Imagine a gooey decadent pastry warm and fresh from a bakery’s oven, meticulously cut, and gently placed on a small saucer, topped with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Consequent to the description, what pastry does one have in mind? Corresponding with Plato’s Theory of Forms, it is essential to rank and assign standards or models to objects, for without them objects can be interchangeable and mistaken for another. According to Plato, Forms are intelligible ideas but ultimate realities from which the world of objects have been patterned. The intended description was to be of a brownie. The said description utilized characteristics of the present. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a brownie is defined as a small square or rectangle of rich usually chocolate cake containing nuts. However, Forms and the associated classifications use standards that will not fluctuate with the world’s use and manipulation, hence making them more substantial and more, ”real” in the real world. The pastry could be refrigerated, packaged or shipped; however, there is a standard defined that describes what encompasses a brownie.
Another example of a form is a mirror. What is constant in classification of the form of mirror is that it is to display a reflection of whatever is viewing the mirror. A mirror can take on any shape, but the form remains the same. Any reflecting object is a mirror. Take for example, cool ocean waters on a starry night. Glance into the water and the viewer’s image is reflected. This example brings up another point, shape versus form. Shape is malleable in a sense that it can be bent to meet a certain criterion, the standard being the form. Subsequently, a defined Form or standard must first be derived to allow for a shape to be configured.
Because there is a difference in substantiality because of the definition of standards, there also is a difference between the physical world of matter and the world of Forms. The physical world of matter, like...