Understanding Plato and Aristotle’s Philosophies
Background
Plato’s Theory of Ideas
Plato believed that true knowledge requires stability and permanence in its object. He argued that there could be no true science of the sensible world, leading to a dualism between the world of sense and the intelligible world.
Existence of Ideas
Ideas represent the true being of things, their essences. They serve as the causes and purposes of sensible things and exist separately. Plato considered them to be more than just human concepts, with the Idea of Good being the supreme example. The sensible world copies and imitates the world of Ideas, deriving its being from the eidetic realm.
Anthropology
Plato viewed man as a dualistic compound of soul and body, an accidental union of two distinct substances. The soul, identified with rationality, is the immortal part of a human being and is distinct from the body. It acts as an intermediate reality connecting the two worlds. Plato divided the soul into three parts: rational (wisdom), irascible (courage), and appetitive (temperance). Only the rational part is immortal. The body belongs to the sensible world and serves as a prison for the soul.
Reminiscence
Following the concept of the soul’s immortality, Plato proposed that knowing is a process of remembering. He outlined degrees of knowledge (doxa and episteme) corresponding to degrees of being (the world of sense and the intelligible world). Dialectic, the pure intuition of the Idea, is the true method of knowledge. Eros, or passionate desire, provides access to the eidetic world.
Aristotle’s Metaphysics
Background
Aristotle critiqued Plato’s theory of Ideas, arguing that things are immanent, not transcendent, and that Ideas do not explain movement.
Metaphysics Defined
Aristotle defined metaphysics as the science of being qua being and its fundamental attributes. He discussed first philosophy and theology, noting that being is described in many ways, corresponding to the categories. The fundamental category is substance, while the remaining nine categories are accidents. The concept of hylemorphism states that substance is a composite of matter and form. Matter is the indeterminate principle, while form is the essence or nature of the substance.
Physics
Aristotle’s physics deals with the natural world and its processes.
Nature (physis) is the immanent principle of movement and rest in natural beings. Natural beings are composed of hylemorphism, and their nature is determined by their essence or form. Movement is an imperfect act, the actualization of potential while still in potential. Changes can be substantial or accidental (qualitative, quantitative, and locative). Aristotle proposed the theory of four causes: material, formal, efficient, and final. In natural beings, the formal, efficient, and final causes often coincide, reflecting a teleological view. The unmoved mover is the efficient cause of motion in the world.
Anthropology
Aristotle viewed man as a unified living being, a hylemorphic substance. The soul is the form of the body, and the mind is the function of a body, its operability. The soul is inseparable from the body, and there is no immortality of the soul. Functions of the soul include nutritive, sensitive (appetitive and motive), and rational (thinking).
Theory of Knowledge
Aristotle advocated for empiricism in knowledge, asserting that every idea is formed from experience. Experience (feeling) provides knowledge of the particular, capturing sensitive forms without matter. The understanding (nous) grasps universal forms inductively, starting from experiential data. Imagination serves as an intermediate level of understanding between experience and understanding. Aristotle distinguished between agent intellect (universal and immortal) and patient intellect (particular and mortal). He denied the ethical intellectualism of Socrates and Plato.
Ethics
Aristotle’s ethics are hedonistic, stating that the end and highest good of man is happiness.
Virtue is a habit, a middle ground between two vicious extremes, chosen as a wise man would choose. There are two kinds of virtues: ethical and dianoetic.