Theory of Ideas
idea · 2 works · 2 mentions · 3 anchored passages
Ideas · abstract ideas · the Forms · the Ideal Good · the theory in question · theory of ideas
in the texts
Nicomachean Ethics
The Platonic doctrine positing separately existing Ideas, including an Idea of the Good, critiqued at length for its logical and practical shortcomings.
Or is there nothing else good in itself except the Idea?
So clearly good cannot be a single and universal general notion;
Therefore, good is not a general term corresponding to a single Idea.
Parmenides
The doctrine that abstract Forms or Ideas, such as likeness, justice, beauty, and goodness, exist separately from the many particular things that share their names.
And is there an abstract idea of man, apart from us and all others such as we are, or of fire or water?
And also, said Parmenides, abstract ideas of the just, the beautiful, the good, and all such conceptions?
so when I come to those things which we were just saying do have ideas, I stay and busy myself with them.