Do atheists believe that Platonic Ideas exist?

Question

Atheists say they don't believe in God because there is no evidence he exists. Aren't chairs evidence that the Idea of chairs exists? Wouldn't atheists be obligated to believe in Platonic Ideas? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Some may, some don't. I myself do not subscribe to plato's Ideals. The concept that all chairs are simply imperfect reflections of the Idea of the One True Chair seems as silly as the Idea of the One True God.

We have an idea of what a chair is, but Plato took this 'idea' to mean that in some ephemeral way, there was one over reaching Ideal that actually EXISTS of Chairs. Since I cannot see or experience an Ideal, why would I believe in it any more than I can believe in a deity that I cannot see or experience?

*hugs southpaw*

Answer 2

The idea that a chair exists doesn't mean that a chair exists until we actually see a chair. When we see a chair, we understand that the idea of chairs must have existed, since everything created by man does, indeed, start with an idea. However, the idea that something exists simply because the idea exists is delusional. For instance, the idea that there are green men living on the moon doesn't make it so. The idea the world is flat didn't alter the shape of the earth.

Answer 3

Some have the idea that dragons exist... or that Bigfoot exists. Since when does believing something exists prove it's existence? If i get enough people to believe that there is a unicorn in my back yard will one materialize?

If you think of it in the sense that god exists AS an idea... you are correct. However believing that something physically exists just because you've heard of it is foolish.

Answer 4

Actually, Plato argued that physical chairs were far removed and thus less-perfect than the idea of chairs. Thus, art can never be ideal (which is the actual point of his argument).

No one is obligated to believe in anything; atheists' beliefs are as varied as theists in most areas, including philosophy.

Answer 5

Platonic 'forms' do not 'exist' in the sense of having some kind of corporeal existence in the physical universe... they 'exist' only as ideations... mental constructs. An actual 'chair' is an instance of the 'form'... and many such instances can be readily pointed to.

No one has ever been able to point to an 'instance' of god.

In some ways, Platos ideas can be seen to relate to the more modern (albeit pseudoscientific) idea of 'morphogenetic fields'.

Answer 6

Perhaps it is best to explain this in the form of object oriented computer programming languages.

You have a class called God, and you have a class called Chair.
God has the potential to exist if you create an object of it, such as we have created an object of Chair type, that I am currently sitting in.

There has been no object "God" created, so he doesn't exist... yet... he merely hangs out in the memory/brain.

Answer 7

Please explain Platonic ideas. I looked it up in the Wikipedia and I still don't know. Does God exist because the idea of God exists? The first thing that just popped in my head was, who had the idea for God in the first place? Sorry Will, too heavy for me.

Answer 8

So God is a chair???
Because religion in the invention of man and based on faith, the concept of platonic ideas are also inventions of man.
Oh by the way so are chairs.

Answer 9

Oh, the idea of God definitely exists. And the idea of Zeus definitely exists. So does the idea of a pink unicorns. And the idea of God killing Zeus in order to rob Zeus of his pink unicorn, that idea exists too, because I just created it.

What is your point?
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For a more serious answer, see my answer to this question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnkR67svwLRwUzF8vrlOBDrsy6IX?qid=20060922115826AAZV6kz

Answer 10

The idea of god exists, even if god itself doesn't