Plato, Creation, and The Fall

5 Commentsby   |  09.06.13  |  Student Posts

Plato believed that there was a world of being and a world of becoming; I relate this to Creation. When God created the world, it was in a state of being. Each thing that was created: water, earth, sky, light, etc. was in existence, but had yet to be experienced or to be touched by humans or animals. Once God created the beasts of the land, the birds of the air, and creatures of the deep, followed by mankind, the world changed to a state of “becoming.” Ever since living creatures have been placed on this planet, we have affected it in positive and negative ways, no matter what causing some sort of change, making it so that it is always in a state of “becoming,” rather than just “being.” Plato also believed in the reminiscent theory, which basically states that what we perceive as the “good life,” is what we have already experienced, but have forgotten and have to relearn. This theory can be related to The Fall because it implies that we, as beings, were once more knowledgeable, all-knowing even, and that when we came into existence in this world, we forgot our knowledge and we now must relearn it. This theory also seems to say that we were once worthy of such knowledge and now we are not – that we’ve fallen from grace in a manner of speaking.

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5 Comments

  1. Levi Ritchie
    3:39 pm, 09.08.13

    Plato definitely had a more “fallen” view of mankind than many philosophers. The idea that we were once perfect but then lost that perfection is reflected in the reminiscence theory of knowledge, but it’s even more specific to the individual, whereas the traditional Christian view of the fall instead focuses on mankind as a community. Plato’s thoughts feel both complementary to and at odds with the concept of original sin, because one who believes in original sin might think that no one born after Adam and Eve was ever in this “pure” state of being.

  2. Tyler McCuistion
    4:03 pm, 09.08.13

    I love the reminiscence theory and Plato’s thoughts on introspection. To me, his thoughts of us being fallen from knowledge is a challenge to me to learn what I have fallen from and gives me a goal and a purpose to pursue things in life.

  3. Kasey Morgan
    10:01 pm, 09.09.13

    I hadn’t thought of Plato’s ideas that way. I really like the idea of being created and then being a state of “becoming”. Obviously Plato didn’t believe in the Christian God, but I think that this idea really relates to our faith. If we don’t let our faith become a living entity, we just become beings in a world that keeps moving around us.

  4. Sydney Smith
    10:57 pm, 09.09.13

    I feel that even if we were to relearn our knowledge, we tend to forget it again and not realize our main purpose and why we were put on this earth. Referring to falling from grace or falling from your calling could maybe be similar to someone growing up in the church and because of a dark period in their life, they decided to stray away from the church and forget their purpose in life. Once that person opens their eyes after experiencing their dark period it’s hard for them to get back to where they once were in Christ because they have to relearn to trust God again and know that even though God is not here physically, he is their spiritually and that he will never leave us even though we have experience a dark period in our lives.

  5. Maddy Spell
    11:31 pm, 09.09.13

    I really enjoyed what you had to say about creation. It was a great place to interject some of Plato’s theories. I love that you are making me think about things beyond the facts that we are given. Great application of the concepts we are learning!

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