Theory Plato's of Forms:
Plato was born, the son of Ariston and Perictione, in Athens, or perhaps in Aegina, in
about 428 BC, the year after the death of the great statesman Pericles. Pursuing an
opportunity to combine philosophy and practical politics, Plato went to Sicily in 367 to
tutor the new ruler of Syracuse, Dionysius the Younger, in the art of philosophical rule.
The experiment failed. Plato made another trip to Syracuse in 361, but again his
engagement in Sicilian affairs met with little success. The concluding years of his life
were spent lecturing at the Academy and writing. He died at about the age of 80 in
Athens in 348 or 347 bc.
Plato's writings were in dialogue form; philosophical ideas were advanced, discussed, and
criticized in the context of a conversation or debate involving two or more persons. The
earliest collection of Plato's work includes 35 dialogues and 13 letters. The authenticity of
a few of the dialogues and most of the letters has been disputed.
Dialogues
The dialogues may be divided into early, middle, and later periods of composition. The
earliest represent Plato's attempt to communicate the philosophy and dialectical style of
Socrates. Several of these dialogues take the same form. Socrates, encountering someone
who claims to know much, professes to be ignorant and seeks assistance from the one
who knows. As Socrates begins to raise questions, however, it becomes clear that the one
reputed to be wise really does not know what he claims to know, and Socrates emerges as
the wiser one because he at least knows that he does not know. Such knowledge, of
course, is the beginning of wisdom.
The dialogues of the middle and later periods of Plato's life reflect his own philosophical
development. The ideas in these works are attributed by most scholars to Plato himself,
although Socrates continues to be the main character in many of the dialogues.
Theory of Forms
At the heart of Plato's philosophy is his theory of Forms, or Ideas. Ultimately, his view of
knowledge, his ethical theory, his psychology, his concept of the state, and his
perspective on art must be understood in terms of this theory.
Plato believed that there exists an immaterial Universe of `forms', perfect aspects of
everyday things such as a table, bird, and ideas/emotions, joy, action, etc. The objects and
ideas in our material world are `shadows' of the forms (see Plato's Allegory of the Cave).
This solves the problem of how objects in the material world are all distinct (no two
tables are exactly the same) yet they all have `tableness' in common. There are different
objects reflecting the `tableness' from the Universe of Forms.
Theory of Knowledge
Plato's theory of Forms and his theory of knowledge are so interrelated that they must be
discussed together. Influenced by Socrates, Plato was convinced that knowledge is
attainable. He was also convinced of two essential characteristics of knowledge. First,
Plato's Theory of Forms:
knowledge must be certain and infallible. Second, knowledge must have as its object that
which is genuinely real as contrasted with that which is an appearance only. Because that
which is fully real must, for Plato, be fixed, permanent, and unchanging, he identified the
real with the ideal realm of being as opposed to the physical world of becoming. One
consequence of this view was Plato's rejection of empiricism, the claim that knowledge is
derived from sense experience. He thought that propositions derived from sense
experience have, at most, a degree of probability. They are not certain. Furthermore, the
objects of sense experience are changeable phenomena of the physical world. Hence,
objects of sense experience are not proper objects of knowledge.
Plato's own theory of knowledge is found in the Republic, particularly in his discussion of
the image of the divided line and the myth of the cave. In the former, Plato distinguishes
between two levels of awareness: opinion and knowledge. Claims or assertions about the
physical or visible world, including both commonsense observations and the propositions
of science, are opinions only. Some of these opinions are well founded; some are not; but
none of them counts as genuine knowledge. The higher level of awareness is knowledge,
because there reason, rather than sense experience, is involved. Reason, properly used,
results in intellectual insights that are certain, and the objects of these rational insights are
the abiding universals, the eternal Forms or substances that constitute the real world.
The myth of the cave describes individuals chained deep within the recesses of a cave.
Bound so that vision is restricted, they cannot see one another. The only thing visible is
the wall of the cave upon which appear shadows cast by models or statues of animals and
objects that are passed before a brightly burning fire. Breaking free, one of the
individuals escapes from the cave into the light of day. With the aid of the sun, that
person sees for the first time the real world and returns to the cave with the message that
the only things they have seen heretofore are shadows and appearances and that the real
world awaits them if they are willing to struggle free of their bonds. The shadowy
environment of the cave symbolizes for Plato the physical world of appearances. Escape
into the sun-filled setting outside the cave symbolizes the transition to the real world, the
world of full and perfect being, the world of Forms, which is the proper object of
knowledge.
Nature of Forms
The theory of Forms may best be understood in terms of mathematical entities. A circle,
for instance, is defined as a plane figure composed of a series of points, all of which are
equidistant from a given point. No one has ever actually seen such a figure, however.
