Plato :: essays research papers

As a psyche in the ancient Greek cosmos, I have become aware of the logos of the cosmos. The cosmos becomes knowable to me through the virtues of truth, goodness, and beauty. Logos is Greek for measure and cosmos, a Greek word, can be translated as meaning totality. When I encounter the Greeks, they claim that there are three elements to cosmos. The first factor is anthrapoi which is Greek for human-like. The word anthrapoi resembles the English word, anthropology, which is the study of human life. The second element is polis, which is Greek for the political city. The final element is the psyche, which in Greek means the soul or the mind. The psyche enables thinking. According to the Greeks, there is no separation; there is only unification between mind and thoughts, which is the psyche part of things in the world. One Greek philosopher, Parmenides posits that to think is the same as to be and that knowledge is certainty. Like Descartes, Parmendies believes that to know is to know with certainty. However, Descartes’ method of attaining knowledge is through doubt, whereas Parmendies’ manner is through identifying with the circumstance. One can associate Parmendies’ definition of knowledge as being eternal, unchanging, single, and homogeneous. Parmendies lays out the two requirements for achieving knowledge both which involve the psyche. The first requirement is that one cannot be completely certain of knowledge obtained through the senses because the things that one senses are constantly changing. Moreover, the idea that the senses are in a states of flux concurs with his notion of knowledge is unchangeable. His second necessity is that since senses give relativism then sense perception will always be changing. Parmendies also claims that the only world that truly exists is the world that occurs. Present in his theories are two realms, the Realm of Nous (Greek), which can be translated into English as reality or knowledge and the Realm of Soma which is Greek for appearances. Characteristics existent in the Realm of Reality are changeless, immutable, individual, homogeneous, and singular. On the contrary, in the Realm of Appearance are factors that are plural, heterogeneous, and changeable. When Parmendies exists and is in being, he is in the Realm of Reality, also referred to as the Realm of Knowledge. In addition, the only thing he is certain of is in his mind or psyche. Therefore, Parmendies definition is only applied in the Realm of the Mind.