ISSN 1712-8056[Print]

Canadian Social Science ISSN 1923-6697[Online]

Vol. 9, No. 4, 2013, pp. 206-208 www.cscanada.net
DOI:10.3968/j.css.1923669720130904.2645 www.cscanada.org

On Plato’s Theory of Forms

LIU Piyong[a],*

[a]
Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities, Tongliao, Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.
2. THEORY OF FORMS
*
Corresponding author.
2.1 General Introduction of Forms
Received 5 February 2013; accepted 20 June 2013 The basis of Plato’s thought is the theory of ideas or
forms. Just like other Greek philosophers, Plato was
Abstract absorbed by the question of change in the physical
Plato was not only the founder of modern philosophy, world. Heraclitus had said that there is nothing certain or
but also the first to systematically philosophize about the stable except the fact that things change, and Parmenides
arts. He has a deep influence on western culture including claimed that all change, motion, and time was an illusion.
a strong influence on the arts, and on theories of art. Parmenides thought that nothing is changing, but
However, in the case of the arts and aesthetic theory that Heraclitus considered things are changing all the time.
influence is mostly indirect, and is best understood if one Plato combined the two. He thought that the objects of
knows more about his philosophy. The Theory of Forms knowledge are eternal and real, never changing, while
is the core of Plato’s philosophy. It expounded in specific the objects of opinion are constantly changing. Ideas, or
way discussing cognitive structure by formulating reverse forms, are the archetypes for the physical, sensible things
solution to prove dialectical process from perception, in the world and exist in an eternal world above the world
which reveals positive effect in the cognitive development of sense experience.
of western society. Plato spoke of forms in formulating his solution to
the problem of universals. The forms are the archetypes
Key words: Plato; Theory of Forms; Knowledge or abstract representations of the things around us. Ideas,
LIU Piyong (2013). On Plato’s Theory of Forms. Canadian
or forms, are timeless, more being than a thing. They
Social Science, 9 (4), 206-208. Available from: http://www.cscanada. are unchangeable, eternal, intelligible (as opposed to
net/index.php/css/article/view/j.css.1923669720130904.2645 perceptible), divine, incorporeal, are the causes of being
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.css.1923669720130904.2645. (relates to The One and The Many), and are simply what
their copies can only be with qualification. Physical
sensible things are existing things, but are changeable,
finite, perceptible, corporeal, and are caused by the forms.
1. PLATO’S BIBLIOGRAPHY The Theory of Forms typically refers to Plato’s belief
Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, helped to build the that the material world as it seems to us is not the real
philosophical basis of Western culture along with Socrates world, but only a shadow of the real world.
and Aristotle. He was also a mathematician, writer of
2.2 Theory of Forms
philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy
in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Plato distinguishes between instances and the form of
western world. a thing. Taking Beauty as an example, it is easy to find
Plato published perhaps twenty-five philosophical many different instances of beauty. But people’s opinions
dialogues which are usually divided into early, middle, on beauty vary a lot from person to person. What’s more,
and late period. His middle dialogues present doctrines the beautiful things are constantly changing too.
known as Platonism. The key concept is the forms. In order to explain the problem that one thing is
different from others in reality, Plato puts forward the

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 206

 LIU Piyong (2013).
Canadian Social Science, 9 (4), 206-208

theory of Forms (or Ideas). He says that everything has First, knowledge must be certain and infallible. Second,
a form which is independent of the actual instances knowledge must have as its object that which is genuinely
of the thing. It is by these forms that we recognize a real as contrasted with that which is an appearance only.
characteristic when it occurs. So we can recognize The Real must be fixed, permanent, and unchanging. Plato
beautiful things by the form of “beauty”. identified the real with the ideal realm of being as opposed
However, things in the reality can change, forms are to the physical world of becoming. Consequently, Plato
eternal and single: There is only one form of “beauty” opposed to empiricism which believed that knowledge
even though there are many different beautiful things. is derived from sense experience. But Plato thought that
The forms are eternal and never change, however,it propositions derived from sense experience have, at most, a
produces the objects and cases of conceptions along with degree of probability. They are not certain.
the various changeable matter in the temporal world. Moreover, the objects of sense experience are
They are changing all the time and are in a succession of continuously changing in the physical world. As a result
forms. Thus, the continuous changing world is the source of this, objects of sense experience are not proper objects
of opinions. of knowledge. Human beings can acquire true knowledge
Because the forms are invisible, we have entered the only through forms, learning to recognize the forms under
world of forms before they are incarnated in an object, the transient reality. The object of knowledge is to learn
and then memories of them are left. Although it is not the forms.
easy to realize it, the memory is enough to enable our Plato expressed his theory of knowledge in the
limited perceptions. Plato believes that the philosophers Republic, especially in the discussion of the image of the
have the potential to achieve a state of perceiving the divided line and the myth of the cave. He distinguishes
forms directly, with his mind’s eye. They can achieve this opinion and knowledge. The claims about our visible
goal by developing skill of distinguishing the abstract world, including the common sense observations and the
qualities, common to groups of things and ideas, in the propositions, are merely opinions, some of which are well
world; by understanding these are only hypotheses; and founded, some not. But none of them is true knowledge.
by adopting the dialectic method, to classify the qualities The Reason results in intellectual insights that are certain
in right relationships and order. and the objects of these rational insights are the abiding
There are not certain shapes of Forms. It exists in universals, the eternal Forms or substances that make up
our minds. According to Plato, Forms are real existence, the real world.
colorless, shapeless, and incorporeal, visible only to the
intelligence? Plato said, the Forms are the cause of the
essence of all other things, and the One is the cause of 4. AN ASSESSMENT OF THE
the Forms? Therefore they cannot simply exist. Plato STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
said Forms are related to things in three ways: cause,
participation and imitation. THE THEORY
There are three ways to discover forms: recollection, The Theory of Forms can adapt to all criticism: There
dialectic and desire. Recollection is when our souls are archetypal forms, corresponding to all terms used by
remember the Forms from prior existence. Dialectic is man, many of the terms used by man are incorrect; only
when people discuss and explore the Forms together. the Gods use correct names consistently. Socrates may be
And third is the desire for knowledge. Plato’s Theory presented as agreeing with his interlocutors, this is usually
of Knowledge enable us to see light to dark; ignorant to a step in demonstrating their state of ignorance, and
educated; reality to really real. indeed that of Socrates. For in the true Socratic tradition
As is illustrated in the Allegory of the Cave, in the Cave the recognition of one’s own ignorance is seen as an
we move from the dark of the cave to the light of outdoors, advancement of knowledge. What’s more, if a discussion
we even see a glimpse of how knowledge can affect us. The results in confusion and seeming contradiction, then that
Forms told us although we can see something; it does not too can be seen as the theory at work, for Plato develops
mean that we can see all of it. And we cannot see something in Philebus and Phaedo the notion that because the world
does not mean it does not exist at all. of the senses is compounded and finite, the one archetypal
form gives rise to apparent opposites on that level.
The Theory of Forms is a hypothesis proved by the
3. THEORY OF FORMS AND THEORY OF process of inference to the best explanation. The Theory
KNOWLEDGE of Forms identifies levels of reality, and metaphysical
functionalities that Plato reasoned must exist, to make
Theory of Forms correlated with the theory of knowledge, any sense of the world. The actual mechanical processes
we cannot separate them. Influenced by his teacher Socrates, involved are only defined in a very abstract manner;
Plato believed that knowledge is acquirable. And he also however, the theory has a counter, in that man cannot
convinced two essential characteristics of knowledge. conceive the physiology of the Gods.

207 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture

On Plato’s Theory of Forms

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