¶ … Plato believe that being or change is more real?
According to Plato, one of the greatest challenges of life is the question of "how can humans live a fulfilling, happy life in a contingent, changing world where everything they attach themselves to can be taken away?" (Banach, "Plato's world of the forms"). Plato's 'solution' was his famous metaphor of 'the cave,' namely that human beings are like individuals chained within a cave before a fire who can only see shadows which they mistake for reality, but which are not 'true' reality like the world of the forms. Thus "Plato splits up existence into two realms: the material realm and the transcendent realm of forms" (Banach, "Plato's world of the forms"). The world of the forms is unchanging, while the limited material realm is always changing. The changing nature of the material world is rendered, in the metaphor of the cave analogy, to the flickering lights before the eyes of the gazers. It is insubstantial but it looks very 'real.' Simply because the dwellers of the cave cannot see the truth, only shadows, they are unable to understand what truth is at all -- which is why we need philosophy.
The world of the forms is only accessible through reason, thus it is necessary to detach ourselves from the material...
"Splitting existence up into two realms also solves the problem of permanence and change. We perceive a different world, with different objects, through our mind than we do through the senses. It is the material world, perceived through the senses, that is changing. It is the realm of forms, perceived through the mind, that is permanent and immutable. It is this world that is more real; the world of change is merely an imperfect image of this world" (Banach, "Plato's world of the forms"). For example, we perceive a horse in reality, but there are many different permutations that a horse shape can take. The world of the forms, in contrast, has a horse shape in its most perfect, transcendent essence. It is 'more real' than the changing material world given "the forms are the archetypes or perfect models for all of the properties that are present in material objects" (Banach, "Plato's world of the forms").
The form of the horse existed before the finite, material existence of the horse on earth and the horse on earth (and all horses on earth) is merely an imitation. After all, like all material things in a state of change, it will ultimately perish but the form will last forever (Banach, "Plato's world…
