Aristotle And Aristotle 's Philosophy

     With the possible exception of Plato, Aristotle is the most influential philosopher in the history of logical thought. Logic into this century was basically Aristotelian logic. Aristotle dominated the study of the natural sciences until modern times. Aristotle, in some aspect, was the founder of biology; Charles Darwin considered him as the most important contributor to the subject. Aristotle’s Poetic, the first work of literary notice, had a string influence on the theory and practice of modern drama. Aristotle’s great influence is due to the fact that he seemed to offer a system, which although lacked in certain respects, was as a whole matchless in its extent.

According to Aristotle, the virtues are an instrumental part of achieving eudaimonia (or happiness/human fulfillment), however, they must be practiced in moderation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church also discusses virtues as being an instrumental component "in leading a morally good life" ("The Virtues") but differentiates itself from Aristotle because there is no limit to how virtuous a life a person of the church can live. The Catechism states that "The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God," ("The Virtues") and although that is an impossible task, it is encouraging people to reach for their full potential stating that no person can live too virtuously. Aristotle disagrees with this argument.

We are introduced to the Forms in Plato’s dialogue the Phaedo. The Theory of Forms says that

The main idea which sets apart the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle is that of the forms, which must be explained to understand Plato’s divinity. The

Plato's theory of forms, also called his theory of ideas, states that there is another world, separate from the material world that we live in called the "eternal world of forms". This world, to Plato, is more real than the one we live in. His theory is shown in his Allegory of the Cave (from The Republic, Book VII), where the prisoners only live in what they think is a real world, but really it is a shadow of reality. According to Plato, to the prisoners in the allegory and to humanity in the material world "truth would be literally nothing but shadows" and he believes us to be as ignorant as the people in the cave. Plato followed the belief that in order for something to be real it has to be permanent, and as everything in the world we

Platos Forms are also called The theory of Ideas. Platos Form is the usual sense of shape, structure, and appearance. The presocratics influenced Plato by their thinking of reality such as Thales idea of reality was unified by water, while anaxiams idea of reality was that reality was boundless and nothing can oppose it. Plato was able to create the idea of forms from these pre socratics because of their ideas of reality. One of PLatos Form is Intellgible which means as transcendent realtiese they cannot be grasped by the senses but by only the intellect. These ideas come from the help of the pre socratics who were already thinking about the idea where reality was made of a specific thing. Plato was able to use all these ideas from the pre socratics and was able to create the Platonic forms. I think that the Pre socratics had started the idea of Forms for Plato and Plato elaborated the ideas of the presocratics to create it. I think Plato used Heraclitus idea of the fire in one of his forms. Platos form of Eternal was influenced by Heraclitus idea of fire. Platos Eternal states that as transcendant realities they are no subject to time and therefore not subject to motion and change. I believe Plato was also influenced by Paramenides because of his idea of self evident truth or “it is”. This idea is where the only thought can

Plato and Aristotle are philosophers that both have an idea of an ideal state but they have their differences. While there are benefits to each of their views on politics and society, there are also many negative things about their views. Some of their negative views were realistic at one point in time but few are the same in today 's society. Although I don 't fully agree with either philosopher, I would have to side with Aristotle overall.

Plato, being a Socratic apprentice, followed and transcribed the experiences Socrates had in his teachings and search of understanding. In Plato’s first work, The Allegory of the Cave, Socrates forms the understanding between appearance vs. reality and the deceptions we are subject to by the use of forms. In the cave, the prisoners’ experiences are limited to what their senses can tell them, the shadows on the walls, and their shackles; these appearances are all that they have to form their ideas. When one of the prisoners begins to question his reality he makes his way out of the cave and into the day light. This prisoners understanding of his reality has now expanded, thus the theory of forms; when he returns to the cave to spread the news, the others do not believe him. They have been deceived by their reality and what

The Platonic theory of forms that Plato raised relies on the belief that the forms or ideas and not the materialistic example or material is the highest most fundamental kind of reality. He uses the principle of

Another great influence on Education was the Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle who came later after Confucius, who was born in Stagira, Chalcidice. Aristotle was first a student in Plato’s philosophy school for around twenty years. Later on he was a philosophy teacher in Atarneus which is located in Asia Minor. Aristotle is known for his school named “Lyceum” which is located in Athens, and he is also known for teaching Alexander the Great who can later. According to Curren from his writings about “Aristotle on the Necessity of Public Education” and Burnet from his writings about “Aristotle on Education: Being Extracts From the Ethics and Politics found in the Encyclopedia , Aristotle deceased from the existing idea of childhood in Greek antiquity at that time, just like his teacher Plato. That philosophy was about children being educated as small adults, and so they were taught with adult literature considering their minds as able to absorb and task like those of the adults. According to Aristotle, the goal of education is to struggle to achieve the greatest goodness and happiness being a member in a city. Most of his philosophy about educating children could be found in the Nicomachean Ethics and Politics; and here he relates to politics as he considers human beings naturally to be political. That is in the social sense, as no one could become happy outside of a community. A person become an individual when he/she becomes an active

Plato was interested in how we can apply a single word or concept to many words or things. For example how can the word house be used for all the individual dwellings that are houses? Plato answered that various things can be called by the same name because they have something in common. He called this common factor the thing’s form or idea. Plato insisted that the forms differ greatly from the ordinary things that we see around us. Ordinary things change but their forms do not. A particular triangle may be altered in size or shape but the form of a triangle can never change. Plato concluded that forms exist neither in space or time. They can be known not only by the intellect but also by the senses. Because of their stability and perfection, the forms have greater reality than ordinary objects observed by the senses. Thus true knowledge is knowledge of the forms.

Plato's theory of The Forms argued that everything in the natural world is representative of the ideal of that form. For example, a table is representative of the ideal form Table. The form is the perfect ideal on which the physical table is modeled. These forms do not exist in the natural world, as they are perfect, and there is nothing perfect in the natural world. Rather the forms exist in the invisible realm,

As Aristotle saw his general surroundings, he watched that things are moving and changing in certain ways. Aristotle found that specific things cause different things, which thusly bring about something else. Aristotle trusted that a boundless chain of causation was unrealistic, subsequently, a prime mover or some likeness thereof should exist as the main source of everything that progressions or moves.

truths, and forms. He had no room in his views for imagination and what he saw

Comparing the political theories of any two great philosophers is a complex task. Plato and Aristotle are two such philosophers who had ideas of how to improve existing societies during their individual lifetimes. While both Plato and Aristotle were great thinkers, perhaps it is necessary first to examine the ideas of each before showing how one has laid the groundwork and developed certain themes for the other.