Exploring Plato and his Theory of the Forms

Dive into an introduction into one of the most famous Ancient Greek philosophers.

Plato lived approximately from around 428 - 348 BCE. During his lifetime he wrote many philosophical works and also founded the Academy which is considered by many to be the first Western university.

Theory of the forms

His most famous philosophical idea was his theory of the forms. This was the idea that there were two different realities: The realm of appearances (The world which we live in); and the realm of the forms. In this realm exists a perfect form of everything which has ever existed and will exist including principles such as Justice and Goodness. Plato believes that humans are able to fully understand these through our wisdom and the study of philosophy because he believes that our souls come from the realm of the forms but is placed into a material body which is unable to understand these concepts.

An example of how the realm of the forms works is through an exercise - Picture a circle in your mind. Now try to draw it freehand. Now was the circle you pictured different from the one you drew? Did you picture a perfect circle? The relationship between the realm of the forms and the realm of appearances is the same: The realm of the forms is perfect, however humans in the realm of appearances tries through our reasoning to mimic the realm of the forms but falls short of perfection

Since these forms are perfect, it also follows that they are unchanging and permanent and therefore must be outside of time. These characteristics must be true because if something is perfect but is able to change it would imply that either: the 'thing' was not perfect before and has now just become perfect; or that it was perfect but is now no longer perfect after having changed. However, these forms are claimed by Plato to be eternally perfect therefore the realm of the forms must be unchanging. Also, as everything that exists in time changes (for example a table might be changed by a dust particle landing on it) therefore the realm of the forms must also exists outside of time.

The realm of the forms also has a hierarchy with the highest being the Form of the Good in which Plato believes all other 'good' forms are a part of and will lead us to understand the other forms such as Justice.

Objections

However, there are many objections to this Theory and I will give three objections which I find especially interesting.

1. Firstly, since Plato claims that things in the realm of appearance have a perfect equivalent in the realm of the forms it begs the question if this include not just principle like truth and justice but also material things such as humans or even a rock. What is the perfect rock? As a result Plato never rejects that there is a perfect form of material things such as a rock or sand but he maintains that he is certain that there are perfect forms of principles such as Goodness. However, he seems to be dodging this question which as Bertrand Russel puts it in his book History of Western Philosophy: 'because he is afraid of falling into a bottomless pit of

   nonsense.'

   
   

2. Another objection known as the 'Third man argument' is proposed by Aristotle. The idea of the forms is to explain the characteristics of a 'thing' - for example a perfect form of justice will explain the characteristics of justice. However, Aristotle argues that the perfect form of Justice will also in itself have the characteristics of 'justiceness' and will require another form in a higher reality to explain its characteristics and that higher form also requires another ... and so on in an infinite sequence.

   
   

3. A third objections which is one I found particularly interesting is the question of whether a perfect form of 'evil' or even evil acts exists. As Plato may be unsure whether material things such as dirt, or humans have perfect forms but he seems to be sure that certain concepts such as those previously mentioned: Justice, and Goodness exists. As a result, it begs the question whether all principles have forms. Additionally, as all form can be understood through the Form of the Good, would evil be understood in the same way and how would a 'perfect' and 'good' form of evil even look like?