The Criticisms of the Forms

Plato believes that everything has its own Form, a perfect version of everything. Whether this is an object (a tree) or a concept (beauty). For example, if there was a Form of Beauty, to explain why we actually find things beautiful, we would need another form to explain why beauty itself is beautiful, and so on and so on. This would lead to an infinite succession of Forms of Beauty and an infinite successsion of all types of Form. Each form would presumably have to be more perfect than the last. Since the forms are ideals however, there can only be one perfect Form of Beauty, and nothing else behind it which is more perfect.

According to Plato, when talking about the Forms, he thinks that everything that is visible in the visible world is just a pale reflection of its Form. If there is a…