PLATONISM
Platonism, realism
(noun) (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Proper noun
Platonism
The philosophy of Plato.
Noun
platonism (uncountable)
Alternative letter-case form of Platonism
Source: Wiktionary
Pla"to*nism, n. Etym: [Cf. F. Platonisme.]
1. The doctrines or philosophy by Plato or of his followers.
Note: Plato believed God to be an infinitely wise, just, and powerful
Spirit; and also that he formed the visible universe out of
preëxistent amorphous matter, according to perfect patterns of ideas
eternally existent in his own mind. Philosophy he considered as being
a knowledge of the true nature of things, as discoverable in those
eternal ideas after which all things were fashioned. In other words,
it is the knowledge of what is eternal, exists necessarily, and is
unchangeable; not of the temporary, the dependent, and changeable;
and of course it is not obtained through the senses; neither is it
the product of the understanding, which concerns itself only with the
variable and transitory; nor is it the result of experience and
observation; but it is the product of our reason, which, as partaking
of the divine nature, has innate ideas resembling the eternal ideas
of God. By contemplating these innate ideas, reasoning about them,
and comparing them with their copies in the visible universe, reason
can attain that true knowledge of things which is called philosophy.
Plato's professed followers, the Academics, and the New Platonists,
differed considerably from him, yet are called Platonists. Murdock.
2. An elevated rational and ethical conception of the laws and forces
of the universe; sometimes, imaginative or fantastic philosophical
notions.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition