Theory of Forms
Plato's theory of Forms or theory of Ideas[1]<l The name of this aspect of Plato's thought is not modern and has not been extracted from certain dialogues by modern scholars. The term was used at least as early as Diogenes Laertius, who called it (Plato's) "Theory of Forms:"[2][3][4] asserts that non-material abstract (substantial) forms (or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality.[5][6] When used in this sense, the word form is often capitalized.[7][8] Plato speaks of these entities through the characters (primarily Socrates) of his dialogues who says that these Forms are the only true objects of study that can provide us with genuine knowledge; thus Plato's own views are not in doubt.[9] Plato spoke of Forms in formulating a possible solution to the problem of universals.
References
- ↑ Modern English textbooks and translations prefer "theory of Form" to "theory of Ideas", but the latter has a long and respected tradition starting with Cicero and continuing in German philosophy until today, and some English philosophers prefer this in English too. See W D Ross, Plato's Theory of Ideas (1951) and this reference site.
- ↑ Plato | encyclopedia=Lives of Eminent Philosophers | volume=Book III | pages=Paragraph 15}}
- ↑ Plato uses many different words for what is traditionally called form in English translations and idea in German and Latin translations (Cicero). These include idéa, morphē, eîdos, and parádeigma, but also génos, phýsis, and Ousia|ousía.
- ↑ He also uses expressions such as to x auto, "the x itself" or kath' auto "in itself". See Christian Schäfer: Idee/Form/Gestalt/Wesen, in Platon-Lexikon, Darmstadt 2007, p. 157.
- ↑ Forms (usually given a capital F) were properties or essences of things, treated as non-material abstract, but substantial, entities. they were eternal, changeless, supremely real, and independent of ordinary objects that had their being and properties by 'participating' in them.
- ↑ Plato's theory of forms (or ideas)
- ↑ "Chapter 28: Form" of The Great Ideas: A Synopticon of Great Books of the Western World (Vol. II). Encyclopedia Britannica (1952), p. 526-542.
- ↑ This source states that Form or Idea get capitalized according to this convention when they refer "to that which is separate from the characteristics of material things and from the ideas in our mind."
- ↑ Stephen Watt | contribution=Introduction: The Theory of Forms (Books 5-7) | title=Plato: Republic | year=1997 | pages=xiv-xvi | place=London | publisher=Wordsworth Editions | isbn=1853264830