Strengths and Weaknesses of Plato's Theory of the Forms

Strengths and Weaknesses of Plato's Theory of the Forms

1. Explains why we all recognise the same essential characteristics/elements in something

2. Helps us understand why there are imperfections in the world around us

3. Encourages us to question in order to learn and not to accept things at face value

4. Imperfections- things in the world are not the perfect Form of that thing e.g. beauty

5. Brian Davies- theologian, argued without Forms we couldn't discuss/argue/agree/disagree on 'general features of the real world' e.g. beauty/justice because we would have no knowledge/recognition of what these Forms look like, or what their essence is

6. Tells us that there is more to reality/life than we think, more than just what's around us, why else would we be able to universally recognise the essence of these Forms -Analogy can tell us why we understand features within our reality

7. No proof/evidence of the 'world of the Forms'

8. Infinite- form of a form e.g. Goodness could go on forever =infinite regression, forever backwards

9. No absolute value of good -all shades of opinion, subjective, hard to agree on a definite answer

10. Unlikely that everything in existence has an Ideal, e.g. cancer

11. No help for making sense of the world we live in

12. Believes the senses = inferior, yet we've relied on them for survival always

13. How does it relate to our world e.g. Dog Form relate to one specific variety of dog?

14. No stopping, too many varieties = too many perfect forms, goes on forever

15. Who decides the standard of perfection?

16. It's subjective, not universal

17. If we're to believe there is a perfect Form of everything, that is to say there are perfect Forms of unpleasant things, and the realm of the Forms is meant to be perfect, unchanging and eternal (heavenly) but this world "requires the existence of" deeply unpleasant things too, e.g. mud, faeces and mucus. The platonic heaven of the forms doesn't sound so heavenly