![]() ![]() He supposed that the object was essentially or "really" the Form and that the phenomena were mere shadows mimicking the Form that is, momentary portrayals of the Form under different circumstances. Form answers the question, "What is that?" Plato was going a step further and asking what Form itself is. The Forms are expounded upon in Plato's dialogues and general speech, in that every object or quality in reality-dogs, human beings, mountains, colors, courage, love, and goodness-has a form. What is the form really and how is that related to substance? The status of appearances now came into question. The answer was substance, which stands under the changes and is the actually existing thing being seen. ![]() The pre-Socratic philosophers, starting with Thales, noted that appearances change, and began to ask what the thing that changes "really" is. Plato used the terms eidos and idea (ἰδέα) interchangeably. The original meaning of the term εἶδος ( eidos), "visible form", and related terms μορφή ( morphē), "shape", and φαινόμενα ( phainomena), "appearances", from φαίνω ( phainō), "shine", Indo-European *bʰeh₂- or *bhā- remained stable over the centuries until the beginning of Western philosophy, when they became equivocal, acquiring additional specialized philosophic meanings. Plato uses these aspects of sight and appearance from the early Greek concept of the form in his dialogues to explain the Forms and the Good. The early Greek concept of form precedes attested philosophical usage and is represented by a number of words mainly having to do with vision, sight, and appearance. Nonetheless, the theory is considered to be a classical solution to the problem of universals. The theory itself is contested from within Plato's dialogues, and it is a general point of controversy in philosophy. Plato speaks of these entities only through the characters (primarily Socrates) of his dialogues who sometimes suggest that these Forms are the only objects of study that can provide knowledge. Ideas according to this theory, conventionally capitalized and translated as "Ideas" or "Forms", are the non-physical essences of all things, of which objects and matter in the physical world are merely imitations. But what remains are Plato’s words on the page, recording those other words Socrates said, preserving that wit and that wisdom across the aeons for us to admire, to enjoy, and to love.įor Plato, this is the ultimate, the highest form of love, the only love that is truly eternal.The theory of Forms, theory of Ideas, Platonic idealism, or Platonic realism is a metaphysical theory, attributed to the Classical Greek philosopher Plato, suggesting that the physical world is not as real or true as timeless, absolute, unchangeable ideas. Socrates, who was loved by many for his wit and his wisdom, has been dead equally long. Plato the man has been dead for two and a half thousand years. ![]() These things will not go away, they will stay around humans, to be loved and admired, forever. And when we engage erotically with these things, we produce eternal offspring: another melody, a new formula, a better argument. So how can we satisfy that? By uniting with these things that are not ephemeral, things that are eternal, things that won’t die: the abstract beauty of a formula describing a seashell. But our desire to be united with beauty is still there, as long as we live. Sunsets end, melodies fade into silence, seashells break. Love is the desire for the eternal possession of the good.īut nothing is forever. And then we notice that we’re also attracted to other things that are beautiful: a sunset, a haunting melody, the spiral form of a seashell, perhaps even a mathematical formula, or the clever way a philosophical argument works. And so our understanding of beauty grows wider, to include these things. And we notice that there are other kinds of beauty: when the beauty of the body fades with age, the beauty of the mind becomes more prominent. We’re attracted to every beautiful body, and thus to the beauty itself that is common in them. But if we follow our instincts for a while, we’ll notice that it’s not one particular body we’re attracted to. We love to look at a beautiful face, a perfect body. We are striving for perfection, says Plato. Possession? What is a good? And why should it be eternal? “Love is the desire for the eternal possession of the good.” In the Symposion, perhaps the most famous of the ancient Greek philosophical texts on love, Plato gives us a definition of what love is: ![]()
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