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Plato's Theory Of Forms Essay

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Explain Plato’s theory of forms. What is the function of the forms in relation to platonic metaphysics? What is the relation between the sensible and the intelligible? To begin I would like to firstly establish Plato’s theory of forms, which, is inextricably linked with his metaphysical theory and Platonic Dualism, (intelligible world and sensible world). Plato can be regarded as the first ever Metaphysician, as Plato is searching for the true nature of being, and believed that the world in which we live, which is the world interpreted through the senses (the material world), that is forever changing, is just an imitation of the true world, the world of ideas, that is eternal unchanging and immaterial.
Plato believed that the form of an object …show more content…

A prisoner who escaped captivity from the cave, Plato believed, would slowly start to realise that he was subject to an artificial reality and would start to see the true reality, and the different levels of reality. As he walked out through the cave he would see that the shadows were only projections of the true object cast by the light of the fire. He would then see natural light and realise the light from the fire was also artificial, and he would discover reflections if he looked into a body of water, and then he would see real objects. Finally he would see the sun and make the deduction that it is the ultimate natural source of light. This process of walking out of the darkness and the shadows into the light is a metaphor for one’s path to enlightenment, which can be attempted through philosophy, as a philosopher does not merely rely on the senses seeking knowledge and truth. There are other metaphors which can be extrapolated from the story as the shadows of the cave represent the objects in the world of the senses and how they are not the true essence of the idea of the object casting the shadow but merely imitations. The same type of metaphor is used with comparing the light that emanates from the fire, being an inferior representation of the light of the sun. (B.C.Burt

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Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society. The allegory of the cave is an understanding of what the true world is and how many people never see it because of their views of the society they are raised in.

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The cave as a whole represents the visible realm. In the dialogue, the prisoners are chained so that they can only see what is in front of them and being depicted on the wall. “They’ve been there since childhood, fixed in the same place, with their necks and legs fettered, able to see only in front of them,” (514b). A prisoner is freed and dragged outside the cave,

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1) In the allegory of the cave, Plato’s main goal is to illustrate his view of knowledge. A group of prisoners have been chained in a cave their whole lives and all they have ever been exposed to were shadows on the wall and voices of people walking by. The prisoners in the cave represent humans who only pay attention to the physical aspects of the world (sight and sound). Once one of them escapes and sees the blinding light, all he wants is to retreat back to the cave and return to his prior way of living. This shows that Plato believes enlightenment and education are painful, but the pain is necessary for enlightenment and it is worth it.

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