Theory of Forms

DO NOT tell anyone what you are making!

You have 1 minute to create

your assigned animal…

The Idea of Cat

Plato calls this ‘idea’ a Form.

Even though each of your creations were slightly different, you were able to identify them as CATS because you have an idea of what a cat is.

What makes a CAT a CAT, is the way in which it corresponds to the eternal, immutable idea

(or Form) of CAT.

Forms (ideas)Plato believed that these ideas or Forms have an actual existence in the Realm of the Forms.

REALMof the

What then must Forms be like?

absolute

temporalfinite

eternal

immutable

impermanentpermanent

experienced by the senses

changeable

TEST YOURSELF

non-extended

perfect

imperfect

physical

non-physical

accessed using our reason

only one of each kind

illusions

known a priori

known a posteriori

objects of opinion/belief

objects of knowledge

The things we experience in the empirical world are merely imperfect copies, reflections or shadows of Forms.

Plato called these particulars.

Particulars

Create a list of descriptors for the nature of particulars in the empirical world.

Hint: think about the nature of the empirical world

and what it is like.Hint: use antonyms of words describing the Forms.

TEST YOURSELF What then are Particulars like?

REALMof the

TheEMPIRICAL

Include pictures and key terms

Create a PosterHOMELEARNING

What are the particulars? What are the Forms?

WeaknessesThe 3rd Man Argument(Infinite regression of Forms):

Does Plato need a Form of the Forms to explain what the Forms have in common and then a Form of the Form of the Forms and so on?

In a way Plato does have a Form of the Forms but he has good reasons for thinking that the chain stops there. Keep an eye out for this in our next couple of lessons…

EXTEND

Number of forms unspecified:

Broadly speaking everything has a Form. There are Forms for values like Beauty, Justice and Wisdom. There are Forms for living things like dogs and frogs, and Forms for objects like tables and chairs. There are also Forms for mathematical concepts like circles and triangles.

But how far do these divide up – is there a Form of dogs, or of Corgis?

What about forms for new inventions? How would this work if they are supposed to be eternal?

New Inventions:

Theory of Forms

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