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{{Platonism}}
'''Platonic idealism''' usually refers to [[Plato]]'s [[theory of forms]] or doctrine of ideas.

==Overview==
Some commentators hold that Plato argued that [[truth]] is an abstraction. In other words, we are urged to believe that [[Plato]]'s theory of ideals is an [[abstraction]], divorced from the so-called external world, of modern European philosophy, despite the fact Plato taught that ideals are ultimately real, and different from non-ideal things—indeed, he argued for a distinction between the ideal and non-ideal realm.

These commentators speak thus: for example, a particular tree, with a branch or two missing, possibly alive, possibly dead, and with the initials of two lovers carved into its bark, is distinct from the abstract form of Tree-ness.<ref name=caps/> A Tree<ref name=caps/> is the ideal that each of us holds that allows us to identify the imperfect reflections of trees all around us.

Plato gives the [[The divided line of Plato| divided line]] as an outline of this theory. At the top of the line, the [[Form of the Good]]<ref name="caps">
In the field of philosophy, it has been customary to capitalize
words that are concept names, such as "Search for Truth" (or
"Goodness" or "Man"). Common ideals are Truth, Kindness, and
Beauty. Such capitalization is not common in science, and
hence, concepts such as "accuracy" and "gravity" are not often
capitalized in scientific writing, but could be
capitalized in philosophical papers.
</ref>
is found, directing everything underneath.

Some contemporary linguistic philosophers construe "Platonism" to mean the proposition that [[universals]] exist independently of particulars (a universal is anything that can be predicated of a particular).

Platonism is an ancient school of [[philosophy]], founded by Plato; at the beginning, this school had a physical existence at a site just outside the walls of [[History of Athens|Athens]] called the [[Platonic Academy|Academy]], as well as the intellectual unity of a shared approach to philosophizing.

Platonism is usually divided into three periods:

# Early [[Platonism]]
# [[Middle Platonism]]
# [[Neoplatonism]]

Plato's students used the [[Hypomnema|hypomnemata]] as the foundation to his philosophical approach to [[knowledge]]. The hypomnemata constituted a material memory of things read, heard, or thought, thus offering these as an accumulated treasure for rereading and later meditation. For the Neoplatonist they also formed a raw material for the writing of more systematic treatises in which were given arguments and means by which to struggle against some defect (such as anger, envy, gossip, flattery) or to overcome some difficult circumstance (such as a mourning, an exile, downfall, disgrace).

Platonism is considered to be, in mathematics departments the world over, the predominant [[philosophy of mathematics]], especially regarding the [[foundations of mathematics]].

One statement of this philosophy is the thesis that mathematics is not created but discovered.
A lucid statement of this is found in an essay written by the British mathematician [[G. H. Hardy]] in defense of pure mathematics. <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.americanscientist.org/article/in-defense-of-pure-mathematics|title=In Defense of Pure Mathematics|date=2017-02-06|work=American Scientist|access-date=2018-06-10|language=en}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Mathematician_s_Apology.html?id=beImvXUGD-MC|title=A Mathematician's Apology|last=Hardy|first=G. H.|date=1992-01-31|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521427067|language=en}}</ref>

The absence in this thesis of clear distinction between mathematical and non-mathematical "creation" leaves open the inference that it applies to allegedly creative endeavors in art, music, and literature.

It is unknown if Plato's ideas of [[idealism]] have some earlier origin, but Plato held [[Pythagoras]] in high regard, and Pythagoras as well as his followers in the movement known as [[Pythagoreanism]] claimed the world was literally built up from numbers, an abstract, absolute form.

==See also==
* [[Exaggerated realism]]
* [[Hyperuranion]]
* [[Idealism]]
* [[Plato]]
* [[Platonic epistemology]]
* [[Platonic realism]]
* [[Platonic solids]]
* [[Philosophy of mathematics]]
* [[Plato's beard]]
* [[Objective idealism]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* "Plato And The Theory Of Forms", Tim Ruggiero, Philosophical Society, July 2002, webpage: [http://www.philosophicalsociety.com/Archives/Plato%20And%20The%20Theory%20Of%20Forms.htm PhilosophicalSociety-Forms].
* ''Plato's Theory of Ideas'', by [[W. D. Ross]].
* ''Platonism and the Spiritual Life'', by [[George Santayana]].

{{Idealism}}
{{Philosophy topics}}
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[[Category:Platonism]]
[[Category:Idealism]]
[[Category:Philosophy of mathematics]]

[[Category:Philosophical schools and traditions]]
[[Category:Metaphysical theories]]

Latest revision as of 16:38, 22 January 2023

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