Note criticisms of Plato’s ‘Good’- same as my critique that such ‘Good’ and ‘God’ are empirically baseless and groundless;
Aristotle’s criticism
Aristotle discusses the Forms of Good in critical terms several times in both of his major surviving ethical works, the Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle argues that Plato’s Form of the Good does not apply to the physical world, for Plato does not assign “goodness” to anything in the existing world. Because Plato’s Form of the Good does not explain events in the physical world, humans have no reason to believe that the Form of the Good exists and the Form of the Good is thereby irrelevant to human ethics.[3]Other criticisms
Plato’s Form of the Good is often criticized as too general.[4] Plato’s Form of the Good does not define things in the physical world that are good, and therefore lacks connectedness to reality.[5] Because Plato’s Form of the Good lacks instruction, or ways for the individual to be good, Plato’s Form of the Good is not applicable to human ethics since there is no defined method for which goodness can be pursued. Through Socrates in The Republic, Plato acknowledges the Form of the Good as an elusive concept and proposes that the Form of the Good be accepted as a hypothesis, rather than criticized for its weaknesses. According to Socrates in The Republic, the only alternative to accepting a hypothesis is to refute all the objections against it, which is counterproductive in the process of contemplation.[4]Aristotle along with other scholars sees the Form of the Good as synonymous with the idea of One.[6] Plato claims that Good is the highest Form, and that all objects aspire to be good.[7] Since Plato does not define good things, interpreting Plato’s Form of the Good through the idea of One allows scholars to explain how Plato’s Form of the Good relates to the physical world. According to this philosophy, in order for an object to belong to the Form of the Good, it must be One and have the proper harmony, uniformity, and order to be in its proper form.[6]
Philosopher Rafael Ferber dismissed Aristotle’s view that the ‘Good’ is ‘One’ and wrote that the Form of the Good is self-contradictory. Ferber claimed that Plato’s Form of the Good could be simultaneously defined and unknown, and be in a state of both “being” and “not being”.[6]
Plato’s Forms are also critiqued for being treated as the reason for all things, as opposed to being an essence in itself. Some scholars also believe that Plato intended the Form to be the essence of which things come into existence. These different interpretations of Plato’s intention for the Form may be attributed to the idea that Plato did not have a systematic definition of the Form itself.[3]