Plato spoke of forms (sometimes capitalized: The Forms) in formulating his solution to the problem of universals. The forms, according to Plato, are roughly speaking archetypes or abstract representations of the many types and properties (that is, of universals) of things we see all around us. There are, therefore, on Plato's view, forms of dogs, of human beings, of mountains, as well as of the color red, of courage, of love, and of goodness. Indeed, for Plato, God is identical to the Form of the Good. According to Platonic realism, universals exist in a realm (often so called) that is separate from space and time; one might say that universals have a sort of ghostly or heavenly mode of existence, but, at least in more modern versions of Platonism, such a description [[Media:is probably more... The problem of universals is a phrase used to refer to a nest of intertwined problems about universals within cognitive psychology, epistemology, and ontology. ... Jump to: navigation, search Statue of a philosopher, presumably Plato, in Delphi. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... // An abstraction is an idea, concept, or word which defines the phenomena which make up the concrete events or things which the abstraction refers to, the referents. ... A type is a category of being. ... In metaphysics (in particular, ontology), the different kinds or ways of being are called categories of being or simply According to the Aristotelian tradition, a being is anything that can be said to be in the various senses of this word. ... Universals (used as a noun) are either properties, relations, or types, but not classes. ... Jump to: navigation, search The term God is capitalized in the English language as a proper noun when used to refer to a specific monotheistic concept of a supernatural Supreme Being in accordance with Christian, Jewish (sometimes as G-d - cf. ... Plato describes The Form of the Good in his book, The Republic, using Socrates as his mouth piece. ...

For Plato, the forms exist in what is known as a "Platonic heaven," and when human beings die, their souls achieve reunion with the forms. Plato makes clear that souls originate in this "Platonic heaven" and have recollection of it even in life.

Form and idea are terms used to translate the Greek word eidos (plural eide). "Idea" is a misleading translation, because for Plato, the eide do not exist in the mind.

Several of Plato's dialogues make use of the Forms, including Plato's Parmenides, which outline several of Plato's own objections to his Theory of Forms. ...

A serious problem for the Theory of Forms is similar to that for Cartesian Dualism, if these Forms exist in 'another world', or are not of the same order of reality as matter, how can they interact with matter to 'inform' it. One standard response was to argue that Forms are part of the same Cosmos and so can interact with matter. But in this case we have the so-called Third Man Problem. If all things (men for instance) have Forms, and things are components of the Cosmos, then Forms are things too and so must have their own Forms ad infinitum... This is not a total refutation of the theory, but its remedy is difficult. Cartesian dualism was Descartess principle of the separation of mind and matter and mind and body. ...

For more information about Plato's theory of universals (forms, ideas), see Platonic realism. See also the divided line of Plato. It is interesting to note that al-Farabi, an excellent student of Plato and Aristotle, didn't even mention the Forms. (cf. "The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle" by al-Farabi.) According to Platonic realism, universals exist in a realm (often so called) that is separate from space and time; one might say that universals have a sort of ghostly or heavenly mode of existence, but, at least in more modern versions of Platonism, such a description [[Media:is probably more... Plato, in The Republic Book VI (509d-513e), uses the literary device of a divided line to teach his basic views about four levels of existence (especially the intelligible world of the forms, universals, and the visible world we see around us) and the corresponding ways we come to know... Al Farabi (870-950) was born of a Turkish family and educated by a Christian physician in Baghdad, and was himself later considered a teacher on par with Aristotle. ...

Plato's concept of the Forms found visual representation in the work of Conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth in his work "One and Three Chairs" and other similar works. Joseph Kosuth (born January 31, 1945) is an influential American conceptual artist. ... ‘One and Three Chairs’, 1965, is a work by Joseph Kosuth which includes a chair, a photo of a chair, and the written definition of a chair. ...