Forms, the True Objects of Knowledge
Amidst the conversational deductions Plato makes in The Republic about the creation of an ideal society and the meaning of justice, Plato reveals his understanding and definitions of the ideal concepts of essence, which he refers to as Forms, the nature of reality, and our perceptions as human beings. Through means of question and answer, logical conclusions and analogies, Plato concludes that the Forms are the only true objects of knowledge, and that true knowledge operates independently of physical objects, and only in the "World of Being." By first defining belief, knowledge, and his concept of the Forms, and then displaying their relationships to one another through the use of analogies, Plato thoroughly analyzes the concept of true wisdom. During Plato's discussion of the philosopher king, he comes to a point where he feels he must define philosophy itself. He begins to contemplate the relation between the Forms, knowledge and belief. Plato explains that the Forms resemble the mathematical laws of nature, such as the motions of the cosmos and the harmonies of sounds produced by different lengths of plucked strings. These fundamental principles are unseen, unchanging and independent of the objects upon which they act. He de
Taking a step back from the intricacies of how Plato broke down and defined the different elements of being, one can see that Plato essentially deduces the nature and separation of the world of becoming and the world of being. He defined our perception of reality and the definition of true knowledge as only operating with Forms, completely independent from the flux of the sensible world. In the next section of the discussion, Plato tries to elucidate the meaning of the absolute and all encompassing form of Goodness by means of an analogy with the sun. Essentially, Plato observes that sun provides light, making sight possible. If light is the cause of vision, then it must also be the cause of our perception of reality and of truth. He shows that this analogy also holds for a lack of light, where objects are harder to make out and lose their hue. When objects are only partially illuminated, we only perceive a limited amount of information about the object and the eyes become useless. The following passage nicely sums up the following of Plato's ideas. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Plato uses the analogy of a line to describe the relationship between knowledge and the Forms and to show how the different states of human perception are closer or further from true wisdom. The line is broken up into four different parts, each pertaining to a different level of thought. The first and lowest state is imagining, where only images and reflections are seen. People who partake in this state of mind take sensible appearance and moral notions at face value, without any depth of understanding of the objects. Belief is a level above imagining and, as described previously, is one's opinion of objects and perspective of reality, regardless of truth. After belief, thought starts
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Approximate Word count = 1230
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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