Plato and Aristotle Summary

Plato and Aristotle Summary

1. Plato

   • Biographical info
     • pupil of Socrates
       • who was executed for 'corrupting the youth'
     • after Socrates' death, Plato travelled around the world
       • Influenced by order of Pythagoreans
     • his lifetime was approx. 428-347 BC
     • founded The Academy
       • Greek equivalent of Oxford
         • still standing and in high demand today
     • Works
       • The Republic
         • (Novel where Allegory of the Cave is found)
           • makes contrast between people who see appearances and mistake them for truth and those who see the truth
             • most people are philosophical ignorant
             • we need to recognise that the Forms are the only 'real' things we can be certain of
               • enlightened philosophers know about Forms, and thus should lead the ignorant people
                 • Allegory also presents idea that politicians are a) as ignorant as the common man or b) lying to their people
                   • philosophers should lead because they focus on revealing truth
       • Parmenides
       • Meno
   • way of thinking
     • a posteriori or empirical knowledge = merely opinions
     • a priori knowledge = certain
     • Theory of Forms
       • Other realm besides the physical world
       • forms are perfect and pure concepts that do not exist in time or space, have a physical form or change
       • Form of the Good
         • ultimate form
         • illuminates other forms
         • ultimate end - aim of everything is goodness
           • Christians later defined this as God
     • our soul has knowledge from its existence in the Realm of the Forms
       • we can recognise imitations of forms
         • e.g) form of a dog
           • they don't all look the same, but we can recognise they are all the same species
       • our soul is immortal and lives on after death
         • dualist (soul and body are separate)

2. Aristotle

   • Way of thinking
     • emphasises importance of empirical study
       • scientific
     • rejected dualism
       • materialist
         • only body is real and there is no afterlife
     • rejected theory of Forms
     • Four Causes
       • Material
         • matter something is made out of
       • Formal
         • form something takes
       • Efficient
         • way in which something is built/created
       • Final
         • original purpose of something
       • explains why things exist the way they do
     • Prime Mover
       • unchanging cause of all that exists
         • is the final cause of everything
         • made the first cause of all that exists
       • causes motion and change of universe without moving or changing
         • must be good
           • anything changing is bad, as there is room for improvement
         • exists by necessity (it has to exist)
       • parallels to theist God
         • eternal
         • cause of universe
           • leader
         • no physical body
           • subject to change
             • PM cannot change
           • spiritual body that is immaterial
         • perfect
       • form of intelligence itself
         • only role is to think about itself
           • if it thinks of world, its imperfect
       • fully actuality
         • if it has potential to become something else, it's no longer PM
       • differences to theist God
         • cannot interact with believers
           • transcendent
         • only thinks of itself
           • no plan for our lives
           • doesn't know us at all
     • physical world is constantly changing and moving
       • change or motion is always caused by something
       • objects in the world have two states of being
         • potentiality
           • possibility of doing or becoming something
         • actuality
           • when a previous potential is achieved
         • e.g) an 'actual' child is a 'potential' adult
   • criticisms
     • relationship between PM and universe is unclear
     • idea that PM causes events in universe through 'thinking' is very vague
     • PM seems to be very unloving, as it has no involvement in our lives
       • why would it create us if not because of love?
         • described as 'intelligence' so must do it consciously
     • is there really a final cause or purpose the universe?
       • Bertrand Russell argues there doesn't need to be a final cause for the universe, it could just be there
   • influence on Christianity
     • ideas influenced development of Christian philosophy and arguments for the existence of God
     • lots of similarities between PM and God
       • some say it is God
     • PM influenced medieval thinking about God
     • ideas are used to explain the presence of Jesus in bread and wine in R. Cath Eucharist service