Form answers the question"what is that?"Plato was going a step further and asking what Form itself is.这段英文的意思就是：柏拉图领先了公孙龙一步，不但指出了一般与个别的差别，而且开启了抽象思维，询问并且试图回答更进一步的问题：What is horseness？He supposed that the object was essentially or "really" the Form and that the phenomena were mere shadows mimicking the Form; that is, momentary  portrayals of the Form under different circumstances.The problem of universals – how can one thing in general be many things in particular – was solved by presuming that Form was a distinct singular thing but caused plural representations of itself in particular objects.These Forms are the essences of various objects: they are that without which a thing would not be the kind of thing it is.For example, there are countless tables in the world but the Form of ableness is at the core;it is the essence of all of them.Plato's Socrates held that the world of Forms is transcendent to our own world (the world of substances) and also is the essential basis of reality.