Plato’s Theory of Forms

Authors Avatar
Oscar Magana Philosophy 100 June 10, 2002 Plato’s Theory of Forms Plato’s Theory of Forms makes a distinction between those objects that are real and the concepts that exist in our mind. His dialogues explain this in the form of knowledge. The path to knowledge is explained through three analogies, the Allegory of the Cave, the Divided Line, and the Analogy of the Sun.  The Allegory of the Cave portrays knowledge as the process of leaving the cave into the sunlight.  The
Join now!
back of the cave, facing the back wall, are the large amounts of people who are tied down so that they restrained of movement.  Their sight is limited to the back wall of the cave which depicts figures of shadows going back and forth, created by the flames directly behind them.  Their reality consists of these shadows and they assume that there can never be anything beyond the shadows.  Then one day a particular mind, not fully convinced, finds a way to break free of these bonds that bind them and turns their head around. Consequently, they will distinguish the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay