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Plato in art
Plato's impact on human nature
Plato's impact on human nature
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In Greek culture around the time of Plato, the perfect ideal person was considered.
Plato’s idea that there was a perfect world of ideas affected this pieces subject and the subject’s action. Many works of his time period were sculptures that were meant to be viewed from all angles, attempting to be a closer match to that of the ideal. This idea that the ideal world was real and what matter not the physical also effect the actions depicted in many works of this time period. Most of the works are depicting an ideal Greek person performing a noble act not just a common act. Many of the works are also just a still image of a figure from a single moment in time. All of the male sculptures appear in the nude because they represent a perfect man with nothing to hide. These are some of the artistic conventions that were influenced by Plato’s ideas. There are many different aspects of
Greek art that can be accredited to Plato for creating. Among them was the "Perfect" figure that resented the ideal person that existed in the world of ideas. The definition of what a perfect person was developed by Plato.
Plato believed that the physical world did not matter. It was the form in the ideal world and this value of form and thought can be seen throughout many of the works of art.
Plato said that in the physical world we did not see the real object we only saw a shadow of it. The art of this time period showed form and subject that were far more perfect than one could actually exist in the real would in an attempt to represent the world of ideas. All of these aspects together confirm that Plato has a major influence on Greek art of the time.
Throughout human existence, the subject of love has also been of great fascination to many. Questions such as : "What is love?" and "What is the work of love?" are some of great questions of the universe that has transcended time; yet with no absolute answers.
There is perhaps no correct answers to the phenomena of love. It exists in many strata. It is perpetually subject to debate, for we all are experts of love in our own rights. In The
Symposium, Plato gave accounts of speeches from different speakers. Yet the focus of this essay is on Aristophanes and Socrates. Their explanations of love and critical comments t...
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...od. Most of the works are depicting an ideal Greek person performing a noble act not just a mundane common act. Many of the works are also just a still image of a figure from a single moment in time. All of the male sculptures appear in the nude because they represent a perfect man with nothing to hide. These are some of the artistic conventions that were influenced by
Plato’s ideas. There are many different aspects of Greek art that can be accredited to Plato for creating. Among them was the "Perfect" figure that resented the ideal person that existed in the world of ideas. The definition of what a perfect person was developed by Plato. Plato believed that the physical world did not matter it was the form in the ideal world and this value of form and thought can be seen throughout many of the works of art. Plato said that in the physical world we did not see the real object we only saw a shadow of it. The art of this time period showed form and subject that were far more perfect than one could actually exist in the real would in an attempt to represent the world of ideas. All of these aspects together confirm that Plato has a major influence on Greek art of the time.
a way to express how they were feeling so they put their words into paintings and sculptures.
...r. "Ancient Greece." Gardner's art through the ages the western perspective. 13th ed., Backpack ed. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 101, 123,129. Print.
The Greek’s images also possessed two important ideas that brought the soul of the artist and subject to the surface while still capturing the passion and action of the movement and story: noble simplicity and quiet grandeur. Greek images contained faces that were full of expression but were also balanced because they were not overcome by pain or passion because they still had nobility of soul which creates a sense of tranquility even in the midst of rage, fervor, or desire.
He argues that non-physical forms or ideas represent the most accurate reality. There exists a fundamental opposition between in the world like the object as a concrete, sensible object and the idea or concept of the objects. Forms are typically universal concepts. The world of appearance corresponds to the body. The world of truth corresponds with the soul. According to Plato, for any conceivable thing or property there is a corresponding Form, a perfect example of that or property is a tree, house, mountain, man, woman, Table and Chair, would all be examples of existing abstract perfect Ideas. Plato says that true and reliable knowledge rests only with those who can comprehend the true reality behind the world of everyday experience. In order to perceive the world of the Forms, individuals must undergo a difficult
Upon examination of these three prominent works, a clear overarching metaphor can be seen; pattern change, as illustrated through astronomy, nature (phases), and the metaphors of the sun, light and the heavens; pattern to change. The overarching metaphor can be found most prominently with the loudest of Plato’s themes; reflection. He writes that only through reflection, the act of turning around, retracing our steps, recalling/investigating our memories, examining boundaries we can achieve enlightenment-akin to reason and knowledge.
