Peripatetians and the Theory of Forms,

Plato divides the real world into two categories: the world of forms and the world of obvious things. It can be said with certainty that, with presenting the theory of forms, Plato was trying to explain the world of obvious things considering its instability and the lack of its understanding with certainty. The criticisms against the theory of forms have come mainly from the Peripatetians. Aristotle, Plato’s student and his contemporary, in his reaction to this theory asserts that accepting this theory leads to illogical conclusions. In his negative assessment of this theory, Avicenna also considers it as the product of the era of immaturity of Platonic thought. The present article intends to delineate the inefficacy of this theory in explaining the world of obvious things drawing upon views of Aristotle and Avicenna and by making references to the arguments which confirm the theory of forms show the degree to which the views of Aristotle and Avicenna are justifiable.