Plato on the Existence of Negative FormsThe question of the origin and nature of evil in the world has preoccupied philosophers throughout history. The ancient philosopher Plato does not directly address this issue in his writings, but it can be argued that the logic of his theory of forms requires the existence of forms in the negative sense, such as evil and evil. In discussing his theory of imitation, Plato alludes to the principle that whenever there are several things of the same nature, there is a form for that nature. In several passages, Plato mentions many negative things. We can, however, wonder whether or not the negative has a positive ontological character of its own, for which there can be a form. We must first distinguish the different senses in which an object can be considered negative before we can analyze Plato's texts. It will be shown that, although Plato refers in the Republic to a common nature among many negative things, the assumption of a negative form is not in harmony with the hierarchical structure of forms which depends on the good, which is also presented in the Republic. A solution to this problem will be presented and analyzed. In order to understand why it is claimed that negative forms must exist according to Plato's logic, one must first understand the meaning of form for Plato. Plato believes that forms are separate, eternal entities that exist outside of the sensible world. Plato believes that objects in the sensible world imitate a particular form and that this form makes them what they are. Plato writes: "As you know, we usually hypothesize a single form in relation to each of the many things to which we refer... middle of paper ......rendon Press), 167- 9.[4] Ross, 168.[5] Ross, 168.[6] Plato, Statesman, trans. Seth Benardete (Chicage: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 262 d.[7] Plato, Republic, 491 d 3.[8] ] Plato, Republic, 608 e 3.[9] Plato, Republic, 609 a 4-7.[10] Plato, Republic, 610 b 4-6.[11] Plato, Republic, 382 b.[12] Republic, 476 a.[13] Plato, Republic, 507 b 10-11.[14] Plato, Republic, 509 b 11-c.[15] Plato, Republic, 508 ce.[16] ? 509 a 3.[17] Plato, Republic, 509 b 7 - 7[18] Plato, Republic, 379 a 6 - c.[19] An Examination of Plato's Doctrines: Plato on Knowledge and Reality (New York: The Humanities Press), 283.[20] Crombie, 283.[21] Plato, Statesman, 262 d.[23] Ross, 169.[24] 3.[25], 284.