Another interpretation for Plato's Metaphysics

Plato believes in the world of perfect forms, and that everything that we see is actually just an attempt to copy one of these forms. What if we change out the idea of the world of forms with Humans ability to comprehend these objects like in the example below.


Under this new concept we do not have to make up another world without sufficient evidence to support that it exists. Plato believed that a world of forms existed and that the reason people can see two different, unique objects both as chairs is because they are both attempts to replicate the form of chair. I think it is because humans have the ability to reason and look at the shape of the objects and see that they are most likely to function as chairs. I believe that without humans, a flat piece of wood with four legs and a back would just be pieces of wood, and that its our ability to comprehend the function of the materials that makes it a chair. Overall I think there is some valid points to Plato's world of forms but I don't think he has fully captured the truth.

Response to http://wehavealwaysthoughso.blogspot.com/2013/01/is-socrates-idea-that-every-evil-act-is.html

I agree with your point that every act of evil is not involuntary. I think almost all of us can think of a time when we purposely did something that was not right, we may somewhat regret it, but we still did it knowing it was wrong. I simply don't buy into the fact that nobody realizes that they are doing wrong. Isn't that like saying that every murderer should be able to plead insanity? I do not believe that all evil is ignorance.

Religion as a reason to do the right thing

Socrates believes that Religion serves the central purpose of giving people reason to do the right thing. He sees that as religions central and most important function. Another function mentioned is the social benefits that religion can provide, however I believe one key point of religion is being missed. Religion provides people a way of coping with death. People do what there religion says is right hoping that in there "after life" they will be treated well. This goes along with the point Socrates makes. The one thing I believe was left out was how religion helps people cope with the deaths of others. This is the one area of religion Socrates seems to miss. This is one scenario where I believe somebody can make great gains without ever using sound logic. If one chooses to believe in religion, which is a purely emotional decision, they can receive aid in coping with the death of a loved one. While I am not religious I can see how this benefits millions of people around the world. This is one area of religion I believe Socrates missed, and it is not a huge surprise because he didn't believe that listening to emotion to make a decision was a good idea.