Explain the Platonic concepts of the Forms.

Through Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, his theory of two separate worlds becomes clear, representing his dualist ideas. It is clear that there are two realms in the eyes of Plato. The World of Appearances and the World of the Forms. The WOA is the empirical world which our material body resides in, however Plato’s theory means that what we can sense around us (for example a chair) is just a mere shadow of the perfect version which exists in the world of Forms. The perfect version of a chair is one in which for fills its purpose e.g. to be comfortable and to be sat on. The Forms can be seen as essences within concepts such as beauty and justice which our soul can recognise from the WOF. The World of the Forms is the world in which our souls reside when we die but only if we reach true enlightenment. Our souls are then given to our material bodies when we are born. The WOF represents the truth of everything and only pure beauty and justice can be seen there.

The Platonic Forms are forms that exist not in objects in the physical world but in a transcendental realm known as the World of the Forms. The Forms are seen as an object of true knowledge which can only be seen in the WOF by the spirit. The Forms have several characteristics such as that they are transcendent as they are not located in space or time. They are also pure as they only have one property whereas material objects are impure as they combine a number of properties.

The most important Form seen in Plato’s writings is the Form of the Good which takes the shape of the sun in the Allegory of the Cave. By achieving understanding of the Form of the Good, philosophers can achieve the highest form of knowledge. The Form of the Good is seen as not sight nor light, as it is different to them, and because it is their cause, it is superior to them. Like the sun in the Allegory of the Cave, the Good illuminates the other forms. By Plato’s logic, real knowledge in the end comes from knowledge of goodness, which is why the Form of the Good is seen as most superior and important as it creates the other Forms and the one who has philosophical knowledge of the good is fit to rule.

Plato tells of how the Forms are imitated and how they participate within the World of the Forms. Objects in the world imitate a form such as the idea that a beautiful person is only a shadow of the true Form of beauty which is seen in the WOF. However Forms also participate in the sense that the Form of beauty is present within a beautiful person.

The evidence of the Platonic concepts of the Forms presents an idea of objects that represent the true form of what is seen as beauty and truth within the physical world. However they cannot be seen nor experienced by the material body but only by an enlightened soul within the World of the Forms.