Question

1. Discuss Plato's position on wisdom and the distinction between knowledge and opinion

2. Discuss the term 'teleological' and its relation to human behavior and action.

Answer 1

1. It is a great challenge to try to pin Plato down on the topic of wisdom.5 The question is not that Plato doesn't say much about it. Rather, our challenge is the opposite problem: Plato talks too much about wisdom and what he says seems to change depending on the nature of the particular discussion he is engaged in. Unlike other virtues such as justice, temperance and holiness, there seems to be no single dialog out of the many dialogs he wrote which concentrate on understanding the true nature of wisdom.6 Plato makes references to wisdom that usually explain some other point or criticize some other point of view. Those remarks contain at least two texts. On the one hand we have the argument that only the gods have "true" wisdom; the flip side is the statement that actual wisdom for humans consists of understanding of the depth of one's ignorance. In connection with this early period, we also find writings that indicate that the attainment of wisdom can only be possible once we have ceased to exist in our present human form, that is, after death.

Knowledge is all the facts and information acquired through learning from the world around us through teachings, books, experiments and observation. It's something that comes from outside. Opinion, on the other hand, is something of a personal judgment. It is the product of internal feelings, perceptions, thought processes, and how facts (knowledge) are perceived. Knowledge does not very often alter. And when it does, new observations so tests will make it happen. For example, information derived from studies of fossils and living beings is the theory of evolution. Opinion changes more often than information, and it changes due to newly acquired knowledge and shifts in internal perceptions or processes of thought. And unlike intelligence, it is not universal. For example, many people may think that the theory of evolution is incorrect, despite being presented with the help of scientific facts. We would believe in a creation of God, and that's an opinion.

2. Teleological behavior is a branch of behaviorism's psychological perspective. It maintains that psychological insights are best obtained through objective observation of outwardly observable human behaviors, in keeping with the fundamental tenets of its division. Although it does not deny the legitimacy of cognitive processes such as thought and emotion, it does not find such mechanisms as causal causes of action, like the other types of behavior. Rather, they are considered in themselves to be modes of behaviour, understood only b y observing more visible types of external behaviour.

The concepts of teleology vary in the essence of the purpose that acts must promote. Eudaemonist theories (Greek eudaimonia, "happiness"), which hold that morality consists of some proper human purpose or behavior, tend to emphasize the development of goodness or perfection in the agent as the result of all action. These might be the classical virtues courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom that promoted man's Greek ideal as the "moral animal;" or the theological virtues— faith, hope, and love that differentiated man's Christian ideal as produced in God's picture.