the teachings of Plato and his followers, esp the philosophical theory that the meanings of general words are real existing abstract entities (Forms) and that particular objects have properties in common by virtue of their relationship with these Forms
Compare nominalism, conceptualism, intuitionism
2.
the realist doctrine that mathematical entities have real existence and that mathematical truth is independent of human thought
3. Neo-Platonism
Derived forms
Platonist (ˈPlatonist)
noun
Platonism in American English
(ˈpleɪtənˌɪzəm)
noun
1.
the philosophy of Plato or his school; esp., the doctrine holding that objects of perception are real insofar as they imitate or participate in an independent realm of immutable essences, ideas, or logical forms which constitute the world of essential reality