Allegory of Plato

Allegory of Plato’s The Cave

Plato’s theory of The Forms was a theory presented by the philosopher that was meant to solve the Ethical problem, and the problem of Permanence and Change.   The Ethical states the question of how humans live a fulfilling life in an ever changing world, despite the fact that everything they use to represent their individualism are things that do not stay at a constant.   The problem of Permanence states the question of how the world of which we pursue through our five senses is always changing. The world perceived in our minds, only seems permanent and unchanging.   Plato’s solution is to divide these two theories into two separate realms of thought; The Material Realm and The Transcendent Realm of the Forms.

The idea behind the Realm of Forms is simple.   All objects, living or breathing, share a form.   Most definitions of a Form define it as a shape.   In the comparison of two objects such as elephants, this reigns true.   Gender is of no concern, nor physical or mental capacity.   The Form that they share is their size, which is Large. This is the form of The Large.   Plato also states that these two realms, or dimensions, have two parts.   The Physical is comprised of the five senses and The Extra-Dimensional state of mind that is made up of Eternal Perfect Forms and Ideas.   We are unable to see into this realm, as it is not physically based.   It is a realm of ideas, therefore placing it somewhere in the subconscious, where the forms and ideas are brought into existence.   This makes logical sense to me, as it is not yet proven or theorized that there is a metaphysical “cloud” that exists outside of the physical realm that we draw ideas from.   That theory may never be proven unless we create a way to travel back and forth from the physical to the non-physical without negative repercussions.

In Plato’s The Cave, Plato reasons that everything in the perceived physical world is a pale comparison of what it actually is.   A...