Platonism refers to the philosophy of Plato (428–348 B.C.) and the movements specifically inspired by it. Uncapitalized, platonism has become a technical term in ontology for those who countenance abstract entities

that are not merely abstractions from or constructions

out of particulars, and specifically, in the

philosophy of mathematics, for those who maintain that numbers are such objects. Although Plato was a platonist in this sense, most modern platonists do not hold many of Plato's most important doctrines in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.