Introduction:
Platonic Realism is a term that is often used to refer to the idea of realism which speaks about the existence of the universals. This idea was first proposed by the great ancient Greek philosopher, Plato; hence the name. Because the universals were a creation of Plato’s forms, this theory is also known as Platonic idealism. Plato’s own account which mentions about the existence of the universals could be found in the Republic and the Phaedo. Other dialogues like Phaedrus, Meno and Parmenides also mention small references about the existence of universals.

Theories of Universals:

Theories of Universals, also comprising of Plato’s realism, are challenged to solve certain persistent problems within them. Amongst these problems, Platonic realism does manage to solve one satisfyingly; what do general terms refer to? The Forms are the ideal solution to supply meaning to the referents used for general terms. If terms such as redness or applehood come up for discussion, Platonic realism explains them by saying that they refer to the Forms. Platonism manages to get a lot of plausibility, because the term redness refers to something far more than time and space. However, it does have a lot of definite instances.

Some modern day philosophers suggest Platonism to be a proposition saying that the universals exist independently of forms. In the same way, a fragment of modern Platonism is found in the philosophies of present day mathematics. Plato’s interpretation about this is that mathematics is something that was discovered and not created by man.

Forms:

Form is a type of universal that is defined by Plato. Even though some editions of Platonic realism suggest that Plato’s Forms are nothing but thoughts of God, most of the other versions take the Forms to be abstract independent objects instead of mental entities.

Description: Platonic realism is a version of realism that discusses the existence of the Forms. It was proposed by Plato for the first time and hence the name.