Platonic realism facts for kids
Platonic realism is a big idea about what is real, created by an ancient Greek thinker named Plato. He explained it in his theory of Forms. Plato believed that the world we see around us, with all its changing things, is not truly real. He thought it was like shadows on a wall.
Instead, Plato said there's a hidden, true reality. This reality is made of perfect, unchanging "Forms" or "Ideas." These Forms are the real versions of everything we see. For example, there's a perfect "Form of a Chair" somewhere. All the chairs we sit on are just imperfect copies of that perfect Form.
Platonism is a similar idea. It's a way of looking at reality that comes from Plato's original thoughts, sometimes with a few changes.
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What is Platonic Realism?
In ancient Greece, thinkers wondered why many different things could share the same qualities. For example, many different things can be "red," like an apple, a car, or a sunset. What makes them all "red"? This was called the "problem of universals."
Plato's answer was his theory of Forms. He said that the things we see are not perfect. They change and don't last forever. But the universal ideas, like "redness" or "beauty," are perfect and last forever. These perfect ideas are the Forms.
The Forms exist outside of space and time. They are like perfect blueprints or molds. Everything we see in our world is just an imperfect copy made from these perfect Forms.
Plato's student, Aristotle, noted that Plato and his teacher Socrates thought the world was always changing. This idea was similar to what another philosopher, Heraclitus, said: "You cannot step into the same river twice."
Plato's Big Idea
Plato believed that our minds could reach the true reality of the Forms. He thought the visible world was just a reflection of this deeper truth.
Plato used a famous story called the allegory of the cave. Imagine people chained in a cave, only able to see shadows on a wall. They think these shadows are real. But outside the cave, there are real objects casting those shadows. Plato said our world is like that cave. We only see shadows of the true Forms.
This idea helped Plato think about how we understand the natural world. It also shaped his ideas about what is good, beautiful, and fair in human society. Plato thought that by using our minds to understand these perfect Forms, we could discover deep truths about life and the world.
Aristotle's Different View
Aristotle, who studied with Plato, had a different idea about universals. He believed that universal qualities, like "redness," are not separate Forms. Instead, they are qualities that exist within the things themselves. For example, the "redness" is part of the red apple, not a separate "Form of Redness."
Aristotle still believed in things we can't see, like souls. But he thought souls were part of the visible world, not a separate, hidden reality. Aristotle's ideas greatly influenced how people in the Western world thought for a long time.
Aristotle studied the natural world in great detail. He also created a system of thinking called logic, which helps us figure out how things are related. His focus on the visible world helped lead to what we now call empirical science, which relies on observing and experimenting.
Platonism Today
Some mathematicians and physicists today are still Platonists. For example, scientists like Max Tegmark and Roger Penrose have ideas that connect to Platonism.
However, most modern Platonists believe that things in our visible world are real. They also think that abstract ideas like numbers, sets, and geometry are real and timeless. These ideas exist, even if we can't touch them. But "pure" Platonists still believe that only the Forms or their perfect realm are truly real.
Some physicists even suggest that Plato's allegory of the cave might be similar to how our universe is structured. Max Tegmark, for instance, believes that only the mathematical structure of the universe is truly real. Some call him a "radical" Platonist because of this strong belief.
Images for kids
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Roman copy of a portrait bust of Plato by Silanion for the Academia in Athens (c. 370 BC)
See also
In Spanish: Teoría de las formas para niños
