Plato's Form Of The Good Analysis

Love is one of the most important themes of Christian faith. Love is important because Jesus showed us the perfect use of love, and how it should be carried out. Because of Jesus’ perfect love, he died on the cross for us, taking away all of our sins. Jesus’s love is the highest form of love there is. Even though Jesus is the only one whose love is perfect, he still commands us to love like He did. John 13:34 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Plato also has this idea of teaching those to reach the highest form possible, like Jesus teaches us to love as much as He did. He calls it the Form of the Good. The Form of the Good is the ultimate goal of knowledge. Plato said once one can recognize the Form of the Good they have reached the highest …show more content…
Education moves the philosopher through these stages until they make it all the way to the Form of the Good. In short, the Allegory of the Cave shows the stages a prisoner goes through to reach the Form of the Good. It begins with the prisoner breaking out of the dark cave they have lived in for so long and getting to experience the forms in real life. The prisoner then realizes that the sun is the reason for everything around him, and that the sun represents the Form of the Good. They experience a completely new world where everything looks different, and once they understand this new world they have reached the highest stage of understanding. Socrates said, “If you interpret the upward journey and the study of things above the upward journey of the soul to the intelligible realm, you’ll grasp what I hope to convey” (517b). Once the prisoner has reached the Form of the Good, and made their journey through the stages, they are compelled to go back into the cave they once lived in and teach those about this other