Plato & Aristotle: The greatest minds of ancient philosophy

PLATONISM

¨The name of Plato’s philosophical branch is Platonism, following the name of its creator.

¨The central concept of Platonism is the “Theory of Forms”

¤A belief that states that the material world as it seems, is not the real world, but only an image or copy of the real world.

¨This belief was taught to Plato by his teacher, Socrates.

¨“He who sees with his eyes is blind” (Socrates)

Allegory of the cave

Plato divided reality into:

 

The Sensible World		The World of the Forms
images of things	things	mathematical forms	higher forms

¨“Form of the Good”

¤States that all Good in this world is what gives a sense of being to other Forms in the world; it must be beyond all being and knowledge. He even compares it with the sun.

ARISTOTELIANISM

Whereas Plato suggested that man was born with knowledge, Aristotle argued that knowledge comes from experience; a stream called EMPIRICISM.

¨Aristotle argued that there were universal principles but that they are derived from experience. He didn’t accept that there was a world of Forms beyond space and time. Aristotle argued that there were Forms and Absolutes, but they resided in the thing itself.

• He considered the soul as a living force

• SUBSTANCE: divided into matter and form. Unlike Plato, Aristotle said forms were inseparable from matter.

Even when this figure is not a real horse, you would identify the horseness of it, right? Because the form is inseparable from the matter.

• Aristotle also divided reality into 5 levels:

1- Inorganic Level: (rocks, seeds, water, and all the non-living elements of nature)
2- Plant Level
3- Animal Level
4- Human Level
5- Heavenly Level (the moon, the stars, and planets are also living things)