Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The philosophy of Plato, especially insofar as it asserts ideal forms as an absolute and eternal reality of which the phenomena of the world are an imperfect and transitory reflection.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The doctrines, opinions, or philosophy of Plato, or of the Academic school.
  • noun A Platonic saying or proposition.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The doctrines or philosophy by Plato or of his followers.
  • noun An elevated rational and ethical conception of the laws and forces of the universe; sometimes, imaginative or fantastic philosophical notions.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The philosophy of Plato.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names

Etymologies

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Examples

  • One of the interesting repeated targets of Mr Taleb's scorn, which he terms Platonism, is one which is carried too far.

    Stones Cry Out 2008

  • Rorty would not say, for example, that Platonism is a “danger” for democracy.

    Matthew Yglesias » Linker Replies 2007

  • If 'laws' are real and independent of both the minds and matter they govern, then that's a statement of metaphysical Platonism, which is hardly an uncontroversial position.

    Another predictable argument against front-loading 2007

  • Your comment was to HeevenStevens, but I add my 2 cents, since I seem to be the only advocate (sort of) for "intelligent design" (which I'll call Platonism).

    Valerie Tarico: Ben Stein: Front Man for Creationism's Manufactroversy 2008

  • Simply, deconstruction is a criticism of Platonism, which is defined by the belief that existence is structured in terms of oppositions (separate substances or forms) and that the oppositions are hierarchical, with one side of the opposition being more valuable than the other.

    Jacques Derrida Lawlor, Leonard 2006

  • Much of what has been called Platonism did not originate with Plato, and, as is true with any man's thought, much of Plato's thought can be readily traced to those powerful influences to which he himself admitted.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas JOHN FISHER 1968

  • Philosophically as well as poetically his Platonism was a muddied stream.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas JOHN FISHER 1968

  • More calls Platonism the soul, and Cartesianism the body, of his own philosophy, which he applies to the explanation of the Law of Moses.

    The Book of Delight and Other Papers Israel Abrahams 1891

  • Platonism, that is essentially the use of abstraction, is ridiculed and dismissed repeatedly.

    Stones Cry Out 2008

  • This analysis would also apply in large part to other systems of thought reasonably close to Christianity- such as Platonism, neo-Platonism, Judaism but not secular Judaism, Islam, or Kantianism.

    In which commentary becomes copy-and-paste 2009

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