Running head: PLATO AND ARISTOTLE

Plato and Aristotle

Gabriel Kolling de Oliveira
Friends University

PLATO AND ARISTOTLE

Plato and Aristotle

Plato and Aristotle are great names in the Occidental philosophy. Plato was Socrates
disciple and pointed the idea as the origin of all concepts that exists in the mind. Plato talked
about two worlds: the Intelligible World, and the Visible World. While Aristotle, Platos disciple,
strongly disagreed with his master in not only this topic. Aristotle said that only one world exist,
and everything we learn is from experiencing in this world.
Platos argument was based on his two worlds, the Visible and the Intelligible. The
Intelligent world also called the World of the Ideas, is a non-changeable and eternal world, it
consists of the images and actual forms of everything. While the Visible world, is where we live
in, being actually shadows and reflections of the perfect image of everything that exist in the
Intelligible world. For him, before we can exist in flesh and bones, our souls are just ideas in the
intelligent world, where everything is perfect, and these souls materialize in the imperfect Visible
world. During the time in the Intelligible world, the souls receive all the Form knowledge they
will see later in the Visible world as imperfect shadows. According to him, the only way of
knowing the truth is through reason, as relying on the senses would reveal the constants changes
of nature as known.
Aristotle, on the other hand, disagreed with his master and said that there was only one
world. According to Aristotle, everything that existed could be captured by the human senses,
and using the images captured, humans could form the ideas of what was seen. This was, going
in the opposite direction of Plato, Aristotle stated that the only way of getting knowledge was to
experience it.
Plato discussed the allegory of the cave, in which he exposes the ignorance condition of
humanity dealing with the appearances. Platos states that only through the rational knowledge
humanity can rise and achieve the Idea. The only way of achieving this, is by the dialectical
method, in which the subject eliminates the appearances and discover the essence, the true

PLATO AND ARISTOTLE

knowledge of things. Platos philosophical method has the goal of releasing humanity from
ignorance and lead to the intelligence. By achieving the Ideal world, humanity transcends,
becoming superior, the only way of achieving true happiness.
Plato, following the death of his mentor, Socrates, shifted his ideology from the actual
state and focus on the ideal philosophical reasoning. Aristotle was more traditional and chose to
disagree with his master, Plato, in his theory of ideas, considering it unnecessary to the existing
social relations. Presenting a summary of Platos idea of justice, it is an analogue to the actual
idea of State. The ideal State, in which the justice can be interpreted in two ways: as a plan to
guide the behavior consolidating the law; and justice as being the habit of doing what is right.
Aristotle on the other side discussed justice in four instances: the universal justice and the private
justice, the distributive justice and the corrective justice. Being the first one, the man who follow
the laws, working towards the greater good of the whole society, differing from the second, the
justice that relates to part of the virtue only, not the whole; the third one is the justice in the polis,
as it distributes the goods, services, positions, and responsibilities, while the other differs as it
aims to reestablish the equilibrium ruptured of society.
Plato also presents the ideal being, comparing it with the ideal city: The appetites, the
spirit, and the mind; which compares to the producers, the auxiliaries, and the guardians. The
only way of a soul, and a city to function, is if follows the order: the guardians, the mind, which
governs the city, the being; the auxiliaries, the spirit, are the soldiers who defend the city, or the
part that gets angry with seeing injustice; and the appetite, or the producers, the lowest part,
which includes all the bodily pleasures. Following that scheme, the ideal government presented
by Plato is the one where the philosophers, rule by the wisdom, because they are closer to the
ideal world than the regular people. The thought behind it is, with justice being the basis of all

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virtues, the philosophers are wise, so they are virtuous, and should be fair. Relating to the soul,
the mind should control the rest, as it is more virtuous.
Aristotle establishes the notion of happiness, and its ethics starts there. He uses
Eudaimonia: the good life, human flourishing; as the seek in what is good, and act according to
virtue. Happiness is defined as an activity of the soul, that goes according to the perfect virtue.
Virtue is defined as a habit or constant rational exposition, meaning that the good actions, make a
good man, and make him capable of executing its function. Opposing to Platos idea, that is
something predetermined, inherent to the soul or the city. Aristotle presents the golden mean, in
which he presents the virtues in which lies and its vices, both the vice for excess and the vice for
defect. The main difference in this aspect is that Aristotle believed that something could only be
learned from experiencing it, while Plato said it could be taught. Aristotle explains that the moral
virtue could only be acquired from the habit of doing the good thing, while the intellectual virtue
could be acquired throughout teachings, so needed experience and time.
Plato presents an ethical orientation, teaching the man to despite pleasures, riches, and
honours. For Plato, the purpose of the man was not founded in pleasures, but in the existence
dedicated to the greater good, and that is why he argued that philosophy should be an instrument
to the city in order to achieve justice and good. While for Aristotle does not argue against the
pleasures and wealth, he speaks of the moderation, as the mean in the vices is the path of
achieving happiness.
Platos Innatism compared to Aristotles Empiricism, names later attributed to their
theories, is harder to live by compared to the other, as the notion of private property is inherent to
the human being in general.