1. Plato + Aristotle: The forms Flashcards
what are forms
Non physical universals - all things in this world ‘participates’ in one of these universal forms - all the things we empirically notice are imitations of their ideal form.
They are truth and reality and knowledge of them can only be obtained by exercise of the mind.
Evidence for the forms existing
We recognise that the concept of true justice exists however it is never perfect in this changing sensory realm, because perfection cannot change or develop.
Our mental concept of ‘The form of the circle’ is a perfect one, however it is impossible to create a completely perfect circle in the human world mathematically. Yet it can exist in the realm of the forms
The forms are perfect and immutable - and therefore they are also …
- Necessary
- Eternal
- Perfectly good
- Immaterial and beyond time and space
Why must the forms be necessary
it cannot depend on anything for its existence or it would be liable to come out of existence and therefore change .
Why must the forms be eternal
cannot change by ceasing to exist. Therefore it must have always existed. And ‘Time is a measure of change’
why must the forms be perfectly good
Because badness is related to a lack Augustine ‘evil is a privation of good’
why must the forms be immaterial and beyond time and space
All matter is capable of being acted upon therefore it cannot be made of matter.
what makes the forms real
The unchanging nature of the forms makes them in many ways, more real. Physical things are given their reality by the forms according to Plato ‘they participate in’ the forms.
How do we know about the forms
We also have innate knowledge of the forms we know from intuition what the form of beauty is. This is because we have immortal souls and must have lived in the realm of the forms before being born into the material world.
what is the hierarchy of the forms
In the realm of the forms there is a hierarchy of Forms. The Form of the good is at the top of the hierarchy; it gives everything life and a purpose. Underneath are the forms Justice, truth, beauty, equality and courage. Next in the Hierarchy of the forms are physical objects . Lastly are the forms of maths and science
When do you achieve true enlightenment
when you have awareness of the Form of the Good
What is the form of the good
In the Analogy of the Cave, the sun represents the Form of the Good. The sun is the source of all things; it gives light so you can perceive other objects, and it gives life to all other things.
When the early Church Fathers developed Christian theology, they borrowed heavily from the works of Plato. In Christianity, the Form of the Good becomes God: the source of all things, immutable, eternal, perfect and invisible.
what are particulars
the objects in the sensory realm - they `partake’ in the Forms in that they contain likenesses of, for example, perfect beauty, good, red, and so on.
link between the forms and intellect
· Plato makes a clear link between the Forms and the intellect. He is attempting to show that the senses are unreliable and relative. That is, using senses you can look at a tree and describe it as a big tree', but relative to a giant redwood it would be a small tree’. Plato saw this kind of perception as passive acceptance rather than really engaging in reason, in what is big' or small’ in an absolute way.
What was Plato’s god and what does it translate to
Plato called the God who created the Earth the demiurge.
Demiurge means workman.
