Raphael’s painting, “The school of Athens” is not merely a conglomeration of all of the philosophers of the time period, but includes a more profound amount of time, effort, and thought put into the placement and depiction of each of the characters. Each of the characters has been painted in a way that is reflective of their individual beliefs and philosophy. Though each individual was depicted as a specific philosopher from the time period there is still some debate over exactly which philosopher is which. There are at least ten of these philosophers who have been depicted so clearly that there is no argument as to the reasoning behind their portrayal. Some of the philosophers that were specifically painted in such a way were: Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Hypatia, Diogenes, Euclid, Heraclitus, Epicurus, Averroes, Parmenides, and Pythagoras. These philosophers all had different beliefs and ideas about the world, and each is placed into the painting in such a way that represents these ideas.
Plato is placed directly in the middle of the painting, walking beside Aristotle, and holding an animated conversation. Plato wears red clothing, wears no shoes, has long hair, and a long beard. In one hand he holds a book, while his other hand has a single index finger pointing toward the sky. Each of these characteristics describes Plato and his philosophy in a specific manner. The most obvious characteristic about Plato’s portrayal is his index finger pointing toward the sky. This seems to represent his philosophy about ideas, or forms. Plato believed that behind everything in the “sensible world” there is the “intelligible world” which consists of all of these forms and ideas. Plato believed that these forms are immutable, they are not ph...
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...g. He appears to be deep in thought, serious, and not exceedingly friendly. While Diogenes looks casual and open minded, Heraclitus appears to be segregating himself, whereas the other philosophers simply avoided Diogenes because of his many cynical ideas. Heraclitus is pictured the furthest forward in the painting because he played an instrumental role in the philosophy of Europe. Heraclitus played his role prior to Socrates and Plato, his ideas fundamental to the development of all of the other ideas that came at a later time. He is placed in the front because his role was largely significant in the development of all of the philosophy that was to come and though he is not associated with anyone else, it is clear that he is important by his placement in relation to all of the other important men and women that are positioned behind him in less important places.
In the School of Athens, Raphael portrayed the splendid scenes of philosophers, scientists and artists in this school. The school of Athens was set up by Plato, who is the ancient Greek idealistic philosopher. The central side of the picture is Plato and his disciple Aristotle, who have intense discussions. Although Plato's teacher, Socrates, was no longer alive when he founded the Academy of Athens, however, Raphael drawn Socrates in the left of a group of characters, to show the hierarchy of philosophy. Different gestures of them illustrated different idea on philosophy. Plato stretched out his finger pointing on the above represents the idealism
For hundreds of years, Plato has been admired as a writer, a master rhetorician, an artist, and above all, a philosopher; however, Plato's backlashes against sophistry and art have led to much confusion concerning his ideas and beliefs. John Poulakos says of Plato, "[F]or most rhetoricians Plato has always played the same role he assigned to the sophists--the enemy" (Nienkamp 1). Plato will always appear to be the skilled rhetorician or artist who speaks out against rhetoric and art. In Apology and Phaedrus we see the character of Socrates rail against writing because it can quickly get out of control of the author and just as easily be misinterpreted, yet Plato is known for his skillful dialogical writing. In reference to the Divided Line, Plato informs us that art is one of the lowest forms because it is no more than an illusion, yet Plato uses his artistic ability in "Simile of a Cave" to help us understand the journey to knowledge. This ambiguity within the texts leads to, what appears to be, Plato contradicting himself; however, to fully understand these contradictions we must ask ourselves, "Who is the real Plato?" Plato's contradictory nature and overall ambiguity make the lines of distinction between the writer, the rhetorician, the artist, and the philosopher become blurred, so it is difficult for anyone to understand or explain the real Plato.
Now that there is an understanding of the paintings and their history we will compare and contrast the elements of design of each painting. The first element of design that will be looked at is line. Line has two characteristics, one is direction and the other is linear quality. Direction of line is “related to our experience of gravity” (Notes). These lines can be either horizontal or vertical. Horizontal lines are calm and balanced lines as seen in “The Death of Socrates”. Vertical lines “defy gravity” (Notes) and contain dynamic lines. Dynamic lines are diagonal lines that give art work a sense of movement, implied action. They use of vertical lines is best seen in “The Death of Sardanapalus” because of the dynamic use of lines in the painting
The subject of The School of Athens is humanistic in and of itself. The Textbook Defines humanism in the glossary as “A philosophy emphasizing the worth of the individual, the rational abilities of humankind, and the human potential for good. During the Italian Renaissance, humanism was part of a movement that encouraged study of the classical cultures of Greece and Rome.” In this fresco, Raphael represents the worth and achievements of individuals, as well as the greatness of classical culture. The School of Athen...
