In The School of Athens Plato’s index finger of his right hand (our left) points to the sky. This is indicative of his philosophical beliefs, which focus on more abstract ideas and that reality exists in the “realm” of the spiritual world. This is compared to Aristotle’s gesture beside him, which gestures to the earth below, indicative of his beliefs that reality is in the physical form. Plato’s hand gesture could be referring to his philosophy called the “Theory of Form”.