What people have actually seen are drawn figures that are more or less close
approximations of the ideal circle. In fact, when mathematicians define circle, a the
points referred to are not spatial points at all; they are logical points. They do not occupy
space. Nevertheless, although the Form of a circle has never been seenindeed, could
never be seenmathematicians and others do in fact know what a circle is. That they can
define a circle is evidence that they know what it is. For Plato, therefore, the Form
circularity exists, but not in the physical world of space and time. It exists as a
changeless object in the world of Forms or Ideas, which can be known only by reason.
Plato's Theory of Forms:
Forms have greater reality than objects in the physical world both because of their
perfection and stability and because they are models, resemblance to which gives
ordinary physical objects whatever reality they have. Circularity, squareness, and
triangularity are excellent examples, then, of what Plato meant by Forms. An object
existing in the physical world may be called a circle or a square or a triangle only to the
extent that it resembles (participates in is Plato's phrase) the Form circularity or
squareness or triangularity.
Plato extended his theory beyond the realm of mathematics. Indeed, he was most
interested in its application in the field of social ethics. The theory was his way of
explaining how the same universal term can refer to so many particular things or events.
The word justice, for example, can be applied to hundreds of particular acts because these
acts have something in common, namely, their resemblance to, or participation in, the
Form justice. An individual is human to the extent that he or she resembles or
participates in the Form humanness. If humanness is defined in terms of being a
rational animal, then an individual is human to the extent that he or she is rational. A
particular act is courageous or cowardly to the extent that it participates in its Form. An
object is beautiful to the extent that it participates in the Idea, or Form, of beauty.
Everything in the world of space and time is what it is by virtue of its resemblance to, or
participation in, its universal Form. The ability to define the universal term is evidence
that one has grasped the Form to which that universal refers.
Plato conceived the Forms as arranged hierarchically; the supreme Form is the Form of
the Good, which, like the sun in the myth of the cave, illuminates all the other Ideas.
There is a sense in which the Form of the Good represents Plato's movement in the
direction of an ultimate principle of explanation. Ultimately, the theory of Forms is
intended to explain how one comes to know and also how things have come to be as they
are. In philosophical language, Plato's theory of Forms is both an epistemological (theory
of knowledge) and an ontological (theory of being) thesis.
Political Theory
The Republic, Plato's major political work, is concerned with the question of justice and
therefore with the questions what is a just state and who is a just individual?
The ideal state, according to Plato, is composed of three classes. The economic structure
of the state is maintained by the merchant class. Security needs are met by the military
class, and political leadership is provided by the philosopher-kings. A particular person's
class is determined by an educational process that begins at birth and proceeds until that
person has reached the maximum level of education compatible with interest and ability.
Those who complete the entire educational process become philosopher-kings. They are
the ones whose minds have been so developed that they are able to grasp the Forms and,
therefore, to make the wisest decisions. Indeed, Plato's ideal educational system is
primarily structured so as to produce philosopher-kings.
Plato associates the traditional Greek virtues with the class structure of the ideal state.
Temperance is the unique virtue of the artisan class; courage is the virtue peculiar to the
military class; and wisdom characterizes the rulers. Justice, the fourth virtue,
Plato's Theory of Forms:
characterizes society as a whole. The just state is one in which each class performs its
own function well without infringing on the activities of the other classes.
Plato divides the human soul into three parts: the rational part, the will, and the appetites.
The just person is the one in whom the rational element, supported by the will, controls
the appetites. An obvious analogy exists here with the threefold class structure of the
state, in which the enlightened philosopher-kings, supported by the soldiers, govern the
rest of society.
Ethics
Plato's ethical theory rests on the assumption that virtue is knowledge and can be taught,
which has to be understood in terms of his theory of Forms. As indicated previously, the
ultimate Form for Plato is the Form of the Good, and knowledge of this Form is the
source of guidance in moral decision making. Plato also argued that to know the good is
to do the good. The corollary of this is that anyone who behaves immorally does so out of
ignorance. This conclusion follows from Plato's conviction that the moral person is the
truly happy person, and because individuals always desire their own happiness, they
always desire to do that which is moral.
Art
Plato had an essentially antagonistic view of art and the artist, although he approved of
certain religious and moralistic kinds of art. Again, his approach is related to his theory of
Forms. A beautiful flower, for example, is a copy or imitation of the universal Forms
flowerness and beauty. The physical flower is one step removed from reality, that is,
the Forms. A picture of the flower is, therefore, two steps removed from reality. This also
meant that the artist is two steps removed from knowledge, and, indeed, Plato's frequent
criticism of the artists is that they lack genuine knowledge of what they are doing.
Artistic creation, Plato observed, seems to be rooted in a kind of inspired madness.