platonist means A member of the philosophical school of thought established by Plato; a believer in Platonism. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.
Why “platonist” is a great word
PLATONIST — [Noun] A follower of the philosophy of Plato, especially one who believes abstract concepts have an independent, objective reality. From the Latin Platonista, from Plato (the philosopher) + the agent suffix -ista ("-ist"), equivalent to Plato + -ist. Unlike an Aristotelian, whose thought is grounded in the tangible particulars of the material world, or a Nominalist, for whom abstractions are mere linguistic conveniences, the Platonist dwells among transcendent, perfect Forms. It is the mathematician's conviction that the drawn circle is a shadow of Circle itself, the legislator's pursuit of a Justice beyond all human courts, and the lover's certainty that beauty partakes in an eternal, absolute Beauty—a lonely faith that the truest world is the one we can never touch.
noun
- A member of the philosophical school of thought established by Plato; a believer in Platonism.“[St Augustine of Hippo] became of a Maniche, and of a platoniste a good christian.”
- One who holds similar beliefs, particularly that abstract ideas are real.“I suspect that in their hearts most working mathematicians are Platonists, in that they take it as a matter of unassailable if unprovable fact that mathematical reality stands apart from the world, and is at least as real as the world, and possibly gives shape to the world, as Plato suggested.”
- A platonic lover.