Plato And Aristotle

Question 1

What was Plato

Answer 1

He was a rationalist as opposed to an empiricist in that he believed that certain truths about the universe were knowable by mind alone something the empiricist denies

Question 2

What did he think about philosophers

Answer 2

He believed enlightened individuals (philosophers) could see beyond the world or senses to the real nature of things. For him to know so,etching like true goodness or beauty you had to go beyond anything sensed

Question 3

What did he believe the best part of humanity was and why

Answer 3

The power of reason, something animals lack. For him if we reason properly then we will always know the right way to live our lives and he thinks people do bad things when they do not use their reason and allow themselves to be carried away by their emotions

Question 4

What’s his logic for the realm of forms

Answer 4

If I want to bake a cake I therefore have a picture of a cake in my head. He argues this idea of a cake I hold doesn’t decay with time like the material cake does. This leads him to reason that there must exist an ideal cake and my attempt at baking a cake is an imperfect copy. This ideal cake cannot exist in this world as material things are forever changing due to things like age. So he suggests the real of forms

Question 5

How do things exist in the realm of forms

Answer 5

In this realm there is a form for everything that exists and these forms are spiritual by the fact they are permanent and non material

Question 6

According to Plato what do we think of the realm of forms compared to our current world

Answer 6

We long for the permanence of the forms and are always dissatisfied with the transience of this world

Question 7

How are our souls related to the realm of forms

Answer 7

For Plato our should belong naturally in the realm of forms and for unclear reasons we are trapped in bodies and born into this word

Question 8

What is the consequence of being born into this world

Answer 8

Forgetfulness. Because we are born into this world we forgot the world of forms but we remember glimpses of it as when I think of the cake I wish to bake I remember the ideal cake. The more I reflect on the concept of the cake the clearer my memories become

Question 9

For Plato what is learning

Answer 9

All learning is actually recollection of the forms experienced in a previous life, education does not put something into ones but rather draws out what is already there hidden by forgetfulness

Question 10

What example can be given in terms of learning and forgetfulness

Answer 10

When an inventor invents something he is not creating something new but is just the first to remember the perfect form of it and any improvement made it an invention is the result of people focusing their minds even more clearly on the original idea

Question 11

What is at the top of the hierarchy in the world of forms

Answer 11

The form of good

Question 12

What example can be used to show the relationship between the visible and intelligible realms

Answer 12

Pythagorean’s states that if we have two numbers they are in ratio with each other. 2 and 6 are in a ratio 1 to 3. So if there was a model plane in ratio 1:72 then from this scale we can gauge what the actual plane looks like and in this way everything in the realm of appearances allows us to gauge what the actual thing looks like

Question 13

How do our eyes and the sun relevant when talking about the realm of forms

Answer 13

In this world we need eyes to see objects and we need light to illuminate objects so our eyes can see them well in the intelligible realm we need the ‘mind’s eye’ or the force of intellect to appreciate the forms. We also need the sun to illuminate our understanding and this sun is equivalent to the form of good

Question 14

What is the hierarchy in the intelligible realm

Answer 14

The form of good at the top, then the other higher forms like beauty and goodness and then individual forms like a chair or table

Question 15

How does eternity tie in with forms

Answer 15

He believes the form muds be eternal just as our souls are eternal because the forms are meant to be perfect and one of the elements of perfection for him is something that can’t be destroyed

Question 16

What does Plato say about most people and what example does he give

Answer 16

He thinks most people don’t look beyond trivial things like earthly pleasures. He uses the examples of people who call themselves lovers of beauty, they may attend all the art exhibitions in the world but never ask what true beauty is rather distract themselves with things that appear beautiful but as they are material things they are imperfect. A famous painting may be very beautiful but if we turn it over it’s just rough wood and canvas

Question 17

What does Plato consider as knowledge

Answer 17

He thinks people who look for the meaning of things in themselves are philosophers as they ask what true beauty is and they are capable of knowledge not just opinion

Question 18

What did Plato think of good and peoples wrongdoings

Answer 18

Plato adopted the view that if we intellectually knew the good thing to do we would always do the right thing and he explained wrongdoing as the result of ignorance or incomplete knowledge. If I pursue material things it is because I am ignorant of the true good but if I know the form of good I will be good

Question 19

How does Plato draw the divided line and how does he allocate its sections

Answer 19

He asks us to think of a vertical line divided into two parts where the upper part is twice as long as the lower part and those two halves are then subdivided the same way (2:1). The upper half of the whole line represents the realm of forms while the lower half represents the realm of appearances. He notes how observation works in two ways one where we look at the thing but the second where we look at shadows or images. This is the lowest quarter of the whole line, the second quarter from the bottom is just things we straight up see in this world, the 3rd upper quarter is things like memories of the forms and imagination and then the upper half is the actual forms.

