s (Cherniss 180). In Nicholas Denyer's article titled "Plato's Theory of Stuffs" he claims that Plato's argument on Forms, as universals, is valid. He believes that Plato's theory was misinterpreted and he claims that if the Forms were thought of as chemical elements, then everything would make sense. Denyer uses the example of gold in his ring, stating that the ring is composite while the gold in his ring is incomposite. As for particulars and forms, they are in the same sense respectively. In conclusion, Nicholas claims that "Plato's theory of forms is not a grotesque misunderstanding of universals; it is a sober, intelligent, and largely true account of the elemental stuffs from which the world is made" (315). In Aristotle's Metaphysics, Plato claimed that the "elements of the Forms are the elements of all things" which filters in with Denyer's consideration of Forms being chemical elements (Apostle 24).Topic #2: Forms as SubstancesIn Aristotle's Criticism of Plato and the Academy, Heraclitean affirms the existence of Ideas (Forms). In his argument, he refers to Ideas as separated universals. He persuaded that "all sensible things are in constant flux, so that if there is to be knowledge of anything there must be apart from the sensibles some other entities (or substances) which are stable, for there is no knowledge of the things that are in flux" (186). Many who once believed in the existence of Forms as separate entities did so because they were persuaded by Heraclitean arguments (Cherniss). More support for Plato's theory that Forms exist as substances can also be found in Cherniss' novel. It can be assumed that Aristotle thought that the Platonic ideas were meant to have a real existence separate from all phenomena, which is why he criticized the idea in the first place. Plato did not believe that the 'separate existence' of the ideas to be an existence in time and place (210). Plato was convinced that knowledge cannot...
