Plato: What is Reality?

This lesson introduces Plato, giving some historical background to his life, and introduces some philosophical questions raised by his life and work including:

• What is reality?
• What is beauty?
• Does reason come from knowledge or the senses?

This lesson is part of a History of Philosophy in Fifty Questions scheme of work, which takes students from Thales and the origins of philosophy, right up to the 21st Century. Each lesson is based around an inquiry question, which links to the work of a key philosopher.

Each lesson is a contained in single resource which includes:

• Vocabulary recap “settle down” starter/bell task
• Discussion based starter linking to the inquiry question for the lesson
• Glossary of key terms introduced in the lesson
• A key reading which supports the inquiry question
• Knowledge check questions to clarify student understanding of the reading
• Discussion and extended writing tasks
• A teacher page, giving suggested answers and discussion points for each of the tasks, as well as ideas for stretch and challenge