Plato Flashcards
aristotle prime mover
- Four Causes explain individual changes in the world; The Prime Mover is an explanation for the whole world itself (Final Cause). Aristotle’s God, indifferent to the universe yet the universe’s telos – attracts all parts of the universe to itself, thus inspiring change and movement
- All things desire good/perfection (fulfilment of telos) and the process of change to perfection is in the direction of the PM. Attracting things towards it by sheer will/ consciousness e.g. Cat to milk, moth to light clear and observable, better than the intangible FOTG
- Aristotle’s Prime Mover has been evidently influential as it has inspired the Christian God – Much like the Prime Mover, the Christian God is eternal and infinite, exists outside of time and space, is separate from the universe and is perfect and never changing
aristotle just doesn’t work, williams
- People criticise Plato’s theory of the forms for incoherency/ lack of evidence, whereas the Prime Mover is just as idealistic/ incoherent
- The Prime Mover is immutable (unchanging) Aristotle argues everything changes, is it not an inductive leap of logic to claim there is a being that does not change? Perfect – If the PM was not perfect it would have to change from potentiality to actuality – as it does not change it must be perfect/ in a state of complete actuality critical of Plato’s forms for being idealistic, seeking perfection, when he does this through the PM! Necessary – cannot not exist we have no knowledge of necessary beings (Bertrand Russell), term lacks meaning!
cave analogy better than aristotle
- One may argue Plato’s analogy of the Cave explains the form of the good more successfully – In the World of Appearances we need eye’s to see, and the sun to illuminate what we see. In the World of the Forms we need eye’s: reason, and sun: Form of the Good – illuminates all other forms, all forms have in common the Form of the Good (it is what makes them perfect)
- Below TFOTG abstract ideas such as Beauty and Justice, and then individual forms of objects e.g. chairs, cakes, trees Knowledge of the Form of the Good brings enlightenment to the rational mind.
aj ayer criticism of plato
• A.J Ayer explains Plato’s forms as “primitive superstition” – good is not an actual thing that needs something corresponding to it, much like “nothing” is an absence of something. “Good” and “justice” are the qualities of other things both for FOTG and the PM seem flawed…
plato and davies ideal standard
- FORMS: Plato, in believed there was a greater reality beyond the world we experience, accessible through a priori reasoning – the world of the forms. He explains in his book ‘The Republic’ everything in this world was in a process of change; the Forms, in contrast, are the permanent, eternal, immutable, intangible, perfect essences of objects (particulars) found in the World of Appearances
- Brian Davies argues there must be true forms of abstract concepts, such as beauty or justice, as otherwise we would never be able to debate and discuss them must be an ideal standard of good/ form of the good
popper criticism of plato
• Karl Popper argues Plato was searching for permanence and perfection in a world of uncertainty, when really we must just accept the world the way it is – one may argue it is an inductive leap of logic to arrive at the Forms from a premise that there must be truth, which all things have in common form of the good lacks any evidence at all
4 causes empiricism better than plato
• Whereas Plato believed an ultimate reality existed beyond this world, accessible only through reason, Aristotle used the empirical method in order to explain the world around him – one can come to a closer understanding of the matter of things through a process of reflective categorisation, per genus et per differentia (through type and difference) via analysis of the FOUR CAUSES: example of the bronze statue (material cause is bronze, formal cause is its shape, efficient is the means it came about e.g. statue maker, and it final cause it its telos e.g. honouring the Gods) empirical method is clear and observable! Form of the good rests on sense observation; makes it more believable…
purpose criticism of aristotle
• One may question the Four Causes, in particular the final cause – based on a teleological worldview. Not everything seems to have a purpose, and many things can be used for alternative purposes e.g. a cricket bat could be used to kill zombies and not to play cricket – whereas one can criticise Plato for searching for perfection, Aristotle seems to search for purpose
platonic thesis holds greater value
• Analogy of the Cave and the Platonic thesis of the Forms evidently holds greater value than Aristotle’s Four Causes – urges us to question our believes in order to gain deeper epistemological positioning… Many claim they are lovers of beauty without ever stopping to question what true beauty is.
mel thompson and stephen law criticism of platonic thesis
• We can question reality and knowledge without having to postulate on a separate metaphysical world of perfection – Mel Thompson, Plato seems to dismiss the beauty of our world, with the “dark and dingy cave hardly being a fitting representation” of our world. Stephen Law, the form of phaeces and mud? “Not so heavenly” metaphysical explanations are always absurd
platonic thesis as metaphor response to thompson
- Reductio ad absurdum – The worth of the Analogy of the Cave, The Divided Line, and the Simile of the Sun, becomes clear when one interprets them as metaphors, for questioning reality to gain stronger epistemological positioning
- Within the analogy of the cave/ FOTG Plato highlights that the true philosopher will be mocked upon his return back to the unenlightened prisoners – those who have not experienced deeper truth will find the forms (even in a metaphorical sense), hard to accept, and will certainly prefer the comfort of Aristotle’s empiricism Death of Socrates, for “corrupting the youth” by encouraging them to question authority and use their rational capacities, highlights the danger of not questioning things, and allowing people to enforce their standards onto us!
