A few fantastic world theories are remarkable discovery that was the foundation of many eye-opening findings—for instance, the Pythagorean theorem, logical thinking, large companies, and even modern-day politics. One of the most prominent world theories these days is the heaven of Christianity which was supported by the divine command theory. But in this article, we will discuss the four most prominent world theories that have ever existed: Plato’s world of forms, Descartes’s spirit world, Kant’s noumenon, and Worldviews.
Plato’s world of forms
The first of the four world theories is maybe the most known: “Plato’s world of Forms.” Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher who was a key figure for the modern day. Not only for philosophy but also for his enrichment to logic and mathematics. His most prominent contribution was ‘the theory of forms,’ better known as “Plato’s world of forms,” which is considered one of the four world theories.
The physical world is not really the real world. It really exists beyond our psychical world.
World of Forms
Most people think that fame is great, that money is the key to a good life, so we can follow what our heart desires. Therefore, popular opinions bind us to the wrong values. That’s why it is so important to know yourself. This can be done by a special type of therapy; philosophy.
Focusing on the ideal version
Plato stated that one of the most helpful thought exercises we can generate is focusing on the perfect. We are perhaps better known as the definitive version of something. For instance, by thinking of the ideal version of something, we can figure out the ultimate wrong elements according to our ethics. This allows us to sharpen and center ourselves on making anything better.
For example, Plato didn’t ask what is the ‘ideal friendship’ was. He rephrased it by asking what the ‘form of friendship’ is. A form was like a template or a blueprint back in the day. It shows how they should make something. For instance, an artisan would use a blueprint, or form, of a wooden pillar to make his own pillar out of stone.
Distant and hopeless ideals
If an idea seemed utterly distant and hopeless, may the problem isn’t it that it is too idealistic, but in a strange and important way, actually not idealistic enough. That is that we have not quite have discovered ‘the form’.
In the book ‘The 7 habits,’ the author gives an example of being in a foreign city relying on a map of Detroit. No matter how hard you would try and the more effort you make, to worsen the outcome.
Descartes spirit world
Rene Descartes was a French philosopher who is famous for the quote “I think therefore I am”. Descartes believed that almost everything that is wrong with the world is because of misusing our minds from the Real Distinction. The video below explains where our mind resides from.
For instance, Substance Dualism is one of the world theories that cite that the world is made of physical and mental material. Therefore, minds are separate – and nonphysical – substances that we can’t explain in terms of physical principles like our brains. The way we understand our mind is through reflection. As we know, it is profoundly personal and subjective. But the way we understand both our body and our brain is objective and verifiable.
Kant’s noumenon
The concept of ‘phenomenon’ is one of the world theories that have a distinct meaning in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. In Kritik der reinen Vernunft he contrasts the term ‘phenomenon’ with ‘noumenon’. Phenomena explain the world as we encounter it and question the world as it exists separately from our occurrences ‘Ding an sich.’
According to Kant, people cannot know the true essence and nature of things, only things as they are experienced. Thus philosophy – the term “philosophy” in Kant’s time associated with what we now call ‘science’ – should be concerned with understanding phenomena.
Noumenon originates from the Greek word ‘νοούμενον‘ which means: ‘what is thought’. Noumenon is a term that is used in philosophy to name things or events that exist only in the mind, independent of the senses. It refers to an unknowable, indescribable reality that somehow lies ‘behind’ the world of observed phenomena.
For Immanuel Kant, we can say nothing at all about things as they are in themselves because we only know things as they appear to us through – and for instance filtered through – our senses. The opposite of noumenon is a phenomenon.
Worldviews
There are different world theories that al state. The different worldviews and world theories discussed are postpositivism, constructivism, advocacy/participatory, and pragmatism. One of them states that reality is out there, but there may be limits to our ability to capture it accurately.