Platonic

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of Plato or his philosophy: Platonic dialogues; Platonic ontology.
2. adj. Transcending physical desire and tending toward the purely spiritual or ideal: platonic love.
3. adj. Speculative or theoretical.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Pertaining to Plato (about 427-347 b. c.), or to his doctrines. Reference to the school of Plato and to his followers is more usually expressed by the adjective Platonistic. Plato wrote in dialogues, which are equally admirable from a literary and from a philosophical point of view. He held that the object of philosophy is beauty; that without a deep sense of ignorance no man can philosophize; that judgments of common sense are open to doubt; that the senses may err, and at best can afford only likelihood (ει\κασια); that experience (δο\ξα), built out of perceptions, though safer, does not know the reasons of phenomena; and that man is the measure of things, not in his experience of particular facts, as Protagoras would have it, but in his knowledge of reasons, which alone is ennobling. Philosophy according to Plato has three blanches—dialectic, physics, and ethics. Dialectic, the art of discussion, proceeds by definition and division. Division should be by dichotomy. He holds strongly to the truth of cognition; the process of mind and the process of nature are one. Neither the Eleatic doctrine that all is One, and the Many mere illusion, nor the Heraclitnn doctrine that there is only a fluid manifold without unity, is the truth; there is a mixed being (μικτη\ ουὀσια): being has an eternal and an evanescent element, and only a compound of these can be an object of science. The one in the Many is the Idea, the active force prescribing regularity (as we should say, the law of nature), which in supercelestial place subsists while individual cases arise and perish. The ideas make up an organism, or living system (ζῷον). They are themselves regulated by an idea of a teleological character, the Good, or ultimate purpose of all things, identical with Reason, the true Being (ο\ντως ο\ν), the One, King of heaven and earth, which, immutable, draws all things toward itself. This Reason is God, who is related to the ideas as a poet to the ideals he has created and intends to embody. That other element which in the actual condition of things in this world has not yet been eliminated so as to leave pure Reason is extended quantity (μικρο\ν) or body (σῶμα), nearly Aristotle's matter (υ\λη). This is the secondary principle (συναιτιον) of the universe. God, the father, implants the seed of the Good in space, the mother, and without his further intervention the Cosmos, the only begotten son of God, made in his likeness, grows up. This is a second blessed god, instinct with Reason. Plato was a political philosopher. He abhorred alike the sway of oligarchy and of democracy, and still more the outcome of the latter, the one-man power—tyranny. He believed in aristocracy supported by an iron socialism. The relations of the sexes should be so regulated as to stop all increase in the population, which should be limited to 5,040 households. Private property and family relations should be abolished. Three classes should be recognized—workmen, soldiers, and lawyers. The education of a lawyer should begin with music, gymnastic, and mathematics. In his thirtieth year (up to which age he should be seen and not heard) he is to begin the study of dialectic. His education should be completed at the age of fifty, when he is to take his share in the government. The above is an outline of the general views of Plato; many of his special opinions are celebrated. He strongly maintains the immortality and previous existence of the soul. The tie which holds body and soul together is music. Virtue is not natural, nor can it be commanded by the will, but it is the result of discipline. The cardinal virtues are wisdom (σοφία), courage (ἀνδρία), prudence (σωφροσ, σ1ύνη), and justice (δικαιοσυνη). The unjust alone prosper; the perfect man would suffer on the cross. Reason resides in the head, desire in the abdomen, prophesy in the liver. Time is an image of eternity; it is produced by circular motions. Nature abhors a vacuum. Like attracts like. The constellations and the earth are living divinities. Plato was a mathematician, and is said to have invented the ancient method of analysis. His thoughts constantly show the influence of mathematical studies, and the desire to import mathematically distinct conceptions into philosophy. Aristotle, who was Plato's scholar, declared that the Platonic ideas were numbers. Plato no doubt attributed active virtues to the ideas of One, Two, Three, and Four.
2. n. A follower of Plato; a Platonist.
3. n. One who loves with a Platonic affection.
4. Pertaining to the Greek comic poet Plato (about 427-388 b. c.).

Wiktionary

1. adj. Of or relating to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato or his philosophies.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Of or pertaining to Plato, or his philosophy, school, or opinions.
2. adj. Pure, passionless; nonsexual; philosophical.
3. n. A follower of Plato; a Platonist.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. of or relating to or characteristic of Plato or his philosophy
2. adj. free from physical desire