Eternally true, eternally beautiful and eternally good

What did he seek to investigate Plato? In short, Plato was interested in the relationship between the eternal and the unchanging, on one hand, and the "flowing" on the other. We have already learned that the Sophists and Socrates rejected the narrative philosophers' theses and increasingly concerned themselves with man and society, although both the Sophists and Socrates, in their own way, also explored the relationship between eternal and lasting and that which is "flowing". They reasoned on this issue when it comes to human morality and the ideals and virtues of society. Generally speaking, the Sophists thought the answer to the question of what is fair and not changing from polis to polis and from generation to generation. The question of justice and injustice is therefore the thing that is "running". Socrates did not accept that. He believed he had eternal rules or norms for human behavior. Since we can serve ourselves with our reason, he thought, we can recognize all these unchanging norms, because man's mind is something eternal and invariable. Plato was concerned both with the eternal and unchangeable nature, as well as with the eternal and immutable in morality and society. He even thought they were essentially the same things. He tried to build his own "reality" - eternal and immutable. That is exactly what the philosophers are - they are trying to point out what is "eternally true", "eternally beautiful" and "eternally good".

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The world of ideas

More Empedocles and Democritus have indicated that all natural phenomena are "flowing", but there is "something" that is invariable. Plato is dealing with the same problem, but with a radically different approach. According to him, in nature, "everything" we can touch or feel. Therefore, there are no building blocks to break down. Absolutely everything that belongs to the "sensual world" consists of matter, subject to time. But at the same time, everything is created in a form independent of time that is eternal and unchangeable. Why are all horses the same? Perhaps you think this is not true. But there is something in common between all horses, so we will never have trouble recognizing a horse. The separate horse, of course, "runs". May grow old, taste, get sick and die. However, the actual "horse form" is eternal and immutable. So, according to Plato, eternal and immutable is not a physical "primary substance". Eternal and unchangeable are spiritual, or, in other words, abstract models, according to which all phenomena are shaped.
Plato wondered how it was possible for all natural phenomena to resemble, and concluded that "above" or "behind" everything we see around us there is a limited number of forms that he called ideas. Conclusion: Plato believed that there was another kind of reality behind the "sense world", which he called the ideal world - the eternal and immutable models, the origins that underlie the various natural phenomena we face. This remarkable view is called Platon's teachings about ideas.

The Immortal Soul

So, Plato thought reality was divided into two. One part is the sensory world, for which we can obtain only approximate and incomplete knowledge, using our five senses. For everything in the sensual world, the image is "flowing" and is therefore not lasting. Nothing in the sense world is, there are just a lot of things that arise and disappear.
The other part is the ideal world for which we can obtain secure knowledge if we serve our own reason. This ideal world can not therefore be perceived by the senses. As a compensation - ideas or forms are eternal and unchangeable. According to Plato, the man himself is "split". We have a body that 'flows'. It is inextricably linked to the sensible world and condemned to the same fate as anything else but there. All of our senses are connected to the body and therefore can not be relied upon. For we have an immortal soul - it is the nest of reason. And precisely because it is immaterial, the soul is able to cast a glimpse into the world of ideas. Plato further thought that the soul had existed before she was in our body: she was once in the ideal world. But as soon as the soul wakes up in the human body, she completely forgot the perfect ideas. And then something special happens, a wonderful process begins: as long as one becomes aware of the forms in nature, a soulful memory is gradually born in his soul. One sees a horse imperfect horse. This, however, is enough to awaken a vague memory of the compulsive horse the soul has ever seen in the ideal world. This creates a longing for the real dwelling of the soul. Plato called that longing for Eros-and that means love. Therefore, the soul experiences a "longing for love" of its true origin. From then on, her body and everything sensuous to her will be imperfect and immaterial. On the wings of love the soul strives to fly "home" into the ideal world. She longs for deliverance from the prison of the body. I must immediately point out that here Plato describes the perfect biography. Because not all people give their soul the freedom to take the way back to the ideal world. Most cling to the "mirror reflections" of ideas in the sensed world. They see a horse and another horse, but they do not see what bad horses are all imitation. Plato describes the path of philosophers.

When we see a shadow, we know there is something that throws this shadow. We see the shadow of an animal. Perhaps a horse, but we are not quite sure. That is why we turn and see the true horse - which, of course, is infinitely more beautiful and clearer than the shadow. That is why Plato believed that all things in nature are ordinary shadows of eternal forms or ideas. Most people, however, are happy with their shadow life. They do not think there are actually things that throw the shadows. They think there is nothing besides the shadows - that's why they do not perceive the shadows as shadows. That's why they forget the immortality of their souls.

Part 1 The history of philosophy. Natural philosophy and the three philosophers of Miletus

Part 2 Parmenides, Heraclitus and Empedocle

Part 3 Anaksagor, Demokritus and the theory of atoms

Part 4 The man in the center of everything and who was Socrates?