Knowledge Management Research & Practice (2005) 3, 115–116 & 2005 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved 1477–8238/05 $30.00 www.palgrave-journals.com/kmrp
PHILOSOPHERS AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
The shadows of reality: Plato’s doctrine of ideas Heiner Mu¨ller-Merbach Technische Universita¨t Kaiserslautern, Germany
Knowledge Management Research & Practice (2005) 3, 115–116. doi:10.1057/palgrave.kmrp.8500059
Plato (ca. 427–387 BC), his teacher Socrates (ca. 469–399 BC), and his disciple Aristotle (ca. 384–322 BC), the three ‘classical’ philosophers of ancient Greece, set the grounds of Western philosophy. Among them, Plato is the father of idealism, that is, of the doctrine of (hidden) ideas behind the sensual properties of things, that is, behind the visible ‘surface’. The British philosopher Whitehead (1861–1947) even classified all philosophy after Plato as mere ‘footnotes’ to Plato. One may take any object, for example, a tree, as an example of the doctrine of ideas, and identify the stump, the roots, the branches, the leaves, possibly the bloom or the fruit, and study all the structures and processes of the tree and its parts. Such a ‘scientific’ investigation may go on and on, but is limited by the surface, the ‘external hull’ of sensual and measurable properties of reality. But must there not be something behind the surface, which is not open to our senses and to scientific investigation: eternal, divine, secret ‘ideas’ beyond the external hull? Such ideas will not be visible: and their existence may not even be capable of proof. For Plato, existing things are imperfect copies of the ideas, that is, of ‘timeless, perfect, unchanging, immaterial, eternal archetypes (forms)’ (The HarperCollins Dictionary ‘Philosophy’). Since the ideas are hidden, it is our free choice to reflect, contemplate, speculate, and/or meditate about the ideas behind the surfaces – or not. We are, on the one hand, free to deny the existence of any ‘idea’ beyond the properties perceived by our senses (and by scientific measurement), that is, the tree (above) is just a tree, physics and chemistry – nothing more. On the other hand, we are free to believe that our tree is just a copy of an archetypal idea. Aristotle, for example, did not follow his teacher Plato with respect to his doctrine of the ideas; instead, he concentrated on the sensual aspects (i.e. the surfaces of reality) and became the archfather of science. Here comes our metaphysical choice: either, all the relevant properties of existing objects are – at least in principle – perceivable and/or measurable (Aristotle) or, existing objects are copies of eternal ideas (even if hidden) and ought not to be reduced to positive properties (Plato). The distinction between the visible, sensual surfaces of reality on the one hand and the (hidden) ideas on the other hand is of relevance for fields such as information management, information systems, knowledge management, and leadership. (i) Information systems and information management may be understood as restricted to the sensual properties of the surfaces, that is, to the doctrines of positivism. (ii) In contrast, knowledge, knowledge management, and leadership are not restricted to the surfaces and may ‘dig’ deeper. Again, it depends on the person: leaders of the first kind may restrict their thinking and communication to positive (pretendedly: ‘objective’) information, while leaders of the second kind may extend their thinking and communication toward a world of ideas, vision, conviction, belief: ‘scientific’ vs ‘metaphysical’ knowledge management. Scientific knowledge of the first kind is restricted to positive properties, while metaphysical knowledge concentrates on the ideas.
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The shadows of reality
Plato presented his doctrine of ideas in his famous parable of the cave (Book VII of ‘The Republic’): ‘Picture men in an underground cave-dwelling, with a long entrance reaching up towards the light along the whole width of the cave; in this they lie from their childhood, their legs and necks in chains, so that they stay where they are and look only in front of them, as the chain prevents their turning their heads round. Some way off, and higher up, a fire is burning behind them’, ‘They are like ourselvesyfor in the first place do you think that such men would have seen anything of themselves or of
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Heiner Mu¨ller-Merbach
each other except the shadows thrown by the fire on the wall of the cave opposite to them?’ As a matter of fact, some people might be like the inhabitants of the cave and seem to be satisfied by seeing the shadows only, that is, the sensual surfaces, and they might not miss anything at the metaphysical level. Others, however, are curious and give thought to what might be the realities beyond the visible ‘shadows’. In particular, entrepreneurs and leaders may tend to discover ideas behind the shadows. The subordinated might, however, not search beyond the shadows.
