Platonism

American  

[playt-n-iz-uhm] / ˈpleɪt nˌɪz əm /

noun

1. the philosophy or doctrines of Plato or his followers.

2. a Platonic doctrine or saying.

3. the belief that physical objects are impermanent representations of unchanging Ideas, and that the Ideas alone give true knowledge as they are known by the mind.

4. (sometimes lowercase) the doctrine or practice of platonic love.

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Platonism British  

/ ˈpleɪtəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. the teachings of Plato and his followers, esp the philosophical theory that the meanings of general words are real existing abstract entities (Forms) and that particular objects have properties in common by virtue of their relationship with these Forms Compare nominalism conceptualism intuitionism

2. the realist doctrine that mathematical entities have real existence and that mathematical truth is independent of human thought

3. See Neo-Platonism

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Platonism Cultural  

1. The philosophy of Plato, or an approach to philosophy resembling his. For example, someone who asserts that numbers exist independently of the things they number could be called a Platonist.

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Other Word Forms

• Platonist
  noun
• anti-Platonism
  noun
• anti-Platonist
  noun
• pro-Platonism
  noun
• pro-Platonist
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of Platonism

From the New Latin word Platōnismus, dating back to 1560–70. See Platonic, -ism

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Platonism

I guess it was the nascent Platonism in me: If it ain't nice or uplifting, avoid it.

From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2018

Flying against the strong winds of experimentalism, their banner of Platonism called the unbeliever to return to the ancient modes of thought.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Aristotelian dialectic of the Middle Ages appealed exclusively to the reason; Platonism gave opportunities for the imagination to soar to vague and sublime heights, and harmonize with the divine mysteries of the universe.

From A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance With special reference to the influence of Italy in the formation and development of modern classicism by Joel Elias Spingarn

There are in St. Thomas many other similar passages, of perhaps an expressive Platonism, which is not the Platonism of Plato, but of the Alexandrians.

From Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good by Victor Cousin

Tertullian reproaches the heretics of his time with having wandered astray in order to introduce Platonism, Stoicism, and Dialects into Christianity.

From Ecce Homo! A Critical Inquiry into the History of Jesus of Nazareth: Being a Rational Analysis of the Gospels by Paul Henry Thiry Baron d' Holbach

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