The professor himself may be the most brilliant and captivating aspect of the painting. His gaze is piercing and the details of his features are very pronounced and picturesque. Upon looking at his face, one can see that his intellect is unquestionable, for his brow bends in a very discerning manner. The curls of his hair have the perfect amount of detail and his suit the perfect mount of folds. He is arguably the centerpiece of the painting with his respectable stature which conveys control and wisdom (with perhaps a hint of well-deserved
Therefore, many of the philosophers disagreed with each other and came up with very different answers for the same concepts. Plato also did not know the answers to all of the questions that arose in the pre-Socratic era. Plato decided to look back on the pre-Socratics era in particular at the philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides. He agreed with Heraclitus who believed our world is constantly changing and with Parmenides who believed that the real world is not the same as the world of our experience. Plato chose to look at materialism and also his theory of Forms in a two-world setting in order to attempt to answer the questions of the universe. The two worlds Plato is talking about are: a world that is in constant flux (the world we live in) and a world that is ever-changing (the real world, otherwise known as Forms). Plato’s Forms distinguishes things that are real from things in our mind that we perceive as real. Plato also made the argument that reality is different than our worldly experience. Plato believed that material objects can imitate the forms because they have order, however, Aristotle’s disagreed. However, Aristotle thought that Plato’s concept of “participation” didn’t make sense. Aristotle believed that the world we live in is our reality and he argued that Plato’s idea of forms
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
Plato’s view on existence can be understood by discussing his theory of Forms. The theory of Forms or Ideas is about the existence of ideas in higher form of reality, the existence of a reality inhabited by forms of all things and concepts. Plato used example of objects such as table and rock and concepts like Beauty and Justice to illustrate the notion of Forms. Plato further describes Forms as a being possessed by concepts. For example, Virtue has different characters; but they all have a common nature which makes them virtuous.
Perhaps one of the most defining and easily identifiable aspects of the ancient Greek culture was the immortalization of humans and gods in sculpture. Sculpture had existed in the world for thousands of years before the ancient Greeks made their stake in the art, but the Greeks added an entirely new set of aspects to their sculptures. Unlike the Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculpture centuries earlier, the Greeks set forth not just to capture the image of a man but to capture that which made him a man. The Greeks set in place three base tenants to display the tone of a sculpture. Through the use of Humanism, Realism, and Idealism the ancient Greeks were able to capture humans and gods forever in marble.
This painting has deviated from the standard Renaissance model in that it goes beyond depicting subjects and scene, and employs exaggerated form, color emphasis, abnormal planar depiction, and visual directionality. The aspects of this painting have become the embodiment of the story told and the characters there held. The artist has used various techniques of color, line, and juxtaposition in order to portray an idea which supersedes the sum of its parts, and thereby leads the viewer through a thought.
Plato: When we discuss Forms we are not talking about something that is truly real but something that we would see or grasp intellectually. The idea of it is that what you are looking at may not be the true form of which you are looking at it. When you draw a circ...
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.
More importantly, Plato sets up an interesting epistemological, metaphysical, and aesthetical idea revolving around this idea of Forms. Can a beautiful woman be completely beautiful? Or is she only somewhat beautiful with minor imperfections? Can we base our knowledge on something that is only partially true? How do we know what is true beauty? Can beauty be a pure or absolute truth? In there something outside of our own existence which dictates beauty? In Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment, he tries to argue for beauty as a subjective feeling with some universal validity. According to Kant, the nature and existence of God are unknowable to us and so too are the idea of the Argument of Design (the Argument of Design is one where the patterns and perfection in nature suggests that there is an intelligent designer) and so therefore our judgements of beauty are based on subjective feelings with some universal validity. If beauty were an objective property held by nature, then how were these objects made to be beautiful? This can be related back to the idea of the beautiful woman. Our judgement of beauty is one made with feelings and there is universality to those feelings. Our judgement of beauty is universal because it is disinterested in us as an individual. That is to say that our own individual wants and
First, Plato believed that ideas are the realist things in the world. What we see in our daily life is not reality; sense perceptions are only appearances. And appearances are unreliable material copies of the immaterial pure ideas. Thus to him the world of the ideas is reasonable and fixed and holds the truth. While the world of physical appearances is variable and irrational, and it only bears reality to the extent that it succeeds in capturing the idea. To live the best life that you can and to be happy and do good, as a person you have to strive to understand and imitate the ideas as best as you can. So, with this philosophy in mind we can understand why Plato considered art as just a mindless pleasure. He viewed art as just an imitation.
Plato is one of the most important people in the history of Philosophy. Throughout his life, he had made many contributions to the world of philosophy, but the most important contribution that he is most known for is his theory of the Ideas or Forms. Throughout his many works such as the Phaedo and Symposium, he presented his theory of Ideas by using both mythos and logos in his argument for support.