THE IDEAL MAN

PLATONIC IDEALISM

PLATONIC IDEALISM

• Man, in his present earthly existence, is only an imperfect copy of his real original self, the perfect man, in the realm of ideas,

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• By KNOWING & RECALLING of the “former perfect self,” by constant imitation of the ideal self, plus practice of virtue, one can regain the former perfect self which was lost during earthly exile & imprisonment in the body as punishment for sin!

Man’s perfection consists in constant recollection & imitation of the “former self!”

PLATONIC IDEALISM

• Is the theory that the substantive reality around us is only a reflection of a higher Truth.

PLATONIC IDEALISM

• Plato believed that Ideas were more Real than Things; he developed a vision of 2 worlds: A world of Unchanging Ideas & A world of Changing Physical Objects.

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What we see are not real, they come & go..they are only the external manifestations, reflections & replicas of the unseen universal..

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Immutable and eternal idea..man in the realm of ideas..

PLATONIC IDEALISM

• In such a perfect state as pure mind, man knew all things by direct intuition!

PLATONIC IDEALISM

• For Plato, Man was omniscient, all-knowing, before he came to be born into this world!

THE PERFECT MODEL

• Man has a guiding star, a model, a paradigm, a “Divine Examplar.”

The Perfect Model

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• In practical terms: Imitation of the “former self;” living a life of virtue; happiness is the fruit of virtue attainable thru constant imitation of the Divine Examplar of Virtue!

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PATHWAYS TO IMITATION

FOR PLATO..

SIGNALS OF TRANSCENDENCE

LITTLE FLASHES OF LIGHT...

Argument from Order

Human beings are able to see reality not as chaos

Reality is seen as an orderly existence

An orderly existence that is reliable & trusted

An orderliness which we can comprehend not just in practical sense but in a cosmic sense

One signal (that there is something that transcends us)..

..is the reality that we can see..and postulate..a more orderly world..

Argument from Play

OUR ABILITY TO AND OUR NEED FOR PLAY

• That human ability or need w/c enables us to step outside serious reality & set up situations that respond to rules that we ourselves ( not the cosmos, not God), set up!

OUR ABILITY TO AND OUR NEED FOR PLAY

• We leave ordinary time behind!

OUR ABILITY TO AND OUR NEED FOR PLAY

• Non-existent time or let us say, eternity becomes possible to us!

OUR ABILITY TO AND OUR NEED FOR PLAY

• Observe the children..life of a biker..or a gambler..

OUR ABILITY TO AND OUR NEED FOR PLAY

• Their invented reality lifts them out of ordinary reality into a world in which time seems to stop..

Argument from Hope

THE HUMAN PROPENSITY FOR HOPE

• We are, after all, oriented towards the future in a way that often refuses to recognize physical limitations and impossibilities!

THE HUMAN PROPENSITY FOR HOPE

• Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is NOTHING!

THE HUMAN PROPENSITY FOR HOPE

• In a profound way, we refuse to allow our awareness of death to smother our sense of life!

THE HUMAN PROPENSITY FOR HOPE

• Our awareness of our own deaths can orient us toward the future in such fashion that we work for “things to come” more urgently..

Argument from Damnation

THE CONCEPT OF DAMNATION

• Our ability to damn something or someone in our own minds, to consign them to the inner recesses of hell..

THE CONCEPT OF DAMNATION

• Indicates our awareness of a dimension of life that extends beyond our usual approving & disapproving, beyond our usual yea & nay attitudes..

THE CONCEPT OF DAMNATION

• Assumes that certain acts & experiences are so fundamentally inhuman that the only adequate response is one of absolute condemnation of the offense as well as the offender!

THE CONCEPT OF DAMNATION

• Failure to do so would be not only a challenge to the sovereign character of justice but even more a “fatal impairment of humanity’s.”

THE CONCEPT OF DAMNATION

• Monstrously evil deeds (heinous crimes) are condemned prima facie by society!

There are deeds that demand not only condemnation, but damnation in the full religious meaning of the word..

The evil doer not only puts himself outside the community of men; he also separates himself in a final way from a moral order that transcends the human community & thus invokes a retribution that is more than human..

PLATONIC IDEALISM IN SUMMARY

• Plato constructed his own philosophy upon foundations laid by his predecessors in Metaphysical Thought..

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• From Protagoras, Plato accepted the relativity of perception & the mere appearance of phenomenal objects;

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• But unlike Protagoras, Plato accepted “ontos (True Being),” & “Ousia (real essence),” perhaps from Parmenides & Pythagoras.

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• From Democritus, Plato obtained the concept of phenomena, the concept that perception offers transient reality, an actuality, a semblance of reality, or the manner in which reality is revealed to us through our senses.

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• From Parmenides, Plato learned that thought or reason penetrates phenomena or appearance to reach & disclose reality itself (True Being).

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• From Pythagoras, Plato gained insight into Platonic Ideals; principles ideal in nature, mathematically precise, eternal, immutable & independent of temporal or spatial limitations.

TWO LEVELS & TYPES OF REALITY

• Lower: acquired thru sense perception; transient, imperfect, & at best, a copy or approximation of the higher;

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• (2) The Higher: ultimately real; is ideal, possesses true Being, perfection & is grasped by the intellect.