Essay Portfolio
Aristotle’s analysis of metaphysics accurately describes the theory of knowledge, desire, and experience. Aristotle calls this his “first philosophy” and it reveals the true understanding of life and how it’s explained. Aristotle was Plato’s prized student, but Aristotle has a different point of view from Plato. I find Aristotle’s philosophy very interesting and fascinating so that is why I will be going more in depth into his theory. Aristotle rejected the idea of Plato’s “Theory of the forms” which started that the essence of an object existed apart from that object. Plato believed that physical things were representations of perfect forms that existed in another form of reality. Aristotle thought the essence of an object existed in itself. Aristotle thought the best way to gain knowledge was through natural philosophy, which is now known today as sciences. Aristotle claims that everything is made up of the five elements, which explains the matter of change in nature such as natural disasters. With the essence of nature around us we use that to our advantage to create new arts. Aristotle quotes “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance”. Arts are created by knowledge therefore arts are complex. What Aristotle means by “arts” is the realization in the external form of a true idea. New arts are created every day and they get more and more advanced. The new arts we create are naturally admired by man,
Socrates and Aristotle were both Greek philosophers who contributed philosophies. Socrates believed that all people contained real knowledge within them and that self critical examination was needed to bring this knowledge out. Socrates once stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In this philosophical idea, Socrates is suggesting that an individual, who chooses to not think about their own actions, does not truly care about their own life. Aristotle believed in the concept of examining individual objects and being able to perceive their form and establish universal principles. These principles did not exist as a separate higher world of reality beyond material things, but were apart of things themselves. Aristotle has
Aristotle was an ancient Greek scientist and philosopher who sought the answer to our existence and the truth of reality. Aristotle was a pupil of Plato, a Greek philosopher who was famous for his theory of forms, but following his (Plato’s) death, he changed his views from Platonism to empiricism. Where Plato thought that true reality was based in what was abstract and intangible, Aristotle instead thought of
Unlike his teacher, Plato, Aristotle believed that the world could be explained by physical observation. This approach of using the five senses, cataloguing and categorising, is the foundation of scientific study. The approach is known as empiricism. Plato believed that we needed to look beyond the physical for an explanation of the universe in the guise of the World of Forms. Aristotle disagreed with this.
He was the first to study formal logic, founded called the Lyceum and tutored kings. He influenced Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions and beliefs. The Catholic Church took his view of a universal hierarchy and added the divine, the heavenly and the demonic to make their “Great Chain of Being.” Aristotle even had a basic idea of evolution based on God’s plan for the world (IEP). It is possible that he was the last person to know everything there was to know in his own time (Neill 488). His contributions to our understanding of the world are innumerable, despite that only about a third of his work survived. He contributed to philosophy as much as Plato, if not more. He took Plato’s theory of forms and changed it, making it his own, and in the process resolved the problems that he had noted, as well as those pointed out by Plato and others. He called his new theory he called Hylomorphism. Hylomorphism’s way of thinking stands directly opposite that which Plato’s forms encourage. Aristotle did not see the world as a reflection of another filled with forms but as the physical embodiment of the forms. The substances are created by the innate forms in the matter and are the only way we can perceive forms. This means that to Aristotle a substance did not have form only in an abstract world of forms but was contained by the object in and of
Aristotle is a student of Plato. He believed in Epicureanism. Aristotle has sensory experiences. Aristotle uncovered the truth through examination. Aristotle has syllogism which is a conclusion taken
The Greek stories and myths are endless, charming and intriguing. For this reason, stories of the gods and goddesses were told from generation to the next. The people even held festivals were held in their honor to celebrate them. The also people made special places in their homes and temples where they could pray to their statues and leave them presents.
Plato, a man who believed by just thinking about it, you could understand and achieve fully, trained Aristotle in philosophy. Aristotle did not agree on Plato’s belief, and soon came up with his own. He believed that in order to understand, you must observe what is being studied by looking, listening or touching it. Aristotle’s method of studying is now the base of contemporary science. Modern scientists are now engineering more efficient and precise ways of observing. In conclusion, Aristotle awoke the world with the study of live, which grew to the study of modern science of phycology.
