Plato vs. Materialists

Plato vs. Materialists Plato was concerned with Epistemology. Epistemology deals with the possibilities and limits of human knowledge. It tries to arrive at a knowledge of knowledge itself. It tries to answer such questions as: Is the world as people perceive it the basic reality, or do people perceive only appearances that conceal basic reality? Knowledge may be regarded as having two parts. There is, first of all, what one perceives using the five senses. …

…Materialists do not have true knowledge. Materialists believe that reality only consists of matter, however, philosophers believe that these physical objects are only real in a secondary sense, and that these objects are only imperfect copies of The Forms. Materialists also do not believe in spirits, souls, and gods and therefore would not understand Plato's belief that life was to involve a movement upward toward the Forms, as this was a movement of the Soul.