Things You'll Need:
- Thought
- Copies of Plato's dialogues helpful (Please see "Resources" way at the bottom of this page)
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Step 1
Consider a painting of a table. I chose a table because that's a popular item philosophy professors use to help explain the Forms.
A painting of a table is a representation (re-presentation) of a particular table. Even if the table depicted in the painting is "made-up" (or, isn't based upon the artist's looking at his kitchen but simply conjuring a table up in his mind's eye), it's still a painting of a particular table. You can't paint all tables at once (some are black, some are brown, some large and some small).
Art for Plato is a type of "mimesis," or imitation. From this Greek word we receive the word "imitation" and also "mime" and "mimic." -
Step 2
Consider the Particular Table depicted in the painting. For Plato, this table is more real than is the painting of the table. Why? Because it's one step less removed from ultimate reality than is the painting of the table. The painting is an imitation, whether crude or very accurate; and imitations aren't the "Real McCoy." Also, paintings can only show one perspective on a table, this side or that, top or bottom and so on. (Cubism is a possible exception, as it can be seen as an attempt to fuse multiple perspectives--hence Picasso's figures often seem "disjointed" because maybe a frontal shot is combined with a profile).
The actual table, however, is also a copy, or a re-presentation, of the Form of a table, so it too isn't the height of reality. As we shall see, the painting is thrice removed from reality, while the table is twice removed from reality. -
Step 3
Consider the Idea of what makes a table a table. This is the Form of a table--in modern language we'd call it the "concept" of table. What is the essence/form/idea of a table? The easiest way to put this is to ask: what does a table have to have in order for it to be a table rather than a goldfish, an ocean, a chair, or anything else? Does it have to have four legs? No, there are three-legged tables. Does it need legs at all? Perhaps not, as there are flat tables that may rest on one's lap. As you may find, it's not easy to arrive at the Form of table, and the same goes with Forms for just about any other object.
To grasp the various Forms, that of table, of chair, of bird, etc. is the closest to reality that we mere mortals can hope to attain. Unlike paintings of objects and particular material objects themselves, the Forms are timeless and unchanging. A painting of a table comes into being and someday is destroyed, likewise with an actual table, while the Form or Idea of "table" or "tableness" has always been and always will be. Tables and paintings of tables are thus relegated to the land of "becoming," whereas the Form of table partakes of the realm of being.
For Plato, it is the philosopher who strives to understand these Forms, yet even the Forms are once removed from reality. -
Step 4
The highest level of reality is the Form of Good, which makes the other Forms possible. In a sense for Plato, the Form of Good equates to God.
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Step 5
For Plato, a work of art is a copy/re-presentation of an object. An object is an imperfect copy/re-presentation of the Form for that object. Each Form (or concept) is only possible through the highest Form, that of the Good. The famous Platonic equation, sometimes celebrated, other times mocked, is the True = the Good = the Beautiful, or Truth = Goodness = Beauty.