Plato was born in Athens, Greece around 427 B.C. He was always interested in politics, until he witnessed his mentor and teacher, Socrates, death. After learning of the callousness of politics, Plato changed his mind and eventually opened up The Academy, which is considered if not the first, one of the first Universities. Students at the Academy studied many different fields of science, including biological and astronomical. The students also studied many other fields, such as math. Plato developed many views that were mathematical in nature. He expressed these views through his writings. According to Dr. Calkins of Andrew University, "Timaeus is probably the most renowned of Plato's thirty-five dialogues. [In it] Plato expresses that he believes that the heavenly bodies are arranged in perfect geometric form. He said that because the heavens are perfect, the various heavenly bodies move in exact circles." (Calkins 1). Of course that is a much summarized view of what Plato discusses in Timaeus, but still a solid view on Plato's beliefs about cosmology. Cosmology can be loosely defined as everything being explained and in its place or beautiful. The cosmos is beautiful because everything is perfect. Plato understood that when he defined the most perfect geometric design as the circle. In a circle one line is always equidistance from one point. In Plato's universe there are two realms, eternity and time. The factor that creates "time" out of the chaos of "eternity" is the Demiurge. Plato's Demiurge can be defined as an architect creator theological entity. The importance of the Demiurge in this paper is to compare and contrast him with Boethius's God in The Consolation of Philosophy.
Another thing to remember, is the fact that art reflects and belongs to the period and culture from which it spawned...
Plato examined the difference between the untrustworthy and changing world of the senses and that of the permanent truths that could only be found through rational thought. The unchanging elements of geometry were the measures of this ideal, permanent thought-world. This union of logic with geometry laid the foundations of the Western way of life. (Pg.17, The Day The Universe Changed)
Through the influence of Socrates, who believed that true knowledge (episteme) comes from knowing that you know nothing, Plato introduced his “theory of forms” into the world of metaphysics. For the first time, Plato presented the concept of “abstract objects” and began to question their nature. He used the term “forms”, which were also referred to as ideas (eidos), to describe these objects that lack a spatial location. Plato’s theory is based off of the concept that these forms are considered to be “perfect” examples. Although Plato was uncertain of the nature of the forms, he was certain of what they are not. According to Plato, forms are not observable by senses and they are unchangeable. He also describes forms as the fundamental reality, and says that they are eternal (Kraut PDF 41). As he continued to
Plato's first argument for his idea that Forms are universals uses mathematics and the sciences to explain his theory. According to Plato, science is the 'body of universal and necessary truths' (Jones 125). Jones also pointed out Plato's view that since math is a science, 'there must be forms to be the objects of mathematical knowledge.' "Nothing other than eternal, unchanging forms can qualify to be the objects of scientific knowledge." (Jones 125) Plato also described mathematical objects as being universals and separate substances (Cherniss 180).
With these rejected definitions in mind, Plato’s theory of knowledge, one that is grounded in idealism , calls for the separation of form and matter as well the existence of two worlds: the world of appearances and the world of intelligibly. The Platonic theory of knowledge states that knowledge is achieved through the ascension of, what Plato calls, the Plateaus of Kno...
According to Plato, his Theory of Forms states perfection only lives in the realm of thought. There only exists one of every ideal and the rest is just a copy. This one creation is called a form, the most flawless representation of an idea. In the physical world everything is a copy of these forms and all copies are imperfect. Plato believed in two worlds; the intelligible world and the illusionistic world. The intelligible world is where everything is unchanging and eternal. We can only grasp the intelligible world with our mind. It is the world of ideas and not senses. A place where there are perfect forms of the things we know on Earth. According to Plato everything in the world we live in is an illusion. All objects are only shadows of their true forms. His theory further states every group of objects that have the same defying properties must have an ideal form. For example, in the class of wine glasses there must be one in particular that is the ideal wine glass. All others would fall under this ideal form.
My paper takes as the starting point for its argument the traditional interpretation (and classic criticism) of Platonic metaphysics as a two worlds view of reality: one world, that which includes this room of people, i.e., the here and now which is characterized by change, disorder, conflict, coming to be and passing out of being, corruption, etc.; and another world, located who knows where, but certainly not identical to what we see around us at present, the realm of changelessness and order, ontological perdurance, harmony, unity: Plato's "plain of Truth", the residence of the forms. In light of these two worlds, the Platonic philosopher's wisdom, whatever it may be, must be a wisdom not of this world. Indeed, did not Plato's Socrates himself say that his life— the philosophical life— was the art of practising death? Should that Socrates— or anyone who professes to be a Platonic philosopher— show up at, let us say, the World Congress of
According to Plato, the familiar world of objects which surrounds us, and which we apprehend by our senses, is not independent and self sufficient. Indeed, it is not the real world, because it is dependent upon another world, the realm of pure forms or ideas, which can be apprehended only by reason and not by our bodily sense perceptions. This world of forms being changeless and eternal, alone constitutes reality. It is the world of essence, unity and universality, whereas the physical world is characterized by perpetual change and decay. (Habib, 21)
ONCE UPON A TIME, visual art was simple: it originated with an artist’s conception and craft, which the viewer acknowledged and then strove to understand while standing before the object