Give an account of Plato’s myth of the cave and explain its philosophical meaning.

5. Give an account of Plato’s myth of the cave and explain its philosophical meaning. Be sure to include in this account his theory of the universal ideal forms as the patterns for the particular objects presented to our senses. Why does he think that the ideal forms are real and the sensory objects are illusory? Why does he think that all knowledge of universals is due to recollection? Are you convinced that he is right that our knowledge of universals must be innate? Why or why not? Give reasons for holding your view.

6. Give an account of Aristotle’s theory of essences, and how to grasp the essence of a thing, by examining a paradigm case, which excels at expressing it, rather than getting at the characteristics which all members of a type have in common. Why does he see the essence as defined by its telos or function? Take the definition of man by specific difference as being a rational animal and a political animal and spell out the elitist implications of it, which allowed Aristotle to exclude women and enslaved people from citizenship, due supposedly to their lack of rational capacity rather than their lacking the opportunity to excel. What do you think of this? Give reasons for holding your view.

7. Give an account of Descartes’ negative method of hyperbolic doubt and his positive method of rebuilding the house of knowledge upon a firm foundation. Do you think he is right that when we have a clear and distinct rational intuition that an assertion must be true and could not possibly be false, we can be absolutely sure that it is indeed true? How does he regard truth and why is certainty so important to him? Is he right to think that even if there were an “evil genius” out to deceive him, he can be certain that “I am, I exist, is necessarily true each time I pronounce it, or that I mentally conceive it”. Why or why not? Give reasons for holding your view.