Platonism

Platonism is a broad term used to refer to both views derived from Plato and/or the various Platonic schools of philosophy. Plato’s own thought cannot be understood without focusing on his metaphysics of Forms. In part, Plato’s theory of Forms was a reaction against Parmenides, who denied the reality of change and the existence of a sensible world. It was also a reaction against [Page 2642]Cratylus, a follower of Heraclitus, who believed that everything in the sensible world is in constant change without any balancing principle of stability, such as Heraclitus’ logos. In response, Plato divided being into the world of the Forms and the sensible world. Forms are aspatial, atemporal, and transcendent entities that make everything else possible. The sensible world is illusory if ...