Have you ever seen a cartoon in which the main character is replaced with a perfect, yet somehow evil, version of themselves? The first letter of their name will be replaced with some apparently opposite consonant, or their whole name will be flipped altogether, and the family has to go on some long, arduous quest to realize that what they really care about is family, and not their clone’s innate ability to make the perfect pancake. With how widespread this trope is, you’d think it’s somehow required in the development of every animated show, but what if I told you this wasn’t just a modern idea?
The concept of a more perfect version of something can be dated all the way back to the fourth century BCE in Ancient Greece. The most influential philosopher of this time was Plato, a student of the great Socrates. Plato was born to a family of politicians right in the middle of Greece’s golden age. Throughout his career, Plato made numerous contributions to society, including inspiring the term for being friendzoned and apparently owning a North American clothing store chain. But, Plato is remembered most for his philosophy of forms.
So what are forms? A form is the most ideal version of an object or idea. Plato claimed that everything has a perfect form, from the trees outside, to your pet dog, and even the thoughts you’re thinking right now. Though they supposedly exist somewhere beyond our perceivable reality, they still affect us nonetheless. Our entire material world is based off of these forms, albeit somewhat imperfectly. It’s like when you buy a pair of knock-off Air Jordans, and suddenly MJ’s dancing.
As the saying goes, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The same is true for forms; an entity isn’t likely to stray from its ideal form. School desks are uncomfortable, certain classes keep having subs, and there’s always that one group still eating lunch in the quad. To find the so-called perfect version of something, you need to notice its patterns. In other words, if you keep getting a sixty-five percent on your tests, it might be time to take that UL study session your teacher offered.
Now, seeing these individual patterns is great, but to really step it up, you’ve got to be able to see the bigger picture. Plato says that the way we see the world is like the shadows of flames on a cave wall. Each of your classes is just a flicker in your ultimate educational future; each party is just one glimpse of your social life. It can seem nice to solo in on one focus, but life isn’t a single track. As you go through life, there’s always some variable you can’t quite account for, some deviation from the form. While this isn’t to say you can’t have your specific talents and paths (in fact, you should), it is certainly worth it to broaden your scope, or you’ll be stuck staring at the shadows.
So, how do we find this bigger picture? Question everything! That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but don’t just take others’ words for everything. One of the most important aspects of the study of forms, and philosophy in general, is finding them for yourself and struggling with problems on your own. After all, that’s the only way we learn. In addition to learning, you’ll also find out what they might mean to you, and then, as said in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “…once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer is.” This is to say that just the act of trying to find some “perfect” form can lead you to your true destination all along (damn, that sounds more mystical then I meant).
Plato, in fact, believed in this sense of intuition and destiny. His ideal government was one ruled by a “philosopher king”—someone who was so in touch with forms and philosophy that the fate of a nation could be placed in their hands. While this idea directly contradicted Greece’s democracy at the time, and was most likely biased by Plato’s preference for a republican system, there are definitely some points to be taken from it. For one, he thought that if you were destined to be a ruler, you were born with it, which is somewhat of an extreme way of saying to trust your heart on what to do, as it’s most likely right. You can also take Plato’s high standards of thorough contemplation into any tricky situation you might find yourself in.
Whether you’re trying to decipher the patterns in your life, or you’re trying to find your purpose, you can find some way to fit the theory of forms into your life. However, don’t get discouraged if nothing happens right away; Rome, or I suppose Greece, wasn’t built in a day. And, if a multimillion dollar company can get by on selling secondhand versions of name brand items, you’ll be okay not immediately becoming perfect. In the end, it all boils down to the fact you’re not completely flawless, but can always strive to be better.
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