Plato and Aristotle Summary

Plato
1. Biographical info
  1. pupil of Socrates
    1. who was executed for 'corrupting the youth'
  2. after Socrates' death, Plato travelled around the world
    1. Influenced by order of Pythagoreans
  3. his lifetime was approx. 428-347 BC
  4. founded The Academy
    1. Greek equivalent of Oxford
      1. still standing and in high demand today
  5. Works
    1. The Republic
      1. (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
    2. Parmenides
    3. Meno
2. way of thinking
  1. a posteriori or empirical knowledge = merely opinions
  2. a priori knowledge = certain
  3. Theory of Forms
    1. Other realm besides the physical world
    2. forms are perfect and pure concepts that do not exist in time or space, have a physical form or change
    3. Form of the Good
      1. ultimate form
      2. illuminates other forms
      3. ultimate end - aim of everything is goodness
        Christians later defined this as God
  4. our soul has knowledge from its existence in the Realm of the Forms
    1. we can recognise imitations of forms
      1. e.g) form of a dog
        they don't all look the same, but we can recognise they are all the same species
    2. our soul is immortal and lives on after death
      1. dualist (soul and body are separate)
Aristotle
1. Way of thinking
  1. emphasises importance of empirical study
    1. scientific
  2. rejected dualism
    1. materialist
      1. only body is real and there is no afterlife
  3. rejected theory of Forms
  4. Four Causes
    1. Material
      1. matter something is made out of
    2. Formal
      1. form something takes
    3. Efficient
      1. way in which something is built/created
    4. Final
      1. original purpose of something
    5. explains why things exist the way they do
  5. Prime Mover
    1. unchanging cause of all that exists
      1. is the final cause of everything
      2. made the first cause of all that exists
    2. causes motion and change of universe without moving or changing
      1. must be good
        anything changing is bad, as there is room for improvement
      2. exists by necessity (it has to exist)
    3. parallels to theist God
      1. eternal
      2. cause of universe
        leader
      3. no physical body
        subject to change
        PM cannot change
        spiritual body that is immaterial
      4. perfect
    4. form of intelligence itself
      1. only role is to think about itself
        if it thinks of world, its imperfect
    5. fully actuality
      1. if it has potential to become something else, it's no longer PM
    6. differences to theist God
      1. cannot interact with believers
        transcendent
      2. only thinks of itself
        no plan for our lives
        doesn't know us at all
  6. physical world is constantly changing and moving
    1. change or motion is always caused by something
    2. objects in the world have two states of being
      1. potentiality
        possibility of doing or becoming something
      2. actuality
        when a previous potential is achieved
      3. e.g) an 'actual' child is a 'potential' adult
2. criticisms
  1. relationship between PM and universe is unclear
  2. idea that PM causes events in universe through 'thinking' is very vague
  3. PM seems to be very unloving, as it has no involvement in our lives
    1. why would it create us if not because of love?
      1. described as 'intelligence' so must do it consciously
  4. is there really a final cause or purpose the universe?
    1. Bertrand Russell argues there doesn't need to be a final cause for the universe, it could just be there
3. influence on Christianity
  1. ideas influenced development of Christian philosophy and arguments for the existence of God
  2. lots of similarities between PM and God
    1. some say it is God
  3. PM influenced medieval thinking about God
  4. ideas are used to explain the presence of Jesus in bread and wine in R. Cath Eucharist service

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