Hundreds of years ago, there lived a man whose ideas and writings started a revolution in Philosophy itself. This man is often known as the author of a famous piece of writing called "The Republic." His name is Plato. Unlike other philosophers, his writings were in the form of dialogs or debates between 2 or more people. Some of his early work was an attempt to communicate the philosophy and dialectical style of Socrates.
Plato's theory of Forms and his theory of knowledge are so interrelated that they must be discussed together. Influenced by Socrates, Plato was convinced that knowledge is attainable. By this he meant, from thinking and questioning, humans can achieve a greater state of knowledge. He was also convinced of two essential characteristics of knowledge. First, knowledge must be certain and perfect. Second, knowledge must have as its object that which is genuinely real as contrasted with that which is an appearance only. Because that which is fully real must, for Plato, be fixed, permanent, and unchanging, he identified the real with the ideal realm of being as opposed to the physical world of becoming. What this means is that what we see, hear, or touch are merely opinions that people makeup for the true form or idea which exists in the superior realm. A good example of this theory is Plato's myth of the "cave." The myth of the cave describes individuals chained deep within the recesses of a cave. Bound so that vision is restricted, they cannot see one another. The only thing visible is the wall of the cave upon which appear shadows cast by models or statues of animals and objects that are passed before a brightly burning fire. Breaking free, one of the individuals escapes from the cave into the light of day. With the aid of the sun, that person sees for ...