What is Plato’s Idealism and how is it different from commonsensical view of reality?
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Imagine you’re playing with toy cars. You have different toy cars that you can see and touch. That’s the commonsensical view of reality. You believe that things exist because you can see and touch them.
Now, let’s think about something different. Imagine there’s a special place where all the perfect toy cars exist. These perfect cars are more real than the ones you can see and touch. This idea is similar to Plato’s Idealism.
Plato believed that there is a world of perfect and unchangeable things that he called “Forms”. These Forms exist in a separate realm, different from the physical world we experience. According to Plato, everything we see in the physical world is just a imperfect copy or reflection of these perfect Forms.
In the toy car example, the perfect toy cars in Plato’s world of Forms would represent the ideal car that all other cars are trying to be like. The toy cars you play with are imperfect copies of that ideal car. Plato believed that the physical world we see is just a shadow or imitation of the true reality.
so, in short, idealism is different from the commonsensical view because it suggests there is a deeper, truer reality, beyond what we perceive with our senses. (commonsensical view is that what we see and touch is the only reality)
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