PLATO:
Metaphysics: 2 levels of reality: sensible (tree) and intelligible (forms). Forms are essences of the sensible world. Moving up on a graph it would be sensibleàintelligibleàhigher forms (beauty, character, etc)àHighest form(good). The nature of sensible reality is that: 1)It is changing all the time 2)It can perish. It is an inferior reality because it is fleeting. Intelligible reality is 1)Permanent 2)Eternal. These notions are independent of us. Form of tree is like a definition of the word (“treeness”). Higher forms definitions exist independent of opinion. If I call a chair beautiful, people would think I have a warped sense of the meaning, so isn’t there some true definition? Ruler has knowledge of these formsàKnowledge vs. Opinion. This links with Allegory of Cave: The business inside the cave is sensible (opinion). Shadows are the sensible reality. All of us are chained to this reality. Outside is intelligible (knowledge). This realm consists of the forms. No longer looking at shadows but at the real thing. People are chained because they resist the pursuit of such forms. Sox Epistemology also links in here. In humans your soul is trapped in your body. The soul contains all knowledge from birth. Your soul is “chained” by bodily desires. Must unlock this by questioning and answering. Higher forms require more time. Theory of recollection. Philosopher is only one to attempt this, which is why they are the ruler (they are just because they have mastered bodily desires). You require knowledge by thinking. Philosophers can think more/longer due to mastery of bodily desires, which comes from education.
Nietzsche
-The first essay Nietzsche wrote tells us the story of the history of morality. Good to us religiously now means we are egoless (you, not me), ...