Plato and Aristotle

Question 1

Values of Aristotle

Answer 1

the first empiricist, truth is in the world
per genus et diferencia
says knowledge comes from observation and reflection
identified different types of learning
thought alone cannot create full knowledge, sense experience is needed first

Question 2

Beliefs

Answer 2

aristotle wanted to know why things change and what they are in themselves
so he described his four causes: material, formal, efficient and final
- everything in a flux of change changing from potentiality to actuality

Question 3

Analogy of the bronze statue

Answer 3

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)

Question 4

Prime mover as telos

Answer 4

Four Causes explain individual changes in the world; The Prime Mover is an explanation for the whole world itself (Final Cause)

• universes telos although indifferent
• attracts all parts of the universe to itself, thus inspiring change and movement

Question 5

Analogy of prime mover

Answer 5

Cat to milk, moth to light clear and observable better than Plato’s intangible FOTG

Question 6

Criticisms of the Prime mover

Answer 6

Not coherent
-People criticise Plato’s theory of the forms for incoherency/ lack of evidence, whereas the Prime Mover is just as idealistic/ incoherent
- Prime mover is an inductive leap of logic as said everything changes and then there is a being who does not change
- Prime mover must be perfect as if not would have to change from potentiality to actuality - does not change though
Criticizes Plato 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!

Question 7

FOTG analogy

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Criticisms of TFOTG

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Support of TFOTG

Answer 9

Prime Mover is highly incoherent as Aristotle argues everything has a cause, yet then argues for an uncaused causer. Form of the Good is more thoroughly explained via the cave analogy.

Question 10

The Forms

Answer 10

• greater reality beyond the world we experience, accessible through a priori reasoning - the world of the forms
• 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

Question 11

Cave analogy

Answer 11

prisoners trapped in the cave, watching shadows on the wall, are representative of those who merely rely on the senses and are only subject to a false perception of reality (a mind-set which Plato called “eikasia”, translated as image/ likeness).

Question 12

Support of the Forms

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Criticisms of the Forms

Answer 13

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
-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

Question 14

Conclusion

Answer 14

ultimately it seems both concepts are flawed to an extent. However, the Platonic thesis and the Form of the Good, if understood in more of a metaphorical sense, offer greater chance to develop a strong epistemological footing

-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.

Question 15

Criticism of Forms as symbolic

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Philosophical objections to Aristotle

Answer 16

efficient cause: where is the difference between thinking and unthinking forces? it doesn’t explain what happen, only that something happened.
purpose: is purpose only for animate objects? do some things only have a prescribed purpose?
fallacy of composition: the assumption that what is true of the part is true of the whole. just because every body part has a purpose, does not mean that the whole human has a purpose.
prime mover: assumes there is a single reason for the motion of everything. it could be multiple.
big bang theory: serious doubt that god brings the world in motion to himself
religion: there is no comfort in aristotles god, only explanation. an abrahamic religion has a god that cares.r

Question 17

Hume

Answer 17

David Hume said ‘change is a scientific curiosity’

Question 18

FOTG vs Prime Mover

Answer 18

the form of the good is a refuge, a source of stillness. the prime mover is an explanation.

Question 19

Heraclitus

Answer 19

“no man can step into the same river twice.”

Question 20

Aristotle’s objections to Plato

Answer 20

there is no such thing as ‘good’. a ‘good’ human does not have the same qualities as a ‘good’ horse or a ‘good’ book. a ‘good’ violinist can be a bad person. a ‘good’ rifle may not be morally good.
just because something is perfect, does it need to be eternal? something does not become purer by being eternal: white does not become whiter because it is an eternal white. something may be perfect and only last a second or so.
if the forms are as important as plato says, why has no one else realised? why does no one study them?
forms have no practical value. if there is a perfect concept of health, it does not aid us in maintaining our health. it doesn’t help doctors find way to make us healthy again when we are sick.
practical knowledge comes through experience, not thinking.
some things have no form. there is no form of number, or oneness, twoness etc. there is infinite numbers and therefore must be infinite forms which seems a bizarre theory to have