PLATO AND ARISTOTLE
Plato and Aristotle are considered two of the greatest philosophers of all time. Their ideas and theories have had a huge impact on many philosophers, poets, scientists, and intellectuals for centuries. Although Aristotle was a student of Plato, their opinions on many issues differ greatly. In many
respects, they are exact opposites. Even today, people still debate whether Platonic or Aristotelian logic is the most truthful. Of course, this is a matter of opinion.
Plato was born in Athens around 427 BC He originally had dreams of entering into politics, but those dreams were never realized. He was a devout follower of Socrates and eventually became his student. When Socrates was executed, Plato, discouraged by the death of his mentor, left Athens and traveled around the Mediterranean and eventually ended up back in Athens. He founded the Academy where he taught philosophy for the second half of his life. He published a number of dialogues which are still widely read by philosophy scholars today. Within these
dialogues is almost all of the knowledge that exists on Socrates, as Socrates never wrote down any of his ideas. He died a happy man in 347 BC at the age of 80.
Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Macedonia. He began is quest in philosophy at Plato’s Academy at the young age of 17 and remained there until Plato’s death. He was tutor to Alexander the Great between 343 and 340 BC In 335, he decided to open his own school, the Lyceum in Athens, which housed the first great library of antiquity. When Alexander the Great died in 325, anti-Macedonian feelings in Athens drove Aristotle to move to Chalcis. He remained there until he died in 322 BC
There are some basic differences in philosophy between these two great historical figures. For example, Plato wrote in dialogues. These were conversations, usually taking place between Socrates and various other philosophers. Aristotle wrote his ideas in the form of essays. Also, Plato liked to focus on mathematics and theory, while Aristotle prefered to contemplate natural philosophy.
Both Plato and Aristotle had definite opinions on a great many different subjects. But they each had a very basic philosophy that echoed through their beliefs on almost anything. Aristotle saw reality as speculative, or as something to be scrutinized, contemplated, and tested. Plato, on the other hand, saw material objects as reflections of conjectural perfect forms that existed outside of the ordinary person’s realm of experience, so plain reality should not be questioned, but simply should be believed. He explains this in his famous allegory of the cave.
In his analogy, Plato explains that everyone is in a cave and everything they see is, in reality, just shadows projected on the wall of the cave. The people don’t know that what they are seeing is just a shadow of the “truth” because the shadows are all they’ve ever known. They are bound to the wall of the cave with chains representing custom, tradition, and habit. The true forms of the shadows they see on the cave wall actually exist outisde the cave, where everything’s perfect form can be found.
In other words, Plato believed that perfection could exist whether he’s seen an example of it or not; and Aristotle did not believe in anything of which he could not find concrete evidence.
This difference between them is depicted in Raphael’s
painting of the School of Athens. In this painting, Plato can be
seen pointing at the sky, because he believed truth can be found
in the heavens (or the world of perfect forms). Aristotle is
pointing straight ahead, because he believed the truth can be
found in world around us (in the form of tangible proof).
One of the major subjects that Plato and Aristotle disagree
on is politics. In Plato’s Republic, he defines the ideal
government to be one that is set up and run by a philosopher
king. This person, having a completely virtuous soul and mind,
could run a completely pure, uncorrupt government. Aristotle
also believes that this monarchy run by the perfect ruler that
Plato describes would be ideal, if it were possible. However,
Aristotle doesn’t believe that a perfectly virtuous person
exists. In his book, The Politics, Aristotle says that this
perfectly virtuous person that Plato speaks of would be a “God
among men,” and since there are no gods amongst men, he cannot
believe in the hypothetical existence of such a government.
Plato can imagine, in his head, a man who is purely just.
Even though he has never met such a man, he believes he exists
simply because he can imagine him. This view can also be found
in the allegory of the cave. Since he believes that the images
people encounter are just shadows of the truth, it’s easy to see
how he can believe this philosopher king has the potential to
exist.
Equality of the sexes is another issue on which they can’t
seem to see eye to eye. Plato and Aristotle live in a time where
women are considered to be inferior to men. They have different
opinions about the significance of this inequality. Aristotle
believes that women are inferior to men by nature (Politics 17,
26). He takes note of what is going on around him and can only
find men giving the orders and women obeying them. This is all
he has ever known. He uses what he has observed to explain
reality. So, in Aristotle’s opinion, women are obviously not
inclined by nature to rule or be educated because he can’t find
examples of them doing so. As mentioned above, he always bases
his beliefs on tangible, provable evidence.
Plato, on the other hand, disregards the fact that women
seem to be inferior to men. He can imagine a woman that is
worthy of ruling or being educated, and doesn’t care that he
can’t find an example of such a woman.
As far as matters of religion and virtue, they also had
opposing views. For instance, they had varying beliefs on the
significance of the soul. Plato felt that, before birth, the
soul existed in a greater state of enlightenment. He believes
that the human body we are born into impairs us slightly, but
upon death, we return to that state of enlightenment with a
new-found respect for it. The various trials we must endure on
Earth gives us a new perspective on what it means to be truly
enlightened.
Aristotle spends little time on the subject of God or the
soul. This is because he didn’t think much of God. Aristotle
believed that God thinks only of himself and does not move
things, but that we do so in trying to reach him. Also, he
believed the soul existed, but that it could not be seperated
from the body. Thus, when a person dies, their soul dies with
it.
Despite all these contrasts in beliefs, there were a few
things they did agree on. After all, Aristotle was a student of
Plato and he did learn much from his teacher. They both accepted
the idea that nature was to be understood as something like man
himself because it is constantly moving towards goals and the
best possible arrangement, like a living organism. They also
reguarded the Eleatic philosophy of Parimenides to explain
reality. In other words, neither philosopher put total trust in
his senses to confirm the existence of anything. For Plato, it
had to be mathematically logical or something he could perceive
in his mind before he believed it as truth. For Aristotle to
accept truth, he needed to find multiple examples and evidence.
Getting back to the issue of which philosophy is the best: as I
mentioned before, it is a matter of opinion. But, personally, I
believe that instead of deciding on one over the other, it makes
more sense to combine the logic of the two. A person needs to
look beyond the “chains” of society, but at the same time, not
discount that which has been time-proven. We shouldn’t be afraid
to try something new, but we should also consider what has always
worked for us in the past.