Question 20

Why were painters at the bottom of his social hierarchy

Answer 20

Because for Plato thinks like paintings and images were as far away from true reality of that object, pointed out in his book Republic

Question 21

What conclusion did he make about shadows and images

Answer 21

That there must be an equivalent in the intelligible realm which we can see on the divided line as memory and intellect

Question 22

What assumption does he make about truth and knowledge

Answer 22

That truth and knowledge only apply to what truly exists. So he restricts the term knowledge simply to our awareness of the Forms. In this way he thinks the things we see around us we only have opinions or beliefs about not knowledge because they are not real in the full sense

Question 23

What does define ignorance as

Answer 23

Awareness of what does not exist

Question 24

What is the problem with Plato’s take on awareness

Answer 24

He seems to be confusing awareness itself with the objects of awareness for example if I say there are no vampires in my room at present I could call my awareness knowledge but Plato would count it as ignorance because I am referring to something that doesn’t exist.

Question 25

What is the Simile of cave

Answer 25

Plato asks us to imagine an underground cave connected to the surface by a steep tunnel. Prisoners are chained to a rock with a road behind them that is on the other side of the rock. They have been there their whole lives and are chained in a way they can only see the wall in front of them and they have never seen anything behind them. There is a fire in the cave which they can’t see which is projecting shadows onto the wall of objects they can’t see and all they ever see are shadows and the result is that the only reality they ever know is the shadow world. Imagine one is released and he stands up and turns around and sees real objects carried by men on the road. He then sees the fire which takes his eyes time to adjust to. This prisoner is then forced to make the ascent out the cave and into the world and at first the brightness of the outside world would be painful and dazzling and he wouldn’t initially be able to look at objects directly so would look away at their shadows. Last he would see the sun which gives light to these objects Plato then asks us to imagine if the prisoner returned to the cave how the prisoners wouldn’t believe him and would deny a more real world because they’ll see him as arrogant they would mock him and maybe kill him.

Question 26

What does the simile of cave resemble

Answer 26

The prisoners tied up resembles normal people looking at the shadows which are the objects around use which we think are real. The fire is meant to resemble the sun which is giving light to these objects we think are real. The hard journey out the cave is meant to resemble philosophical enlightenment. The outside objects are meant to resemble the forms and finally the sun outside is meant to resemble the form of good which gives light to everything. The return of the prisoner is meant to resemble philosophers trying to convince other people of their beliefs. The death of the prisoner is meant to resemble the death of Socrates

Question 27

Karl Poppers objection in volume I of his ‘the open society and its enemies’

Answer 27

He argues Plato is determined to find certainty in a world of continual change in the way Plato assumes something exist somewhere else. Many people run from the difficulties of an uncertain world but wanting something to be certain does not make it so

Question 28

Taedeusz Kotarbinski’s objection to Plato

Answer 28

He argues that certain nouns are onomatoids which means they are more abstract objects for example if I say there is nothing in my cupboard the noun nothing is not the name of a thing but the absence of something in the same way terms like ‘love’ and ‘good’ are not names of oartfiukad things but stand for qualities of other things

Question 29

What was Aristotle and what did this mean

Answer 29

He can be described as the first empiricist. He did not look to another realm for an understanding of our existence but he explored the world around us and found understanding through a detailed examination of all we find around us

Question 30

What method did Aristotle use

Answer 30

His method is known as ‘per genus et per differentia’ meaning by type and by difference for example if I noticed a Guinea pig I would first learn by seeing what type of animal it is, a rodent. Then I would see how it differs from other rodents and by examining these things closer and closer I gain more knowledge of this guinea pig and indirectly my knowledge of other creatures would increase

Question 31

What would this ‘per genus et per differentia’ lead to

Answer 31

This process of reflective categorisation would for Aristotle lead me to a closer understanding of thing itself

Question 32

What is Aristotle’s take on knowledge and how is it different to Plato

Answer 32

His take on knowledge is that we are taught things such as maths and learn through practice the difference here to Plato is that for Aristotle knowledge is based on careful observations and reflection and our knowledge is not innate

