Our next discussion of Plato focuses on the single best known aspect of his thought - the world of the forms. Plato believed that we recognize in the imperfect things of this world 'copies' of ideal things that are perfect. These perfect things are eternal and unchanging, and are known to us because we recall them from a prior existence.

By setting forth this view of reality, Plato was attempting to synthesize the notion of 'being' found in Parmenides, with the idea of 'becoming' from Heraclitus. He leans toward Parmenides, however, and emphasizes that the only true knowledge must originate in his world of forms. All else amounts only to what he calls 'opinion.'

Christians have seen in this theory a concept that seems quite compatible with the Christian philosophy, in so far as God represents the ultimate and eternal source of all truth, goodness, and beauty. Enthusiasm for Plato must be tempered, however, as we have noted earlier. The Christian faith also affirms the significance of this world in a way that exceeds anything found in the philosophy of this great Greek thinker.

1. Introduction to the Major Themes of Philosophy
2. The Ionian Philosophers
3. The Italian Philosophers
4. The Athenian Pluralists
5. The Life and Times of Socrates
6. Introduction to Plato
7. Plato's World of the Forms
8. Plato's Parable of the Cave
9. Dualism in Plato
10. Introduction to Aristotle
11. Aristotle's Metaphysics
12. Aristotle's Categories
13. Aristotle's Theory of Language
14. Aristotle's God
15. The Epicureans
16. Stoicism
17. Philo of Alexandria
18. The Christian Synthesis
19. Early Christian Apologists
20. Antiochan Christianity
21. Alexandrian Christianity
22. The Council of Nicaea
23. Manichaeism
24. Neo-Platonism
25. The Life of Augustine
26. Overview of Augustin's Thought
27. Augustin's Epistemology
28. Augustin's Epistemology (part 2)
29. Augustin's Theory of Faith
30. Augustin's Understanding of the Church
31. The Pelagian Controversy
32. The Pelagian Controversy (cont)
33. The Pelagian Controversy (concl)
34. Anselm of Canterbury
35. Anselm's Cur Deus Homo
36. Introduction to the Classical Synthesis
37. The Classical Synthesis (part 2)
38. Thomas Aquinas and the Five Ways
39. Art, Philosophy, and the Renaissance

This wide ranging course starts with the pre-Socratic philosophers of the ancient world, and traces the history of philosophical speculation across the ages up to the present. Included along the way is special attention to the greatest Christian thinkers in history, including Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and many others.