Platos Idea World Are all objects in nature created from a never-changing formula? Plato believed so.

In his study of metaphysics, Plato pondered whether there was a standard, unchangeable reality and came to the conclusion that a natural phenomenon is simply an imperfect copy that derives from an absolute and unchangeable standard that inhabits a world of ideas (88.) Plato might support his claim by citing that when measuring the angles of a triangle drawn on a paper, the angles most likely will not add up to 180 degrees, but theoretically, a triangle does have an angle sum of 180 degrees, and the triangle drawn on paper was simply a flawed copy. However, Platos argument is flawed in that it claims everything in nature comes from one of the eternal ideas. To the contrary, it is my opinion that the eternal ideas are created by humans to better describe the tangible world. Secondly, the ideas are not eternal, and in fact are changeable. My experience of building a crossbow in my garage illustrates these two points. A blueprint that describes an ideal crossbow is one example of how ideas are created by humans to better describe tangible objects. When I created a crossbow out of wood and PVC pipe in my garage, I first created a blueprint which represented my idea what I wanted the crossbow to look and function like. This ideal crossbow did not and never will exist in the physical world, [but I could] clearly visualize [it] (87.) Additionally, the real life crossbow did not come from an unchangeable idea of what a crossbow should be; I created the idea. I could have - without any ideas or plan - thrown wood and nails around my garage hoping I would throw the right combination to create the crossbow that I wanted. It would be practically impossible, but given enough time, the crossbow would be built. But, that would not be practical. It would have taken far too much wood and I would have had graduated from high school by the time the bow was complete. That is where the blueprint came in. In this blueprint, I laid out the

details of my design such as the location of the PVC pipe, the location of the screws and nails to be used, and the function of the trigger mechanism. The blueprint helped me better understand the how a crossbow worked and could be assembled. Essentially, the idea I created helped me to better understand a real, tangible object. Continuing with the story of my crossbow creation, the fact that I changed my blueprintan example of Platos eternal and immutable patterns (86) - illustrates that the forms or ideas behind nature are in fact subject to change. Although I began my project with a clear idea of how I wanted to build my crossbow, material shortages and sudden inspiration caused me to change my design. One change involved changing my firing mechanism. My first design featured a wooden block, that when removed, would release the string and fire the arrow. However, this block of wood often got lost, and it was a hassle to have to reposition the block of wood for each fire. A sudden inspiration caused me to change the design; I switched out the block of wood for a lever that was much more convenient to use. That I changed the design of the crossbow means that I changed the idea behind the crossbow. This fact illustrated how there is no restriction on changing the idea behind an object. Through viewing the construction of a crossbow as a metaphor for nature in general, one comes to the conclusion that ideas are created by humans to better describe the real world and that these ideas are not set in stone, and in fact are changeable.