Assignment on Plato's Metaphysical Epistemology [PDF]

Running head: PLATO’S METAPHYSICS AND SKEPTICISM
PLATO’S METAPHYSICS AND SKEPTICISM
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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PLATO’S METAPHYSICS AND SKEPTICISM
Introduction
Plato is considered one of the geniuses of philosophy. The disciple of Socrates, Plato
wrote a great deal about philosophy and its various forms. The works he has done in the field of
philosophy some of which include, the work on human knowledge, ethics and art, give indication
of his genius. Metaphysics is one of the most important parts of philosophy along with ethics and
epistemology especially for the disciples of Plato (Prior, 2012). The world of philosophy has
gained tremendously from the teaching of Plato especially relating to metaphysics. Defining
metaphysics however is not easy because it has different connotations in different branches of
study. In philosophy, metaphysics, also known as ontology, refers to that branch that answers the
question, “What is there?” (Teloh, 1981)
Plato states that humans earn crucial knowledge through the knowledge of the universe.
This leads to the most crucial learning that Plato has offered the world, the knowledge of the
metaphysics. Plato claimed that the “universals must be knowable” or it would push the
humanity back to the ages of evolution and no difference would be left between humans and
animals (Carpenter, 2008). However, for the universals to be knowable, they must exist and
humans have to be sure about their existence. When the humans would know that the universals
exist, then only could they know about it. This raises the question as to where and in what way
do the universals exist.
This question led to Skepticism, a part of metaphysics. Skepticism, in its general sense
refers to the attitude of questioning or raising doubts about the supposed beliefs and knowledge.
In most cases, skepticism is directed towards the principles of morality, the supernatural, religion

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PLATO’S METAPHYSICS AND SKEPTICISM
and knowledge (Zilioli, 2015). Therefore, skepticism has been further categorized into
philosophical, religious, scientific, and professional skepticism.
The aim of this essay is to discuss elaborately about Greek skepticism, in particular, as
part of Plato’s metaphysics. The essay will first discuss Plato’s ideas about metaphysics, evaluate
its relevance in today’s world and analyze its limitations if any. Further, the essay will discuss
skepticism from the perspective of Plato’s metaphysics. The chief aim of the essay is to argue
that the metaphysical learning of Plato has been crucial in understanding the Greek skepticism.
The essay will provide detailed explanation of the various forms of skepticism to understand
Greek skepticism in details.
Discussion on Plato’s metaphysics
When Plato began his studies on the universals, he found that for universals to be
knowable they must have a valid existence and the humans must their whereabouts. This issue
was termed by Plato as the the problem of the universals (Sorabji, 2017). Now, people might
argue that there should be no question regarding the existence of things like men or ‘manness’
because the characteristics of all men are there for everyone to see (Sayre, 2002). When others
see or think about universals, they actually think about the particulars from a specific viewpoint.
However, when viewed from Plato’s perspective, the problem arises because people tend to
define the particulars as universals. He states that particulars and universals have fundamentally
different characteristics. Hence, the particulars and universals must in logic also be different
types of things. In Plato’s views, universals could not just be names for facets of particulars
(Cleve, 1994).

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PLATO’S METAPHYSICS AND SKEPTICISM
The idea is extremely complicated and confusing but important for understanding the
metaphysics. Plato states that two worlds are there that exist – particulars and universals
(Landesman, 1971). First is the world of particulars where everything is changing, material and
physical. Second is the world of universals where everything is abstract, nonphysical and
unchangeable. The conclusion Plato draws from this is that there must exist the two worlds, the
worlds of particulars and universals. This is one of the initial foundations of metaphysics. After
arguing about the existence of two different worlds, Plato shifted is argument to the existence of
perfection.
The concept of perfection, like particulars and universals is debatable and questionable.
People attach this perfection concept to innumerable things for example, a perfect couple, a
perfect dress, a perfect government and so on. In doing so, they do not question the perfection or
ask as from where did perfection come or what characteristics make something perfect. They
mostly state that perfection’s concept comes from observing instances of perfection and then
abstracting it. Plato however contests this view stating that nothing in this world could be perfect
because things change and if things change, they could not be perfect. For things to be perfect,
they have to remain stagnant. Plato gives example of a man who is perfect, lacked nothing. In
that case, that man would have to eat nothing because he does not lack food or he would not have
to go to school because he does not lack knowledge (Hamedi, 2014). The man would simply sit
idle like some Christian or Jewish God because he is perfect and lacks nothing. This shows that
nothing or no one could be perfect because things need to change. Plato states that perfection is
not a completely absurd concept because humans must have got the idea from somewhere. Plato
states that people must have received the idea of perfect by contemplating another world where