Plato V. Aristotle: The Teacher And The Pupil
When Aristotle was seventeen years old, he was brought to the Academy, which was founded by Plato, to study among the great philosophical minds of his era. Plato, who himself was a pupil of the legendary Socrates, was around 61 years old at the time, and quickly realized that Aristotle was his star pupil. Known as “the mind” of the Academy, Aristotle was deeply influenced by Plato’s persona and ethics, but never did he let his admiration get in the way of his personal stands on politics and ethics, and vise versa. Just as Plato was studied under the wing of Socrates and later established his own philosophy, Aristotle followed suit. The two differed on political and ethical views, although both had similar basis for their opinions, since one followed the other’s teachings. Regardless of opinions, both men were seeking the answers to two different questions, which are interrelated (along with everything else in this world, apparently); what is real, and what is the good life. Let’s look at each philosopher’s stands on politics and ethics. Plato was a believer of Forms, or eternal ideas that make up things in our world. These Forms are considered the molds to the t
hings that make up our world, but the thing that makes forms different from what we perceive in our world is their perfection. Forms are perfect, whereas what the average person interacts with is not. What we interpret with our senses is a defective attempt to copy a form, which was created by the Demiurge, or the Divine Craftsman. The Demiurge attempts to recreate the Source of the World, which is considered to be the supreme reality. The Source, also known as the Godhead, is impersonal, which explains why the Demiurge is the creator of the world. Plato says that a state exists because people are not self-sufficient. This is his basis for the argument of having a division of labor. With the division of labor, (which follows the top to bottom supremacy of the body diagram of a state), the citizens of the state function for the happiness of the individual, and for the good of the state as a whole. Plato considered this model of state to include women, and not just on one level, but on all levels, including the ruler or Philosopher King (King or Queen), (Price 64). This was revolutionary, to say the least. This was also the reason that Plato called for the cessation of the nuclear family in the guardian and philosopher king spot, realizing the possibility of conflict. There were four levels of efficiency in terms of dealing with Forms, starting with the lowest to highest; changing, believing, thinking, and intelligence. Each step is a progression of a person’s ability to filter out the apparent “real” from the actual real. When a person is at the intelligence stage, they are dealing with the Forms directly, seeing the true object in its due eternal essence (Price 61). When at this stage, the person has now gained the ability to be “moral”, thus living the “good” life. This brings the ability to balance the soul’s will, between rationality and appetite. This idea of morality, as well as the interconnectedness of everything, is described in the “Allegory of the Cave”. In respect to ethics, as well as politics, if something was functioning properly, such as the soul or civilization, they were considered virtuous. With that in mind, the ideal state, according
Some topics in this essay:
Source Godhead,
Academy Aristotle,
Unmoved Mover,
Mean Price,
Furthermore Aristotle,
Queen Price,
Pupil Aristotle,
Plato Aristotle,
Golden Mean,
AKA Buddha,
aristotle believed,
unmoved mover,
stands politics ethics,
dealing forms,
aristotle total,
division labor,
unlike plato,
stands politics,
golden mean,
vise versa,
top bottom,
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Approximate Word count = 1493
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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