Philosophy

Metaphysics has the meaning behind it that it is the essence of something, or in our words today "saying something about reality" so in order to understand Plato's world view, it is important to grasp the distinction that he makes between several different topics. Forms are those aspects of reality which we perceive through our senses: a tree, a car, a table, chair, a beautiful model. Everything that we experience in the world of sensation is constantly changing. Examples are the table will start to get worn down, the beautiful model will age with time. Imperfect and often fleeting, this is the realm of appearances, and we all know that appearances can be deceptive. Where as things change, decay, and ultimately fade away, the Forms are eternal and unchanging. This is the realm of perfect concepts and is grasped, not by the senses, but by the reason. While doing some research on trying to better understand Plato's Metaphysics I came to the conclusion that Plato has two fundamental aspects. The realm of the senses and the realm of the forms. These can be broken up in a way that is less complicated to understand. Here is a few that I remembered to logically separate the two differences. These first three are examples from the sensible world, appearance (seems real),becoming (ever changing), subjective (dependent upon my perception). Next, are from the world of forms, reality (is real), being (eternal and unchanging), objective (exist independently of my mind).