Plato's Argument On Equality

The argument therefore follows that there must be “Equality” in order for two objects to be compared; we can say two objects are equal but they do not possess true “Equality”. “Equality” in its true form cannot be experienced because it is a conception of what it means for two things to be perfectly equal. Even though we can conceive the idea of equality, we can not experience it, and neither can we do so whilst in the body, (iep.com). Since equality cannot be experienced through the body, it must be able to be experienced by the soul. This would therefore mean that knowledge could only be accessible through reason and is therefore a priori in its existence within the body, (iep.com). Plato therefore argues that the soul is the means to which
Why is it the case that a soul is alive before birth, obtains knowledge, then enters a body and loses its knowledge. He claims that we must have acquired the knowledge of the Forms before we were born but then lost it at birth. After this, the knowledge was recovered due to our sense and therefore we begin to recollect, (iep.com). However, Socrates is not certain that when he dies, he will gain access to the realm of Forms, he mentions his dream-state and states that he will remember what happened. What is the point of having dreams or memories if you can not remember them
Plato presupposes that there exist two kinds of things: Forms and particulars (Phaedo,103). To explain, Plato’s Forms are comparable to for example, hot things, cold things, beautiful things, amongst others. What every hot, cold, or beautiful thing has in common with other hot, cold,beautiful things, are that they share in the Forms of Hotness, Coldness, or Beauty, (iep.com). One difference between Plato’s theory of Forms and the common theories of universals is that Plato does not introduce a Form for every kind of thing. It is not necessary to assume that there is a Form for every predicate; however, in the Phaedo, Plato introduces Forms that are shared in by particulars in several specific ways. Particulars are referred to as the things that are hot, cold or beautiful. A stove, a fork, and a tree for example are particulars. All these particulars share in a Form. For example, we might have a hot stove, sharing in the Form of Hotness; a cold fork, sharing in the Form of Coldness, and a beautiful tree, sharing in the Form of Beauty. When you define something like beauty, you define what the Form is. Forms are the objects of definitions. So this means you can define beauty, justice, tallness, hotness, amongst the rest. And, whatever these definitions are, the objects of the definitions are the Forms of Beauty, Justice, Tallness, and Hotness just to name a few. Particulars do not necessarily