Platonism

[ pleyt-n-iz-uhm ]

/ ˈpleɪt nˌɪz əm /

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noun

the philosophy or doctrines of Plato or his followers.

a Platonic doctrine or saying.

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.

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

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Origin of Platonism

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

OTHER WORDS FROM Platonism

Pla·to·nist, noun, adjectivean·ti-Pla·to·nism, nounan·ti-Pla·to·nist, noun, adjectivepro-Pla·to·nism, noun

pro-Pla·to·nist, noun, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Platonism in a sentence

But these physical attributes could easily be explained away as types of anything the Platonist pleased.
Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1|Andrew Lang
He was more a Platonist in his spirit than an Aristotelian, although he was indebted to Aristotle for his method.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume V|John Lord
Coleridge was aiming at an important truth when he said that every man was born an Aristotelian or a Platonist.
The English Utilitarians, Volume I.|Leslie Stephen
Ruskin was a Platonist, steeped in the study of Plato, and bound to him by complete sympathy.
The Victorian Age|William Ralph Inge

The real root of the difficulty to Platonist as to Gnostic was his sharp antithesis of form as good and matter as evil.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5|Various

British Dictionary definitions for Platonism

Platonism

/ (ˈpleɪtəˌnɪzəm) /

noun

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 FormsCompare nominalism, conceptualism, intuitionism

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

See Neo-Platonism

Derived forms of Platonism

Platonist, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Platonism

Platonism

[ (playt-n-iz-uhm) ]

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.