Eidos Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The word "ἀρετή" (virtue, goodness) was translated by the Latin word "virtus" (virtue; strength / courage) when translating the ancient Greek philosophical texts into Latin. Through Plato’s doctrine of the aretê-eidos, the Latin concept of "virtus", and then the concept of "virtual", turned out to be connected with the Platonic senses of the concept of "εἶδος", and therefore with Plato’s doctrine of three types of images: εἶδος, εἰκών, φάντασμα / εἴδωλον. In the context of Plato’s doctrine, the word image can be interpreted in three ways: 1) as an image-eidos, or prototype-sample; 2) as an image-icon, or a true likeness; 3) as an image-idol, or a seeming likeness.
The word "εἶδος" derives from the verb "εἴδω" / "εἶδον" – "to see"; "εἶδος" means not only that which is visible by physical sight, but also that which is visible by mental beholding. However, in the philosophy of Plato, the eidos, staying at the top of the hierarchy of images, is purely speculative, the perfect eternal prototype created by the Divine Mind. At the “foot” of the hierarchy of images is an eidolon, or a seeming likeness of eidos. As distinct from eidos, the true and seeming likenesses of eidos (eikon and eidolon) can be both mentally contemplated objects (for example, imprints in the “wax” of memory, paintings on the “canvas” of the soul), and things observed by physical vision (paintings, sculptures, shadows, and reflections). Thus, through Plato’s doctrine of the three types of images, the concepts of "virtus" and "virtual" turned out to be connected not only with the concept of "εἶδος", but also with the concepts of "φάντασμα", "εἴδωλον".
Since in Plato’s doctrine eidolon is an illusory, imaginary, seeming likeness of eidos, the result of falling away from the Truth (and in this sense, it is a source of lies), under the influence of the senses of the Platonic concept of "εἴδωλον", the sense "imaginary" emerged in the concept of "virtual" (among the meanings of the word "imaginary" there are such as: 1) seeming; 2) false, feigned). Perhaps the Latin verb "videre" (to see; to seem), which is connected with the verb "εἴδω" / "εἶδον" (in the form "οἶδα" it means “I see in the mind’s eye”), is also connected (through one of its meanings "to seem") with the sense "imaginary" in the concept of "virtual".