Question 33

What does he point out about infant prodigies

Answer 33

That they only come about from certain disciplines like maths or music not history or politics which require a different type of knowledge and in this way he recognises that somethings are learned better through a book or taught

Question 34

What example can be given about knowledge which couldn’t be achieved through platonic means

Answer 34

The example of how he observed and eclipse of the Moon and observed the shadows go across the Moon and through his observation he concluded that the Earth was a sphere because the shadow cast could only be one of a spherical object and this type of knowledge couldn’t be achieved through platonic means

Question 35

How does Aristotle attempt to answer cause and effect

Answer 35

He attempts to answer it by not how x = y but why x and y are in themselves

Question 36

What is the first cause

Answer 36

The material cause: this is simply what something is made of ie a table of wood. Without material a thing could not be and he says

Question 37

What quote does he give about cause

Answer 37

‘That out of which a thing comes to exist and which continued is called ‘cause’

Question 38

What is the second cause

Answer 38

The formal cause which is essentially the shape of a thing, a bowl is a bowl because of how it is shaped, it’s form. If it were not shaped in that way it wouldn’t be a bowl

Question 39

What is the third cause

Answer 39

The efficient cause: something does not just happen, it has an external thing which brings about the effect like a sculptor makes a statue. He also thinks natural things have efficient causes like a rose’s efficient cause are the natural processes that bring it to be a rose

Question 40

What is the fourth cause

Answer 40

The final cause: generally we thing a cause only can happen with an effect because cause follows effect but for Aristotle the purpose for which something exists is a cause, the final cause. The maker of a bowl creates it for a purpose like holding food so the bowl is made for the sake of its use. For Aristotle this is true of everything

Question 41

What does he assume of nature

Answer 41

That it is purposive (has a goal and reason for being)

Question 42

How does he implement purpose in his Nicomachean Ethics (human body)

Answer 42

He believes everything in the world has purpose and if we examine the human body we would find a purpose for each of the parts and from this he gauges that each person must then also have a purpose

Question 43

To him what is a good person

Answer 43

A good person to him is one that fulfils her purpose like a good horse is good at being a horse good people are good at being people

Question 44

How did Aristotle apply his logic to the universe

Answer 44

He followed his logic of the final cause by assuming that the universe has a final cause (purpose) and for him this purpose was god

Question 45

What did he believe of god and how did that differ to Abraham if religions

Answer 45

He believed god was everlasting and perfect and the difference between the Abrahamic immanent god is that his god was transcendent and is not listening because he is not interested in the world

Question 46

What does Aristotle mean by perfection when referring to the prime mover

Answer 46

Perfection in this context means that the only things worthy of contemplation by a perfect being is a perfect object of thought so this prime mover only contemplates himself

Question 47

What is the final cause of the universe

Answer 47

It is to seek this god but without any conscious attraction from this god himself. For Aristotle the universe has no efficient cause and has always just been there so the effect of the prime mover is not as creator but rather something which creates movement and change by exercising a pull on things because the final cause of things is to seek their own perfection

Question 48

Objection 1 to Aristotle (fallacy)

Answer 48

The fallacy of composition: it is an error in reasoning where the assumption is what is true of the part is true of the whole. Even if it were true that parts of the body have a purpose doesn’t mean it’s true the person has a purpose and modern anatomy can support this. What is the purpose of the nipple on a man

Question 49

Objection 2 to Aristotle and quote

Answer 49

In the universe there are many rocky lumps and expanses that serve no end. Evolution on earth has been described by scientists as blind. Famously Bertrand Russell said ‘I should say the universe is just there and that’s all’ suggesting Aristotle is finding purpose where it is not

Question 50

Objection 3 to Aristotle (prime mover)

Answer 50

He uses the idea of the prime mover to explain motion and change in the world but this assumes that motion and change have a single reason to occur. However we can see around us this is not the case and there are many reasons. Then it is difficult to see how one prime mover can be assumed to be the cause of all and if there are many causes of change it seems illogical to jump from that to a single explanation

Question 51

Objection 4 to Aristotle (efficient cause)

Answer 51

His assumptions about efficient cause can be questioned, he gives the name of efficient cause to that which brings about a change in things but it is a mistake to think that because you have named something you have then explained it. Something bring about change known as efficient cause but that doesn’t tell us what has happened only that something has happened and the term is used to cover such a broad range of changed that it seems to not be that informative