Questions On Plato s Theory Of The Forms - 1875 Words

In this essay I shall explicate and critically evaluate Plato s response to the problem of the One and the Many. To do this, I will outline briefly the emergence of this problem in Greek thought in order to further understand and contextualise Plato s theory of the Forms. I shall then offer criticisms of his theory, both positive and negative, with particular regard for the ontological, epistemological, and cosmological consequences of subscribing to the Forms. I shall then conclude whether or not the metaphysical system constructed by Plato is a convincing and wholesome answer to the One and the Many. The origins of the problem can be found in two places: the natural world, and the rationality of man. The many is present in all†¦show more content†¦In the Euthryphro Plato defines the Forms as: unchanging in themselves, that by which the particulars are what they are, and the standard for determining the nature of particulars.1 For Plato, the Forms are both â€Å"transcendent and immanent, inaccessible to the senses, apprehensible only by the intellect†.2 Not only that, they also satisfy the demands of the Eleatic tradition by following what Parmenides tabulated were the genuine characteristics of being; that it is one, eternal, and immutable. For example, the form of beauty is separate in the sense that it is a subsistent essence that is real, yet not in the sense that it is in a world of its own, spatially separate from things.3 This guarantees its fulfilment of the characteristics of being. Plato s parable of the Divided Line outlines the relation between the Forms and the particulars which possess them.4 Let us imagine a line divided unequally in two. The primary section denotes the world of sense that is the object of sight. This section can be further subdivided into shadows, images, and then objects. The second section is the intelligible world which contains the Forms and the overarching Form of the Good. Reality is therefore hierarchical and linear, there are no breaks in reality. The sensible world isn t real in the context of possessing the genuine attributes of being, but the