according to _____, when one ascribes beauty to another person, he refers to an imperfect beauty that participates only in the form of beauty in the world of forms.

The statement "when one ascribes beauty to another person, he refers to an imperfect beauty that participates only in the form of beauty in the world of forms" is attributed to Plato. According to Plato’s Theory of Forms, the beauty perceived in the physical world is imperfect and only participates in the perfect, immutable Form of Beauty that exists in the transcendent world of Forms. This means that any beautiful thing in the material world is beautiful only because it partakes in or imitates the perfect Form of Beauty, which itself is an absolute and unchanging ideal.