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Form of the Good

Form of the Good. The highest of all Forms in Plato’s hierarchy is the ’ Form of the Good ’ . Form of the Good. Highest Form. Ideals (Forms of concepts). Higher Forms. Forms of Phenomena. Lower Forms . Plato compared the Form of the Good to the light of the sun .

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Form of the Good

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  1. Form of the Good

  2. The highest of all Forms in Plato’s hierarchy is the ’Form of the Good’. Form of the Good Highest Form Ideals (Forms of concepts) Higher Forms Forms of Phenomena Lower Forms

  3. Plato compared the Form of the Good to the light of the sun. Light allows the eyeto see objects by illuminating them.

  4. Metaphor explained Illuminate: increase Sight: understanding Eye: soul Object: truth Using the above key, can you unlock the meaning of Plato’s analogy? EXTEND Can you link this to the analogy of the cave and to the rest of Plato’s theory of Forms? Can you link this analogy to Christianity e.g. Jesus as the light of the world, the healing of the blind man, similarities between the Christian concept of God and the Form of the Good?

  5. Contingency How do you think the other Forms might be epistemologically contingent on the Form of the Good? What about particulars in the empirical world? EXTEND Consider how all other Forms and all particulars might be ontologically contingent (depend for their existence) on the Form of the Good and what this might mean for the claim that each Form has necessary existence (cannot not exist).

  6. Epistemologically contingent Our understanding of all other Forms and of all particulars is contingent (dependent) on our understanding of goodness. As such, it is the ultimate truth and object of knowledge. E.g. We wouldn’t know what a good example of a unicorn was, if we did not understand goodness itself to some degree…or a good knife, or a good example of justice. TEST YOURSELF Give your own example.

  7. Unpack the quotation… TEST YOURSELF “…[The Form of the Good] is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source in the visible realm, and that in the intelligible realm it controls and provides truth and understanding…” Plato

  8. TEST YOURSELF Plato compared the Form of the Good to the light of the SUN… …how is the Form of the Good like the sun?

  9. TEST YOURSELF If the Form of the Good were a Mr Man or Little Miss… …which might it be and why?

  10. Weaknesses • Plato suggests that all Forms are in some way good (we will look at this in more detail). But what about evil things – do they have Forms? • Something isn’t evil or ugly, but does not instantiate goodness or beauty well. Do we really want to see ‘evil’ as just a lack of goodness? EXTEND Link to Augustine’s definition of evil.

  11. TEST YOURSELF Form of the Good Word Link metaphor truth sight sun knowledge illuminate contingent

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