Philosophers have often wondered how we recognize so many different objects as belonging to one group even though they all look different, such as
tables for instance. How is it that we recognize the
table properties from the
finite set of tables that we have seen in our life?
Plato's solution to this was that this information is
a priori in nature.
Our mind somehow connects to the Realm of
Forms where the
essence of
everything lies. Our mind understands tableness from the absolute table that lies in the Realm of Forms and then recognizes similar objects in the world in which we exist. According to this theory,
the essence of good,
evil, and everything else we know resides there to give us an
absolute basis on which to make judgements.