Plato's Theory of Forms

The motivations and problems of Plato's most famous philosophical contribution, the theory of forms. ‪@PhiloofAlexandria‬

Пікірлер: 62

  • @Google_Censored_Commenter
    @Google_Censored_Commenter2 жыл бұрын

    One important thread that's worth holding onto whenever skepticism creeps into our mind: The fact that we might be wrong about something, or can't achieve knowledge about it, doesn't exclude us from being *right* about it. It only excludes us from knowing we're right. If at the end of the day we still value being right, the skeptic's approach of "giving up" stops being appealing. Even if we don't know if we'll win the lottery, even if we think we know the odds are small, why not take the chance? The skeptic might argue taking the chance comes with a cost, but the skeptic doesn't know *that* either, so what does it matter?

  • @littlebigheroman
    @littlebigheroman2 жыл бұрын

    You are the light leading us aloft :)

  • @michaelfern4079
    @michaelfern40792 жыл бұрын

    I used to laugh at Plato’s Theory of Forms but there are so many things which makes me question my smugness. The bastard might just have been right all along. Thanks! 🙏❤️

  • @sneakybeaver8866

    @sneakybeaver8866

    2 жыл бұрын

    The madlads

  • @Marcus_Tullius_Cicero
    @Marcus_Tullius_Cicero15 күн бұрын

    Plato was a genius

  • @zach4059
    @zach40592 жыл бұрын

    Your videos are the best!

  • @PhiloofAlexandria

    @PhiloofAlexandria

    2 жыл бұрын

    Wow, thanks!

  • @TheChristianFilmmaker
    @TheChristianFilmmaker2 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful!

  • @PhiloofAlexandria

    @PhiloofAlexandria

    2 жыл бұрын

    Many thanks!

  • @amoeba12221
    @amoeba122212 жыл бұрын

    Great insight, prof! Thanks. 🇮🇳

  • @nathanschab4796
    @nathanschab47962 жыл бұрын

    I love your channel. Epicurus next? Maybe? :)

  • @sof553

    @sof553

    2 жыл бұрын

    Epicurus and Lucretius are two of my favourites! I don’t think there is a philosophical school that’s been more misrepresented than Epicureanism.

  • @PhiloofAlexandria

    @PhiloofAlexandria

    2 жыл бұрын

    Great suggestion!

  • @ewigerschuler3982

    @ewigerschuler3982

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@sof553 German Idealism

  • @minasithilindustries
    @minasithilindustries Жыл бұрын

    Love this content good sir!!

  • @PhiloofAlexandria

    @PhiloofAlexandria

    Жыл бұрын

    I appreciate it!

  • @anubhavmishra32
    @anubhavmishra32 Жыл бұрын

    thanks sir............for this vital repositories on your channel

  • @anubhavmishra32
    @anubhavmishra327 ай бұрын

    Just ❤ hitting the right notes while describing...thank you very much 🇮🇳🇮🇳

  • @PracticalWisdomPhilosophyDS
    @PracticalWisdomPhilosophyDS2 жыл бұрын

    Love this ❤️

  • @flourishomotola5306
    @flourishomotola53062 жыл бұрын

    Well done Sir 👍🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

  • @devilmansanchez
    @devilmansanchez2 жыл бұрын

    What is so frustrating about this idea of forms is that, while one cannot fully demonstrate it, it simply "feels" right. Perhaps the closest one can get is through geometry, which is something you mentioned in one of your lectures: There are properties of a triangle that do not belong to one specific triangle, but to all triangles; and those properties which belong to all triangles exist independently of tangible triangles themselves, and it is understood as triangularity. Triangularity is some sort of a form: They are eternal, infinite, transcendental, and necessary; but it becomes so much more difficult with concepts such as "justice" to the point that it seems impossible not to resort to a leap of faith at the end!

  • @keithmazzapica5188

    @keithmazzapica5188

    2 жыл бұрын

    Study the Gorgias.

  • @PLATOLOSOPHY
    @PLATOLOSOPHY2 жыл бұрын

    In literally in the process for making my first episode about Plato, I wrote a college paper on his theory of forms so should be a good one. Will definitely study this video in preparation as well!

  • @rukhsarbutt9678
    @rukhsarbutt96782 жыл бұрын

    Thank you !! 🇵🇰

  • @impermanencecharms3319
    @impermanencecharms33192 жыл бұрын

    Leibniz's monads theory and Plato idealism are an enjoyable thinking, i have had right now... What is your opinión?

  • @morowenidi4621
    @morowenidi46212 жыл бұрын

    Derrida's deconstruction is just an echo of ancient skeptics like Pyrrho, they both touch the language/communication problem, except Pyrrho actually did something to show his point, he stopped speaking, but even then he needed to wiggle finger to his disciples, as Derrida needed to write books for his idea to spread. Cant get rid of communication after all, language is necessary limitation to live in a society. On the other hand, Plato is echoed by Hegel, he marries form and thinking in his "movement", which is the only way to define truth.

  • @AudioPervert1

    @AudioPervert1

    2 жыл бұрын

    Just? OH well ... What about Hauntology? Which ancient drudge or Pyrrho ever imagined that??!

