[danbruc]

In German we do not have that distinction between the different capitalizations, at least not that I am aware of, and the usage of platonic is probably essentially limited to platonic love and relationships. Something learned about the subtleties of the English language.

[mcbits]

We don't have that distinction in English, either. Words derived from names just tend to lose their capitalization over time and may gradually be diluted in meaning as people use them without understanding their origin.

[ethn]

Bold, passive, and mistaken accusation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_noun

But I do see how it could be confused with platonic love, albeit I'm comfortable using it without clarification in the appropriate contexts. You're right, in German all nouns are capitalized.

[mcbits]

A more appropriate Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_forms

If you simply meant to say that the idea of Santa Claus obviously "exists" in some sense, thus it's valid to compare our experiences with that idea, then I agree with the comment saying a lot of people would agree with you, but "platonic" is ambiguous at best.

If you really did mean to imply that an ideal Santa Claus literally exists in a literal universe of perfect ideal forms, out of which everything in our universe emerges as an imperfect projection, then I agree with the other part of the comment saying you'll find much less agreement with that claim.

My comment was that the loss of capitalization and the loss of the word's original meaning are independent phenomena. I.e. the adjective "Platonic" is often being used in the diluted sense of "conceptual" or "mental image of", and that has nothing to do with capitalization.

[ethn]

>If you really did mean to imply that an ideal Santa Claus literally exists in a literal universe of perfect ideal forms

In philosophy, this is "Platonic Realism" quite different from "platonic", the lower case helps convey information. You make a mistake by assuming "platonic" explicitly conveys "Platonic Realism", given there are many "Platonic *" theories, such as "Platonic Idealism". Because of the ambiguity, as you correctly acknowledge, you are expected to understand it as the wikipedia article on "Platonic" suggests (as some sort of abstract object): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic

"Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called "Platonic" or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole."

[danbruc]

I still tend to argue that the use of »platonic» or »Platonic« most of the time implies a relation to the philosophy of Plato, the usage with the generalized meaning of something along the line of »abstract« seems to be at least quite rare. The quote from Wikipedia also seems to support this.

And that is of course why I interpreted the combination of »platonic« and »Santa Claus« as hinting at Platonic Realism, because of the implied relation to the ideas of Plato and the example of »Santa Claus« as an abstract idea. Are there any other parts to his work were »Santa Claus« could be a relevant example but that is not related to his theory of ideal forms?

Also »Platonic Realism« and »Platonic Idealism« are, as far as I can tell, the same thing. »Platonic Realism« seems to be the common term, »Platonic Idealism« seems to be a less frequently used term with its origin in the fact that Plato called his abstract objects ideal forms.

[ethn]

"Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called "Platonic" or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole."

Does not support that the "Platonic" is Platonic Realism, which is what your chief claim is and what it would implicate if the term conveyed acceptance of the entire philosophy. It merely means the acceptance of an ontology of abstractions—which is implicit when there is discussion of it, otherwise how would it be discussed?

Even if you believe Platonic Idealism and Realism are the same (which is usually meant to designate the classification between 'soft' and 'hard' Platonism), there are even different Platonic periods.

Nonetheless, it's clear that I didn't communicate this well if I'm in this conversation. Which I don't think is irrational since my discussions are usually restricted to academic contexts where this usage is ostensibly vernacular.