How did Plato’s theory of forms place reason above the senses?

Plato’s theory of forms places reason above the senses by establishing a fundamental distinction between the changing, unreliable world of physical perception and an unchanging, eternal realm of true reality.12

Plato argued that because the objects we perceive through our senses are constantly in flux, they cannot be the source of genuine knowledge, which must be stable and unchanging. For example, while visual inspection of physical objects—such as two pieces of wood—reveals only slight disparities and imperfections, the mind possesses a clear, perfect concept of "equality". Because such perfect abstractions do not exist in the physical world, Plato concluded that they must be forms—invisible, eternal essences accessible only to the intellect.1234

In his allegory of the cave, Plato depicted the sensible world as a realm of shadows. He maintained that humans acquire knowledge by transcending these sensory appearances through the exercise of reason and the dialectic method. By turning away from the "sensual" and focusing the "mind’s eye" on these intelligible forms, the philosopher achieves a higher level of truth that the senses are inherently incapable of providing.142