ABSTRACT
Plato speaks of objects as approximating to the nature of the Forms, and trying as it were to be more perfect embodiments of the Forms in which they participate. The Form of the Good has a twofold function. It is at once the cause of the existence of the other Forms, and through them of the objects of the world of sense, and also the cause of their being known. Plato’s description of the nature and functions of the Form of Good is generally clothed in such mystical language that it is difficult to grasp his meaning with any degree of precision. The Forms, however, which possess no ingredient of matter in their structure, are pure embodiments of the principle of good. The soul, which is immortal, is from time to time embodied in a corporeal form for life upon the earth.
