Plato & Aristotle

Plato & Aristotle

1. DUALISM

   • Plato
     • Differentiation between the body and soul links closely to his differentiation between the world of Forms and the world of appearances
       • Body gains knowledge not through reason but through the SENSES. Plato said that since senses change, they cannot always be trusted.
         • "The prison of the soul": weak because of its desires and flaws, gets in the way of who we truly are and detracts from our power of thinking.
       • Soul has access to the world of Forms and has objective knowledge, thanks to our ability to REASON
         • 1. REASON - helps us work out right from wrong, helps us see the world of Forms and helps us gain knowledge
         • 2. EMOTION - gives us the ability to love, be courageous etc. - but can lead to recklessness
         • 3. APPETITE - makes us look after the physical needs of our bodies - but can lead to hedonism
     • Four arguments for the existence of the soul
       • The Linguistic Argument: the fact that we use language about ourselves which suggests a distinction. I, we, me refers to an inner, separate reality.
       • The Knowledge Argument: Somehow within the world of flux and change we can grasp these universals which are not affected by time and space; so there must be something within us that is equally unaffected by flux and change that has the ability to grasp them.
       • The Argument from Recollection: Because we know the universals we must have seen them before.
       • Cycle of Opposites: We know things by their opposites. Death must come from life and life from death.
         • This suggests a perpetual recycling of human souls from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead and back.
     • Soul has existed prior to being in the present body and, on death, will leave the body.
       • Myth of Er
         • Souls are judged; morally good people are rewarded, while immoral people are punished. Souls can choose their new life before being reborn
   • Notion that humans have composite natures (the material part is the physical body and the non-material part is the mind/soul). The mind and body both exist though and are linked in some way.

2. MONISM

   • Humans beings are made of one substance, the physical body
     • They reject the concept of life after death –there is no scientific evidence for the ‘soul’: believe in only one substance, matter
       • All experiences, emotions and thoughts are derived from our brains and that everything can be explained by the mental activity of the brain
       • = therefore dualism is incorrect as it postulates the existence of matter and a non-physical substance
     • A person’s identity is inextricably linked to their physical body so when the body dies, their life ends
   • Materialist argument
     • Not accepting survival after death
       • Life depends on a functioning brain, nervous system and physical body.
         • Death involves the destruction of the brain, the nervous system and physical body.
           • Therefore a person’s life ends at death, as without a physical form life cannot be supported.
     • View that all contents of the universe are physical
   • Aristotle (dualist/monist?)
     • Made up of two things a body (matter) and a soul or ‘psyche’ (the form), and (unlike Plato) the soul is an integral part of the body
       • Soul gives the body life, and dies when we do: similar to the Platonic idea of the soul giving us true knowledge
       • Called the soul the function of the body, just like the function of an axe is to chop
         • Comparing to as a stamp in wax: the shape is imprinted on the wax just as our souls are imprinted in us - the two cannot be separated.
           • The soul animates the body, by organising a potential living body into an actual living body
     • Later argued that rational thought (nous) may be separated from the body after death
       • While emotions and sensations cannot survive beyond death, perhaps mental activity can
         • Similar to the Platonic view that the soul is more important than the body, and may be able to exceed death