Akin to the
realm of
forms,
Plato believed that all
knowledge existed in this
realm. Between our
reincarnations, we had perfect acess to the forms. Throughout our lives we don't
learn things, but rather
rember them from the time when we had access to the forms.
The soul, then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, and having seen all things that exist, whether in this world or in the world below, has knowledge of them all; and it is no wonder that she should be able to call to remembrance all that she ever knew about virtue, and about everything; for as all nature is akin, and the soul has learned all things; there is no difficulty in her eliciting or as men say learning, out of a single recollection -all the rest, if a man is strenuous and does not faint; for all enquiry and all learning is but recollection.
--Socrates from Plato's Meno