  • @Meg-ht9ke
    @Meg-ht9ke2 жыл бұрын

    If only I had got Prof. Bonevac in my UG

  • @peimankhosravi
    @peimankhosravi Жыл бұрын

    This question comes to my mind about Plato's forms. I'm sure someone has already an answer to this. What's the reason behind putting the universal form above the particular? Could we not also say that the form of, say, a tree, is a mental abstraction made from actual instances of trees? Why is the form taken to be more real than, and the cause of particulars by Plato?

  • @logic7124

    @logic7124

    11 ай бұрын

    That's what Aristotle say

  • @operaguy1
    @operaguy12 жыл бұрын

    Alt: PK (philosopher-kings) mumbling and stumbling around, dazed by the sun, while in the cool (AC) soft lights of sturdy modern domiciles workers and strivers hold a Zoom to discuss how to help the PKs ... or to not. They decide to group-text them: "All concepts on all levels are induced from objective reality."

  • @JoeF480
    @JoeF4802 жыл бұрын

    Are the Forms synonymous with the Sun outside in the Allegory of the Cave ?

  • @PhiloofAlexandria

    @PhiloofAlexandria

    2 жыл бұрын

    The form of the good is analogous to the sun. The other forms are analogues of the objects outside the cave that the sun illuminates.

  • @JoeF480

    @JoeF480

    2 жыл бұрын

    ​@@PhiloofAlexandria Thank you!

  • @efraingarcia9800
    @efraingarcia9800 Жыл бұрын

    I feel like even without the sophist people would be trapped within their individual minds/understandings. In my opinion there seems to be a democratic weight to understanding. That which is familiar is not necessarily known, and that which is known is not necessarily communicable. Could not the forms be closer to a measure of understanding than something that might be known?

  • @Austria88586
    @Austria885862 жыл бұрын

    Wolfgang Smith

  • @christopherkimball2264
    @christopherkimball22642 жыл бұрын

    How can it be Christian philosophy when he predates Christianity?

  • @PhiloofAlexandria

    @PhiloofAlexandria

    2 жыл бұрын

    It’s on that playlist because it’s important background for understanding Philo of Alexandria, Origen, Augustine, and Anselm.

  • @christopherkimball2264

    @christopherkimball2264

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@PhiloofAlexandria thanks

  • @christopherkimball2264

    @christopherkimball2264

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@MyMy-tv7fd Christianity is based not on truth but on mythology.

  • @DM-bh2gg

    @DM-bh2gg

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@christopherkimball2264 Wrong, atheism is based on mythology, Christianity is based on truth.

  • @DipayanPyne94

    @DipayanPyne94

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@DM-bh2gg Nope. Christianity is Mythology. No one has or will ever be able to walk on water. Scientifically impossible.

  • @Wandering_Chemist
    @Wandering_Chemist2 жыл бұрын

    Oh god Christian platonism. Annnnnd gone.

  • @autisticberserker1807
    @autisticberserker1807 Жыл бұрын

    Plato got a lot of stuff wrong, including his Theory of Forms, even though it is groundbreaking thought, for the time. What is worse though, is that most people whom try to explain Plato, get him wrong, especially in regards to his Theory of Forms. Often times they get him wrong on purpose and twist his meanings to fit their agenda which is especially true when religious folks try to explain it. Plato's "Forms" was simply a precursor to what we call "Social Construction" today. It is what Sigmund Freud called "The Super Ego". Whatever you call it, "It" is not eternal or transcendent. "It" changes just like everything else. Also, I find it intellectually dishonest to not place distinction on what "skeptics" are. You paint them in a very unpleasant light in this video and it seems to be intentional. "Skeptics" in the ancient philosophical context might be somewhat as you explained but not in the modern sense. It is good to be a skeptic. Plato was very much a skeptic in the modern sense. That is to say, someone who questions everything.

  • @Tyrant98

    @Tyrant98

    Жыл бұрын

    Amazing that you talk about getting Plato wrong and then say that the Forms are a 'precursor' to social construction and super ego. You have first year philosophy undergrad written all over your post.

  • @autisticberserker1807

    @autisticberserker1807

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Tyrant98 Plato's "Forms" was about the ideas of things and so are social constructs and that is exactly what lies in the super ego. Please wise one, tell me how I am wrong. If you are going to so blatantly tell someone they are wrong, you could at least tell them how they are wrong. Especially since you must be some kind of doctorate of philosophy. I have never taken a philosophy class btw.

  • @Tyrant98

    @Tyrant98

    Жыл бұрын

    @@autisticberserker1807 I believe you on that, since it's very clear that you are taking disparate fragments of philosophical ideas and then confusing their meaning. Forms are, by definition, not social constructs. What you are saying is not really an argument, its more akin to a very juvenile articulation of a postmodern position. I have nothing here to show wrong, other than your definitional error with regard to Forms.

  • @autisticberserker1807

    @autisticberserker1807

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Tyrant98 if forms are not social constructs, then what are they? Plato would say a chair does not exist, only the idea of what a chair is exists. That idea is socially constructed. Seriously though, I would love to hear what you think "forms" are. Lol. Can't wait to hear this.

  • @Tyrant98

    @Tyrant98

    Жыл бұрын

    @@autisticberserker1807 'if forms are not social constructs then what are they?' Forms are abstract, non-spatio-temporal universals. This is not a matter of debate, you are simply definitionally wrong.