Aristotle approaches reality from a completely different premise. While his ideas do stand in sharp contrast to Plato's, they are not simply a refutation of his former mentor's views. To Aristotle, the world exists in an infinitely diverse series of parts. These various parts are open to human observation and scrutiny. Rather than an eternally regressing truth beyond the scope of human apprehension, knowledge of truth and good are rooted firmly in the observable universe; truth, or at least gestures toward it, lies in existence rather than essence. Aristotle encourages embracing the particular in order to possibly gain a sense of the universal. There is, however, no universal system of inquiry to investigate each part of the whole. Different parts require different methods of discourse. In The Poetics, Aristotle attempts to articulate a method of inquiry, not a rigid system or standard of evaluation, applicable to tragedy. Tragedy attempts to imitate the complex world of human actions, and yet tragedy is itself still part of a larger, more complicated world of human existence. Tragedy is a
Both Philosophers Aristotle and Plato have very different perspectives according to their metaphysics. Plato explains his metaphysics through the story of the allegory of the cave which conveys his story of the Divided Line, while on the other hand Aristotle explains his metaphysics through his idea of actuality versus potentiality which leds him to the discussion of substance. Plato explains his metaphysics in a sense where he mainly discusses the idea of knowledge and truth through ideas, while Aristotle on the other hand explains his metaphysics in a real life sense offering the stronger system for being able to break down his belief in great detail applying it to the real world, which can stem out to being applied to everything.
Plato and Aristotle view knowledge and the process whereby it is obtained. They both point out that many epistemological concepts which they believe where knowledge comes from and what it is actually. Most of them have been astonished me in certain ways, but I found that rationalism and "wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is" make the most sense to me regarding the nature of knowledge. As the following, we will discuss about why these two philosophical viewpoints are superior and the others are inferior.
Philosophy can be described as a chance for person to undertake an opportunity to understand themselves, our world and society, and relations between ourselves and one another. Those who are able to study philosophy, can find out what is to be human, what kind of person is it good to be, and especially how are we to live a good life. I, myself, have had an opportunity to take a philosophy class and as my time in philosophy is starting to come to a close, I am suddenly realizing how Philosophy has changed the aspects and my outlook upon my life.
Since the beginning of the human’s existence, there have been so many great different concepts from various philosophers that have shaped the structure, knowledge and behaviors that we still exercise in our current world. Philosophy as the fundamental nature of knowledge has contributed to the development of our thoughts and the structure of our societies. Many great philosophers left the presence of their idea implanted in our world for the rest of human life. One central leader that contributed in the philosophical views of ideas, realism and morality of life was the greatest philosopher of all time “Aristotle”. This essay will focus on two of Aristotle’s major impact on today’s society. These two great essays are, “The Politics” and “The Nicomachean Ethics”. Aristotle influenced by previous work from his professor the great philosopher Plato developed ideas of moralities, virtues and ethics of how man should best live, how can we find the truth also how can we explain the world around us. Throughout history there have been many philosophers who have tried to shape the world with their philosophical concepts to make an action a universal law of morality that gives us options to choose a freely moral or legal alternative rather than another one. The concepts revealed by Aristotle’s work have inculcated the way we actually behave and apply ethics to our everyday duties that would lead us to the supreme good “Eudaimonia” ‘Human Flourishing’, happiness. All theories
This essay is reflection about my understanding from what I have learned during this class about what philosophy is. Philosophy is a broad topic and can be hard to understand. What we learn is class about philosophy defiantly makes me think and makes my brain turn all the time, but so far, my understanding is that philosophy is the study of knowledge. It breaks down what everything is. Examples used in class are chariness, deskness, and the main one sued in class “cupness”.
Aristotle believed that the goal of all human life is to achieve ultimate happiness. Happiness is the final Utopia or the end of “a life worth living.” Human instinct is characterized by achieving personal fulfillment, thus leading to happiness. Aristotle warns against going astray and “preferring a life suitable to beasts” by assuming happiness and pleasure are equal. Living a life preferred by beasts incapacitates a person from achieving the end Utopia. Even though Aristotle does not equate the two, he does stress that minimal pleasure is required to achieve happiness. Someone lacking in vital necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter are not capable of achieving happiness due to their lack of pleasure.
I remember growing up through the years, and I was always taught that once you die, your soul would float up to heave and that’s how you would live the rest of your days. This was my conception of the self; you would live out your days on earth but ascend to heaven once it was your time. Plato’s conception of the self is different from mine and is very interesting. Plato describes that your soul is immortal and that your body is just an obstacle for your body, that you gain all of this wisdom from when your soul finally leaves your body. This is very different from what I was taught during my childhood, and I think that Plato gives you a different way of thinking towards the body and the soul.