I personally find it odd that Aristotle's views differ so much from Plato's views when he was a student of Plato. Plato's theories of the personality of the human deal a lot with the soul and the soul's parts and how they function, whereas Aristotle's thoughts are more centered on different kinds of souls. I chose to talk about personality because it interests me more then any other topic, and I really enjoyed reading Aristotle's views on personality.
Plato believes that the body is not the essence of the human person (pomerleau, 13). he states that there is three possibilities relating to this, the human person can be a soul, a body, or a combination of the soul and body. After drawing this argument out Plato came to the conclusion, through process of elimination, that the soul must rule the body and be the essence of the human person (pomerleau, 13). Aristotle does not say that the soul rules the body, but argues that the body cannot possibly be a body without the soul and the soul cannot be a soul without the body. Which goes directly against Plato's theory that the soul is immortal and existed before the body was made, and will exist after the body deceases. It think that Plato has a very good theory here and backs it up well, but find it not as interesting or believable after hearing Aristotle's view on the same subject. I think that people who live in the present time find Aristotle a lot easier to understand and relate to. Many people also have mixed feelings on if immortality exists, and Plato states that it does, whereas Aristotle says he is not sure about immortality because it can never be proved.
Plato helps us understand his theory about the soul by explaining to us how it is made up and the nature of it. He explains how the soul passes on after the body dies, and tells us that a good and virtuous soul is no more of a soul then an evil soul. According to Plato there are three parts of the soul.
