Platonism

The broad philosophical tradition that takes Plato's metaphysics seriously, the idea that there are eternal Forms more real than the changing physical world, accessible through philosophical contemplation rather than sensory experience. Platonism has had revivals throughout history, from late antique Neoplatonism to Renaissance humanism to certain strands of contemporary mathematical philosophy and theology. Christian theology absorbed enormous amounts of Platonist metaphysics through Augustine, making Platonism one of the deep structures of Western religious thought.