Platonism

Platonism is a popular philosophical system that is also known as the philosophy of Plato. Overall, it talks about the idea that describes the abstract objects believed to be existing in a third realm. They are distinct from the internal world of consciousness and the sensible external world. Platonism is the opposition of nominalism.

The term “Platonism” is based on the Platonic realism. The main idea of this definition, a characteristic that is very important to the Theory of Forms, is the understanding of the clear difference between two types of reality. The first one is noticeable, but it is unintelligible. Another one is not noticeable, but it is intelligible. These elements are often identified in such dialogues as Symposium, Phaedo, and Republic. They demonstrate that the objects surrounding everything in a modern world are imperfect copies.

The main concept for exploring the platonism is the Theory of Forms. It states that every element can be categorized upon the forms. There are perfect, eternal, and unchangeable types. There are also some objects of responsible and moral sense that can be considered imperfect copies. It is almost impossible to tell the exact number of the forms because this amount is connected with the number of unique connects that originate from the objects of sense.

The whole Platonist system considered the Form of the Good as its foundation. It is important to understand that virtue is knowledge; this means the comprehension of the real form of the good. All individuals follow three significant values, such as moderation, courage, and wisdom. These virtues are united by another vital element - justice. They communicate together with three parts of the soul, which are the reason, the spirit, and the appetite. All of these items have their clear function.

The idea of Platonism has been firstly introduced in the dialogues of Plato. He was using the figure of Socrates to illustrate those ideas that can be similar or not to the thoughts of the historical Socrates. He was the master of Plato. There was the Academy where Plato presented his public lectures. The school of his thought existed a long time after his death. There were three main periods that presented the development and life of his philosophy. They included the Old, Middle, and New Academy. For example, Xenocrates and Speusippus were the most influential theorists during the period of Old Academy. Both of them wanted to destroy the speculations created by the followers Pythagoreanism who contradicted the theory of forms that has been developed by Plato.

Later, Arcesilaus was working as the head of this Academy. During this period that was recognized as the Middle Academy, the popularity of Academic skepticism became higher. For example, there were many attacks of the Stoics since they wanted to protect the certainty of truth and highlight their knowledge. The last stage, the New Academy, started with Carneades. This period also became popular for denying the possibility of knowing an actual truth. The head of this stage, as well as the head of the previous one, was sure that he followed the basic philosophy of Plato.

Antiochus of Ascalon was the one who later denied skepticism. This idea started a wave of Middle Platonism. During this period, original Platonism was questioned by diverse Peripatetic and Stoic dogmas. As a result, the traditional forms presented by Plato were not considered transcendent during the period of Middle Platonism. The new ideas stated that the Platonic Forms were immanent. Plutarch introduced the pre-eminence during this period. The physical world was recognized as one and unique World-Soul.

In many years after this period, Middle Platonism moved to mysticism. For instance, Plotinus transformed the basic Plato's system, which led to the introduction of a new wave, Neoplatonism. The theory stated that the foundation of the existing means was the Good. It served as the source of everything. It originated from itself and contained the endless representation of different ideas and reasons. It also indicated that nature was the whole and it endowed with soul and life. The first one, soul, was related to the matter and it was formed within the body. It had a power to elevate itself. Consequently, it meant that the central function of the human beings is to reach the union with the God or Good.

During the Middle Ages, Platonism was called authoritative. It had a significant impact on Western and Eastern mysticism. At the same time, it also affected a wide range of scientists and theorists. Even if Aristotle was considered more popular than Plato, there were still many works that fundamentally based on the Platonic ideas.

The Renaissance era demonstrated that many scholars were becoming more interested in Plato as a person himself. For instance, starting from the sixteenth century and until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the theories of Plato seriously affected a lot of religious thinkers in England. Moreover, in continental Europe, Orthodox Protestantism had always been critical of their ideas. The main element of distrust that led to a lot of controversial discussions and debates was the questions how to manage the same-sex elements.

Later, the term “Christoplatonism” was introduced. It meant the dualism described by Plato, depicting that spirit means good and that matter means evil. It contradicted some of the Bible’s teachings, and it receives a lot of criticism from various theorists even today.

Finally, it is essential to empathize that the modern stage of Platonism was widely explored and discussed by a wide range of philosophers. The most active group was Austrian Realists. There were also other analytic philosophers who focused their research on this wave of philosophy and connected it with the basic mathematics and logic.

The most popular names in modern Platonism include Bertrand Russell, Edward Zalta, Alonzo Church, Bernard Bolzano, Gottlob Frege, Hilary Putnam, George Bealer, Kurt Gödel, Edmund Husserl, and W. V. O. Quine. It should be mentioned that modern Platonism ideas discuss a wide range of elements, such as the sets, properties, types, truth values, meanings, and propositions.