Theory of Forms: Redemption

Plato’s Theory of Forms is a response to the fall to bring redemption to the world.  Plato’s Allegory of the Cave attempts to show that there is a higher reality than what we perceive in the physical world.  His Theory of Forms states that everything in the empirical world is a manifestation of a pure form (idea) that exists in the abstract.  I think this idea is a way to redeem the shallow way that “thoughtless” people live their lives.  Plato introduced the concept that thought, ideas, or knowledge enhance the way people live.  While this seems fairly obvious in our post-platonic world, this idea was revolutionary in the way that people viewed life and the pursuit of knowledge.  He believed that an object’s essence was equated with its form, and you could only know an object’s purpose with the knowledge of its form.  This was a revolutionary way to view the world.  He believed that the soul had a rational component that was immortal, so in a sense, immortal rationality and knowledge redeems the futility and transience of the purely physical world.  If a person suppresses the needs of the body and concentrates on rational pursuits, he would free the soul from the adulterations of the flesh.  This idea may have informed the Christian idea of the duality of body and soul- that to deny the flesh is to enhance the soul, which is a manifestation of the fallen world of “flesh” being redeemed to a higher reality of the “spirit.”