Plato's Theory Of Forms

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The Greeks are credited with inventing philosophy and it was believed that whoever pursued a deeper understanding in a subject was a philosopher. Since then, the subject of philosophy has grown and has helped us analyze complicated questions such as what is real and what is beauty. The questions encountered in philosophy can fall under four areas, but in this essay we will focus on one of them, Metaphysics. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with questions relating to the physical world. Further, in life we encounter many physical objects in which we can touch and feel. However, what makes these objects real? Plato introduced his metaphysics idea of Theory of Forms, which presents a view of what makes an object real. In this paper, I will touch upon the Theory of Forms and explain that a world of forms does exist separately from concrete/permanent things.
One of the greatest philosophers to contribute the philosophy is Plato, who was a student of Socrates. Plato introduced the Theory of Forms, which states that what is real is not the objects we see, but rather the idea of Forms (Moore and Bruder, n.d., 35). Plato’s theory states that the objects we see in life, such as a chair, are not real and are only an object noticeable because it participates in the idea of a Form. The idea of Forms is what defines and makes an object such as a chair real. Further, in the book Philosophy The Power of Ideas by Brooke Noel Moore and Kenneth Bruder, the authors use an example of two beautiful objects to help explain Plato’s Theory of Forms. In the example, a beautiful statue and a beautiful house are used and it is expressed that they both have something in common, beauty. Moore and Bruder state that beauty is a type of form a...

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Aristotle goes further by saying that not only is the first step to determine if a thing is real, but to determine its substance (Moore and Bruder, n.d., 63). According to Moore and Bruden, substance has a double meaning. Substance is not only referring to the individual thing but also how it compares to other things (Moore and Bruder, n.d., 63). Aristotle did not stop there and mentions how ten different categories are used to describe and view things (Moore and Bruder, n.d., 64). These categories are quantity, quality, relationships, place, time, posture, constitution, passivity, and activity. All of these categories are great and help really describe and characterize a thing or object. Also, these categories show that we are very curious human beings and it takes categories like these to really satisfy our craving of what something is.

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