the idea of democracy

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also with the main creators of
opinion of the time: the sophists.

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The sophists dominated
the art of oratory.

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Within a Greek
civilization in decline,

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they claimed that
everything is relative.

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Plato, on the contrary, searched for
truths that would bring order out of chaos,

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also the definitive
version of Good.

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At the age of 40, he opened his
school called the Academy in Athens.

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In it he educated those who
should be politicians and rulers.

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He was professor of philosophy
of Aristotle, among others.

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Socrates used dialogues
with two opposing opinions,

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called dialectics,
to develop ideas,

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and Plato also used
himself that technique.

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Furthermore:

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Plato wrote his texts with
Socrates as a character within them.

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The concepts that he developed in his
texts can be summarized in four main ideas:

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1- Ontological dualism:

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the world of the senses
vs the world of the ideas.

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Plato defended a dualistic point of
view, and divided the world in two.

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The world of the senses is one that
can be perceived through the senses.

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It is made up of material things,
and our opinions and beliefs.

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The objects that make up that
world are changing, they are in motion

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and, therefore, what we
can affirm about those objects

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will never be
the ultimate truth.

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Plato does not deny that
there is a world of senses;

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what he claims is, precisely,

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that because that world is
changeable and imperfect,

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it can't be trust.

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The opposed to the world of the
senses is the world of the ideas.

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We reach to know the world, the true
world, through reason and intelligence,

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not through objects which
occupy a given space and time.

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Ideas are perfect,
immutable and persistent.

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This can be explained
with a simple example:

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if we analyze a specific
horse through the senses,

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it will always change.

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It will grow old and
eventually die, or it

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will change its behavior
with its environment.

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The idea of "the horse", however,
is made up of absolute truths.

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The idea of "the horse" does
not grow old, it does not change,

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it has qualities that are
immutable and indubitable.

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2- Epistemological dualism:

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opinion vs knowledge.

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Plato divides knowledge in two,
just as he does with the world.

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He proposed two kinds:

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first,

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pure opinion or doxa.

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This is received by the
senses or through our tradition.

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The other one

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it is the episteme
or real knowledge.

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It is what is acquired
through reason.

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Philosophy's duty is to try
to get the real knowledge.

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3- Dialectics and the
allegory of the cave.

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Dialectic is the method
proposed and used by Plato

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to get closer to knowledge.

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It is based on a series of
questions and answers or dialogues.

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Opinions and beliefs must
be examined and tested,

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to see if they
are duly justified.

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When we do it, unwarranted
opinions are pushed aside.

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We will then work with opinions
that have passed that exam,

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gradually accumulating correct
opinions and getting closer to the truth.

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Following this method, we
will try to know the Good.

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Plato uses the allegory of the
cave to try to explain this process.

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He imagines some humans
who are tied up in a cave.

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Behind them there there's fire,
and those humans see no more

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than the shadows
produced by that fire.

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The cave is a metaphor
about our cities and society,

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and those humans are you and me.

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Those shadows, for their part, are
what we perceive with our senses:

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simple opinions,

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They are not,
therefore, reality.

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If a cave human
were to break free,

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they might decide to run away.

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But getting out of the
cave is not easy at all,

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since the eye of that human
is not used to outside light.

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That is why the road will
be tiresome and difficult.

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This is, according to Plato,
the path to knowledge.

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First, one has to free oneself,
get away from mere opinions,

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and then walk the
long and complicated

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exit path from the
cave through dialectics.

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Only in this way can one come to
know the idea of "good" and behave justly.

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4- Anthropological
dualism: body and soul

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Plato also divides the
human being in two:

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body and soul.

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The soul is eternal
and immortal.

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The body, however, is mortal,

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the prison and tomb of the soul.

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According to Plato,

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the soul exists
since before birth,

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and can incarnate
again after death.

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Only the body is born and dies.

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It recognizes three parts
or functions to the soul.

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First, you have the
rational function:

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represents the superior
capacity of the human being.

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Its basis is the ability
to think and know.

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The second is the
passionate function.

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His qualities are to
face things that are bad

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and has the courage
to defend the good ones.

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The third, lastly,

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is the concupiscent function.

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Its qualities are pleasure,
pain, or the survival instinct,

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and feel the passion
for material goods.

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According to the weight that
each of these functions have

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every human being will
be one way or another.

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According to Plato,

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to act well is to
act with knowledge,

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the rational function is
the one that should prevail

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at the end of the day, if we want
to reach the truth and act well.

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Therefore, those who want
to rule must have that quality.

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These are, briefly, the bases of the
thought of the Greek philosopher Plato.

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2400 years have passed since
these ideas were written down.

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Have we left the cave yet?

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Or are we still looking at
the shadows on the wall?