At the heart of Platonic philosophy lies transcendence: the elevation of the world from what it is towards what it can be.

In Platonic thought, Forms are the highest realities. They cannot be grasped by sensory reason or discursive reasoning alone, yet we can apprehend them through the totality of mind. The mind can rise towards the eternal world of ideals. By apprehending those Forms and ideals, and allowing ourselves to be overcome by them, we can understand their truth and realise them not only in our inner world but also in the external world. As the world of ideals is realised within the world of the senses, our world of shadows becomes progressively more real, until the shadows finally recede and the world of Forms reveals itself fully.

The mind can apprehend the world of Forms, but it cannot possess the Forms. The domain of Form and Idea exceeds both sensory and discursive reason because it is neither a thought nor a material thing. It is instead a structure that gives shape both to our thoughts and to what exists in the world outside us, making their unity possible. It is in the light of these Forms that we understand the world.

In the Platonic view, progress is not a production of our minds but the result of our deeper understanding of ideals that are eternal: they existed before us and will not disappear with us. What negates slavery and demands freedom and independence of thought is not merely our belief in freedom, but the ideal of freedom itself—the final and eternal Form of freedom—which discloses every defect and everything that falls short of it. In Plato’s view, it is precisely the world of Forms that enables us to recognise the deficiencies of the material world.

In Platonic thought, the human being belongs to the world of Forms and the Logos is a spark of that light and truth within us. Upon entering the cave of the senses, or the material world, we forget the world of Forms. Yet with the help of that inner spark of light, by remembering the world of Forms and ascending towards it, we can free ourselves. This is the purpose and meaning of human life.

The aim of Platonic philosophy is to show each of us that there is a purpose and truth in life greater and higher than ourselves, one capable of giving meaning to our lives and helping us realise a better world.

Aydin Areta