Anneke Cox 12F

RE Essay

Plato’s Theory of Forms.

Plato, one of the greatest philosophers of all time, has had a profound effect on subsequent ages. He was born into an aristocratic Athenian family in about 428 BCE, and his are the earliest writings of philosophical findings that have been recorded. However Plato not only recorded his own findings, but those of his teacher, Socrates.

       Socrates, a man who was known by the Grecians to be a ‘hornet’, forever hovering around, standing up to things, questioning everything and generally being a busybody, was not seen like that in the eyes of Plato. Plato admired Socrates for his teachings, and of his Dialectic method, which was to question and answer everything to show up mortal ignorance, and get as close as possible to ‘Real Knowledge’.

       However, Socrates never had chance to write down his experiences, he only taught by word of mouth, forever battling against the Sophists, in trying to prove that philosophy wasn’t just a profession as they thought, but a way of life. Socrates career and life came to a bitter end in 399 BCE, when he was sentenced to death by poison with a charge of corrupting the young (namely young philosophers like Plato) and of introducing new Gods. Instead of leaving Athens forever or appealing for leniency, Socrates decided to give up his life in the name of philosophy and the search for truth.

       Even though the death of Socrates upset and disgusted Plato, he was filled with enthusiasm and awe at how Socrates had stood up for his beliefs. Therefore, Plato continued his research into philosophical findings, and made Socrates live on, through his own writings, which he named Dialogues. He always made Socrates the main character in his dialogues, who was often presented with various moral, political and philosophical questions.

       As Plato’s writings developed, he began to include more of his own ideas. He believed that philosophy, ethics, politics, mathematics and physics were vital for understanding the natural world. He was hostile to the Arts because he believed these obscured the truth, and were only pretences.

        In fact, Plato was set on finding out the real truth, and how to gain pure knowledge. On finding out what were pretences, and what were the real objects? All these questions Plato answered in his Theory of Forms, which is at the heart of his philosophy.  

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        He believed that, as well as the material world we live in and of which we experience; there is another world, an eternal world of concepts, or Forms. This eternal world is more real than the world we experience through the senses (or Empirical knowledge – knowledge based on our senses), and it is the object of knowledge, pure knowledge, not opinion.

        Before Plato came up with this theory, philosophers before him, namely Heraclitus, viewed the world of as a subject of constant change. In a constant state of flux, things come ...

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