Plato and Aristotle: Philosophers of Ancient Greece
Plato (Contextualization)
Born in Athens in 427 or 428 BC, Plato (originally named Aristocles) died in 347 BC at the age of 80. Plato’s life was shaped by the Peloponnesian War, the rule of the Thirty Tyrants, and the reintroduction of democracy. Greek philosophy reached maturity and completeness with Plato, responding to the conviction and relativism of the Sophists. His objectivity had a political purpose: the creation of the ideal polis (Platonic Utopia). This had a dual intention: first, ethics, where Plato claimed the existence of an eternal and immutable idea of justice as the basis for its organization; and second, a scientific intent, influenced by Parmenides, who was convinced that authentic knowledge is based on permanent and stable objects. With Plato, we encounter what might be called a complete system of thought that addresses virtually all issues that have been discussed throughout the history of philosophy. Plato influenced the development of Aristotle (his disciple), Arabic philosophy (Ibn Arabi), Rationalism (Descartes), and Kant. Few philosophers have not drawn from Platonic sources. Plato, a disciple of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, founded the Academy, which could be considered the first college in Europe. He attempted to implement his political conception on three occasions on the island of Sicily, particularly in Syracuse, under the rule of the tyrants Dionysius I and II, but it was a failure. His work is divided into four periods: Socratic, Transition, Maturity, and Old Age. The most important works belong to the maturity period: The Symposium (about love and beauty), Phaedo (on the immortality of the soul), and The Republic (on the organization of the State).
Aristotle (Context)
Born in 384-322 BC in the city of Stagira (Macedonia), Aristotle’s life can be divided into three main periods corresponding to the evolution of his thinking:
First Period
Here, he was Plato’s disciple for 20 years at the Academy. During this time, his thinking coincided with that of Plato, especially in the theories of Reminiscence and the preexistence and immortality of the soul.
Second Period
After Plato’s death, Aristotle, at 37, fled Athens due to the anti-Macedonian sentiment. He went to Assos and later to Pella, where he was called by King Philip to educate his son, Alexander the Great. During this period, he adopted a critical attitude towards Plato’s philosophy.
Third Period
After completing his educational role with Alexander the Great, he returned to Athens and founded his own school: The Lyceum, where he taught his students while walking in the morning (hence the name Peripatetic) and taught the public in general in the afternoons. Aristotle died in Chalcis in 322 BC.
Works
According to Diogenes Laertius, Aristotle wrote 400 works, although the authenticity of some is doubted. He wrote works of logical, physical, ethical, political, poetic, and metaphysical character. Aristotle is one of the most influential philosophers in history. He addressed the issues of the Presocratics and Plato from a new perspective and offered solutions that would remain for centuries, such as the concept of science and virtue. His philosophy is known in the Middle Ages as “The Philosopher.”