{"id":647,"date":"2026-02-28T23:43:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/?p=647"},"modified":"2026-02-28T23:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:47:18","slug":"the-sun-simile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/2026\/02\/28\/the-sun-simile\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sun Simile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plato\u2019s simile in Republic<\/em> 508-9 can be summarised as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Form of the Good<\/span><\/td>\nThe Sun<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Intelligible world<\/span><\/td>\nVisible world<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Source of Truth or Reality(508e<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>Yields (508e<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Truth or reality to intelligibilia
\n<\/span>2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Power of knowing to mind
\n<\/span>Thus (508e<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not knowing but cause of knowing
\n<\/span>2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Known by the knowing it causes<\/span><\/td>\n		Source of light (508a<\/sup>) <\/span>
\nYields
\n1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Visibility to sensibilia (507e<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Power of seeing to eye (508b<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>Thus (508b<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not seeing but cause of seeing<\/span>
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seen by the seeing it causes<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Causes reality of objects of knowing
\n<\/span>But is not that reality (509b<\/sup>)<\/span><\/td>\n		Causes processes of growth
\n<\/span>But is not such a process (509b<\/sup>)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deprivation results in (508d<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No truth or reality (= change\/decay)
\n<\/span>2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poor intelligence (= opinion)<\/span><\/td>\n		Deprivation results in
\n<\/span>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No light (508<\/span>c<\/sup>)
\n<\/span>2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poor sight (508<\/span>d<\/sup>)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In the simile, note two stumbles.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If light yields visibility to visible things, then it would be more natural to say that the Good is responsible for the intelligibility<\/em> of the intelligible, rather than the truth<\/em> or reality<\/em> of those things.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The claim that the Sun is the source of light and the Sun causes the processes (genesis<\/em>) of growth is not a match to the claim that the Good is the source of Reality and the Good causes the reality of knowable things. The \u2018coming into being\u2019 of natural things is not like the unchanging being of the knowable things.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Plato\u2019s simile in Republic 508-9 can be summarised as follows: The Form of the Good The Sun Intelligible world Visible world Source of Truth or Reality(508e) Yields (508e) 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Truth or reality to intelligibilia 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Power of knowing to mind Thus (508e) 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not knowing but cause of knowing 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Known by the knowing it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions\/652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}