Explain the Concept of Ideals in Plato’s Writings Essay Example for Free

Explain the Concept of Ideals in Platos Writings EssayThe unexamined life is not worth living according to Plato. He argued that we should always pursue knowledge and ask questions to do this. A key part of Platos philosophy is epistemology his theory of how we know things. His concept of Ideals, also know as Forms, is Platos explanation of how true knowledge can be sought.Plato understood that there are concepts that we can all secernate in mixed things, for example the concept of beauty. We all recognise beauty in art, nature, people, or music, and we all understand the idea when we hear the word used. Although we can all recognise beauty, our opinions of what classes as beautiful are widely varied and subjective. The conclusions Plato drew from this is that beauty essential live on, otherwise we would not know it at all. This is the Perfect Form of ravisher. However, we must have only partial knowledge of it or we would not have subjective opinions.Forms are absolute ver sions of concepts and ideas. They are stainless ideas of everything and therefore they do not change perfect things cannot change for the better and would not change for the worse. They are also eternal as to begin or to stop existing is a change. They cannot live in this world as it is constantly changing and forms are unchangeable, so they can only exist in the realm of the Forms. The form of Beauty is absolute and true it is not an opinion but an idea or concept, therefore no-one can know the real meaning of Beauty as it cannot exist in this world and it is eternal. We will never know forms fully as we are imperfect.Forms give us knowledge and allow us to have roughly understanding of the truth. Although, we know that we do not know them fully as we can form our own opinions on things, e.g. what is beautiful and what is not. Forms are in the Realm of the Forms, we can recognise them as this is where our soul originates from, however because they come from there and not from w here we are, we do not know them fully. Also as they are perfect we cannot understand them fully. In the Realm of the Forms there are Ideals of everything we have a concept of such as Beauty, Justice, Truth, and the Form of the Good.The Form of the Good is the highest of the forms and is the foundation and result of everything. The Form of The Good re bring ins Platos idea of goodness and is what you should most want. For Plato this was eudaimonia, living a good and fulfilled life. All other forms such as beauty, justice or truth are part of eudaimonia and so part of Good. The Form of the Good is therefore the most important Form as it gives us full and true knowledge of what we should pursue. It is our ultimate goal and the source of all truth and goodness. In this way, it has influenced the development of the Christian idea of God.Plato uses the Cave Allegory to present his ideas about Forms. He does this by using symbolism, by representing the Forms as objects outside of the ca ve. He then represents the Form of the Good as the sun the sun shines absolved onto the objects outside, allowing us to see them. The light represents knowledge and the objects represent Forms the Sun shows us the Forms and gives us knowledge. The prisoners journey illustrates Platos concept of Ideals or Forms they set aside truth but must be pursued individually and by looking away from things that keep us ignorant.