PLATO AND HIS THEORY OF FORMS.

Plato is one of the most important Philosophers in history. 

At the heart of his philosophy is his "Theory of Forms" or "Theory of Ideas." 

Plato's theory asserts that the non-material forms (ideas), possess the highest and most fundamental kind of Reality, not the outward appearance of things in the Physical World. 

Corresponding to the World of Forms is our World, that of the Shadows, an imitation of the Real One. Just as Shadows exist only because of the Light of a Fire, our World exists as, "the Offspring of the Good." Our World is modeled after the Patterns of the Forms. The function of Humans in our World is therefore to imitate the Ideal World as much as possible. 

The objects seen with our physical eye therefore are not real, instead they are merely shadows that literally 'mimic' the real ones in the World of Forms. That which the observer perceives or understand  when he views the physical world with the human eye is only a merely 3% of what is mimicked from the behavior of the many types of Universal Forms or Beings that exists somewhere in a different reality, and its full understanding is not easy to grasp.  His views on Knowledge, Ethics, Psychology, the Political State, and Art, are all tied to this Theory.

FORMS, according to Plato, were the most Pure of All Things and at the same time the perfect Templates and the blueprint of Perfection. These templates were the Ultimate and the only True Reference Points for All the Objects observed in the Physical World. Only a deep study of these Forms provided the Observer with a genuine Knowledge.  

Plato stated: "every object or quality has a Form: Human Beings, Animals, Mountains, Colors, Courage, Love, and Goodness." He also said that the objects in the Physical World were essentially  Forms that transcended to our World (the World of Substances), and also they were the essential basis of our reality. 

FORMS were transcendent to Space and Time.  Forms did not exist within any time period, rather it provided the formal basis for time. Forms had no spacial dimensions, and thus no orientation in space, nor location. Forms were non-physical, they were extra-mental. Forms were perfect itself because they were unchanging.

Plato spoke of these Entities only through the characters (primarily Socrates) of his Dialogues. Plato often invoked, particularly in the Phaedo, Republic and Phaedrus, a language to illustrate the mode in which the FORMS are said to exist. Near the end of the Phaedo, Plato describes the World of Forms as a Pristine Region of the Physical Universe located above the Surface of the Earth. In the Phaedrus the FORMS are in a Place Beyond Heaven; and in the Republic the Sensible World is contrasted with the Intelligible Realm in the famous Allegory of the Cave.

Knowledge and Intelligence were in essence the ability to grasp the World of Forms with One's Mind.

The pre-Socratic Philosophers, starting with Thales, noted that 'Appearances' change quite a bit and began to ask What the thing 'Changing' really is. The answer was 'Substance,' which stands under the changes and is the actually 'existing thing' being seen. The status of "Appearances' now came into question. Thus the theory of Matter and Form was born. Starting with Plato, the Forms were considered as "Being In" something else, which Plato called Nature (Physis).