The Worst Idea in the History of Human Thought

UPDATE #1: This is an incomplete work.  It is fractured and not quite well put together yet, but it will soon be a video.  No proofreading was done either, so I hope you can stay with me on this one.  The whole fundamental argument is, however, laid out plainly.  I have provided rational definitions for the key terms, and have compared them to common reifications.  I hope you will consider the definitions and attempt to find a rational one for yourself.  If you end up agreeing with me, then all the better.

UPDATE #2:  I agree with the main criticism that has been leveled at this article; that Plato himself did not invent government or religion.  This was a total misconception of mine at the time of writing and it was very easy to realize that Plato was not the origin of this problem. Thank you for the correction.  However, in my opinion, he did do more than any other thinker in history to justify the problems, and create massive confusion. That's really the point I was trying to make. 

Somewhere in the 3rd or 4th century BC, the famous classical philosopher, Plato, made the single greatest and most destructive error in the history of human thought. Chances are, you've made this error yourself.





Plato developed his Theory of Forms, which treated CONCEPTS as OBJECTS.
Rationally, objects are that which have shape. Concepts are relationships between two or more objects.
For example, heart is an object, pumping is a concept- so is love.

All words ultimately fall under one of these two categories.

However, Plato treated concepts AS objects, a terrible error, leading justifying humanity's worst behaviors from tyrannical Statism, religious madness, and modern materialism.  All who believe this lie suffer.

So, what is Plato's Theory of Forms?

The Theory is attempting to explain how we can generalize concepts of objects in reality.
How do we know that wooden chairs and plastic chairs and metal chairs are all chairs?
Rationally, the explanation is simple.  We point at objects in reality when we experience them, and we give it a name to remember.  Later, when we want to define the term we've used, we physically describe the object we have named as best we could.

We might be able to reach a "perfect definition" for some concepts, but in that case "perfect" could only rationally mean that the definition can be used consistently and that everybody can understand the meaning unambiguously.

Plato saw this process differently.  Plato suggested that when we see an object (like a chair) we aren't actually seeing that object.  What is happening is that we are seeing an imperfect shadow of that object, which really exists as a "perfect form" in Plato's heavenly Realm of Forms. This was a "higher realm" that only philosophers had access to.

In this way, concepts like "perfect" became reified into concrete objects.  In reality, objects cannot be "perfect"- they simply exist, they have shape and location.  There's no such thing as a "perfect chair" in rational science.  Perfect is a subject's opinion about something.  Unfortunately, Plato convinced a lot of peopel that "objectively perfect things" existed in a "perfect realm" somewhere and that he knew about it.

The fallout:

Law and Order

One of the many ways that Plato's Theory affects society can be used to justify reification today is in law and order. "Law" and "order" are concepts.  "Enforcing the law" is the concept of when somebody- ANYBODY- enforces a social norm that has been generally accepted by everybody, no one person or group of people is "the law".  If somebody is breaking into my house to hurt me and my family, I will lay down the law just as anybody else would.  Nobody has a monopoly on law, since law is embodied solely by individual actors who are enforcing.  Whether it's a "police officer" or "the Constitution", no object is an embodiment of the concept of "the law" since the law boils down to the general opinion of the time.

But, using the magic of Plato's forms, people are may be easily tricked into accepting the possibility that law could be embodied by one individual such as a King or a select group of individuals such as a government. This is because Plato had a plan for "perfect" law and order.  He wanted to rule as a philosopher king. he demanded that we all accept his representation of law by claiming it was objective! In this way he duped the masses into accepting oppression.  Government is the manifestation of Plato's "ideal form" of law. Law has no form. Law is a verb in reality, synonymous with "to enforce [one's preference]".

Religion

The western monotheistic religions too, stems from are often justified by Plato's insanity.

Following from the Theory of Forms, man doesn't really exist- we are only imperfect shadows. Only the "ideal man" really exists up in the Realm of Forms.

Anyone of the big Monotheistic camps can see the striking similarity between that statement and the stuff about Sin and God that they've read in the Bible. The helpless guilt these believers feel when they think they are shadows of some perfect god must be unbearable.

Even worse is that Plato's mistake is like a virus at the very root of one's mental processes.  If you are taught that concepts exist, but objects do not, then rejecting just a single concept like God as false is fruitless.   The problem is systemic.

Mathematical Physics

This is clearly demonstrated by modern physicists in particular. They claim that the rules of rationality break down when you zoom in on something very small, when in fact it is their explanations that crumble.  The physicists use mathematical concepts like infinities, points, fields, and planes frequently as if they were objects.  They also use other basic concepts like space (separation) and dimensions (the three mutually orthogonal directions) as sorts of objects as well.  Please visit my article here that touches on this in greater detail.

The Bigger Picture

In general, mistaking concepts for objects has led to the spirally descent of self-esteem that has been occurring for decades.  Kids are tossing off the irrational lies proliferated by their parents and politicians, but they are left with a smoking crater that cannot be filled without a deliberate, rational methodology that isn't well known to many.
Without knowing the difference between objects and concepts, they don't know how to describe and explain reality. Their emotions, desires, behaviors, even identities are inexplicable to themselves.

So, thinking that concepts exist, they try to manifest those concepts through objects!
OBJECT:                            CONCEPT:
Diploma =                             Intelligent, respectable
Fast car =                             powerful, courageous
Lots of money =                    valuable
Suit & Tie =                          professional and productive
Large house =                       secure
Fashionable Clothes =           beautiful, respectable
The list goes on and on...                    
And altogther as a set =        Happiness.

These people have no idea how to actually be happy. So, they buy up every item they can get, follow along with the establishment opinions and shun anybody who contradicts them with the delusional hope that the objects will bestow them with the characteristics they desire.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

And all of this confusion can be stemmed back to justified by Plato's nonsense theory of Forms. Let's break free from these mental chains and finally see the forest for the trees.