Plato was a philosopher who founded the Academy and developed the Theory of Forms, which states that ideal forms are real and immutable while experience is illusory. His influence on Christianity and Western philosophy is profound. La Repubblica explores the Theory of Forms in relation to justice and truth, and Plato envisioned an ideal republic with a highly controlled state ruled by an elite class.
Plato was a philosopher and scholar who lived between 427 and 347 BC He was a student of Socrates and later formed the first known “university”, called the Academy. His best known work is La Repubblica, and his best known concept is The Theory of Forms.
The Theory of Forms states that while experience is changeable and illusory, ideal forms are immutable and real. Plato put forward Parmenides’ theory that both experience and forms are real. Aristotle and Socrates also began their philosophical thinking with Parmenides, who was known as Parmenides of Elea and lived between 510 and 440 BC Although his reasoning was proved by Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and other mostly unsubstantiated philosophers, Parmenides, ironically enough, it began the whole concept of logical deduction that would make these scholars famous.
Plato’s theory holds that some stable, unchanging aspect of something must be part of a person’s sensory experience for that thing to be considered real. For example, while there are many individual dogs, they are all made in dog form. A module could be considered a model, blueprint or drawing. People may recognize a shape called a “dog” under what they experience as a “Great Dane,” a “Yorkshire Terrier,” a “Dalmatian,” or a dog of mixed, unrecognizable breeds.
The Christian religion bases much of its theology on the influence of this theory. Man is believed to be made in the image of God, for example, and while there are many individual men, they are universally believed to be made in the form of God. The philosopher’s profound influence on Christianity is one reason why the philosopher evolutionist AN Whitehead said: “The surest characterization of Western philosophy is that of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
Plato also thought that form was universal, or ideal, in abstract concepts, such as in the mathematical classification of numbers, and the recognition of the existence of abstract objects is called Platonism. Gottlob Frege and other logicians advanced this view of numbers as abstract mathematical objects through their theories of mathematical philosophy.
La Repubblica concerns the Theory of Forms in relation to the abstract concepts of justice and truth. Plato saw the ideal republic as a highly controlled state in which individuals act for the benefit of society as a whole. An elite class born and trained for their role, Guardians rule a society of commoners and soldiers. The philosopher saw his vision of the republic as the ideal form, despite many criticisms that this type of society could not be viable, even in ancient Greece.
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