Plato and Descartes: philosophical perspectives and influence

Plato and Descartes

Plato concept of innate goodness and Descartes descriptions of human reasoning for being good both provide a foundation for man's need to better understand the basic and spiritual goodness found within human nature. In Plato's Republic, he provides many anthologies that help one to discover their own goodness. Descartes gives many logical reasons within his work, Meditations, that help to explain why the human mind reflects God's natural ability to be good, but when human error occurs, the ability to have a pure mind disappears. This paper will discuss the similarities of Plato's and Descartes' concept of man's ability to be good.

Book VI of The Republic defines Plato's concept of "good" and provides many various descriptions to help guide others to better understand the nature of what it means to be "good." Plato's idea of "being good" eventually will lead to an "end in itself" and thus becomes the basic reasoning that is used to determine people's actions in various situations (Bloom, 1991).

Plato explains that everyone is basically good however; they may become influenced by outside reasoning that will hinder their judgment and create bad situations. When one searched deep enough, it is discovered that good ill prevail over the evil within.

Descartes provided insight within his writings of Meditations.

He explains that while reasoning and mathematical logic provided many answers to principal concerns of philosophy, the existence of the human soul provides a basis for the truth. He also believed that there is a relationship between man's body and his soul creating an inner desire to remain good and connected to God.

Plato used many of Socrates' examples to better explain of the idea of "the good" within Book VI of The Republic. Socrates' view is clearly stated that while there are many goods, there is only one 'the good', and 'the good' is easily understood when you think of it as an idea. Socrates also implies that all other goods come under a single heading, meaning that they are all a part of the greater good. His last line is important to the definition of the idea of 'the good' because, if his opinion is to be believed, we cannot see 'the good', we can only think it in our minds and feel it in the depths of our being.

The good" is completed as an abstract idea.

Descartes' beliefs are very similar to Socrates. Descartes believed that dreams became reality if one perceives the images within their awakened state of mind. If one brings their pure ideas from a sleeping state to their awakened world, then they are able to reach a realm of pure ideas.

Pure ideas provide a logical state for the "good" of man's spirit and help to create a thinking frame of mind. Descartes believes that man gains a more subjective view when delivered from evil ideas and images, while also gaining a better insight within his own soul.

Knowledge is questioned in The Republic, and the study of the principles of justice and the other virtues is speculated. Plato explains that Socrates shows his disagreement by stating that the greatest study is the concept of being good. One should first know what is good because otherwise nothing is worthwhile. The Greeks believed that the greatest knowledge must be that people should have values and morals toward what humanity holds dear and values in life. The ideas of truth, justice, and beauty are only a few of the good ideas that are presented in the highest form of goodness. Book VI goes on to emphasize that a knowledgeable person is working on becoming an overall "good" person with the idea that all people are basically good. Belief in a purely objective understanding of such concepts such as justice, love, and virtue, and the self-knowledge that he gained, were the basis of his teachings.

Descartes also experiences these ideas and beliefs. His writings express that goodness is a combination of both matter and spirit. He rationalized man's spirituality through the use of scientific reasoning. While matter or man's body is part of the physical world, man's mind is part of a spiritual world. With this philosophy, Descartes earns the title of being a dualist. He believed that while matter can be explained and rationalized, and that God's hands created the spiritual world that we are shaped after. Man depends on God's power and although we are part of this human material world, our spirit should work toward remaining pure and good.

Plato explains that most people believe that human pleasure is the greatest good. However, human pleasure may be derived from evils such as, such as drinking excessively or committing adultery. All vices or bad "pleasures" were the result of the lack of knowledge, and no person is willingly bad. With knowledge comes virtue and those who have been taught to know the right from wrong will act rightly, thus remaining "good." His method of reasoning gained emphasis on rational arguments while pursuing the quest for general definitions. In return, he believed that people should follow the law set before them, even when unjust because in his belief, "That was the "right" way to live" (Economist, 1988).