Critical Analysis of Platonic Thought
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The key elements of Plato’s thinking have been challenged by Aristotle and many others, who recognise his greatness as an original thinker but refuse to accept many of his conclusions.
The existence of a realm of ideas may not be the obvious conclusion of logical reasoning. We may accept our perception of perfect circularity, but this does not mean it has a separate existence any more than language has an independent reality to the world it refers to.
Some concepts of Plato’s thinking are more fitting than others. We can perceive a perfect circle and accept that it can only exist in logic, but it is difficult to imagine the ideal form of something unpleasant or mundane such as dirt or disease.
If the highest form of knowledge is the Form of Good, how can we know what Goodness is when two people of equal intelligence come to different conclusions about right and wrong? Plato suggests that the form of Good keeps in existence the whole world of Forms like the sun gives light and casts shadows. However, when asked we will all point to the same sun, yet we cannot agree what true goodness is or how it can be proven.
Plato’s concerns about politics and ethics are contradictory. If the physical world is just a sense perception and merely the object of opinion, politics (which answers questions such as who has the right to rule) has little relevance to society.
It is not very clear how Plato’s forms relate to specific items in the world of appearances. Is there an ideal form of an animal to which all animals relate, or do forms relate to specific animal species? Is there a form of a pig in general, or a form for each type of pig? If so, one might say there would be a need for a form for each feature that differentiates one pig from another e.g. short and long sited, to the point where every creature in the world has its own form. At what point do the Forms stop being universals and becoming of little meaning or use?
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