Plato was one of the first to develop the concept of a political utopia. In The Republic, he attempts to define justice by using the character of Socrates in a debate. Plato then continues to outline the guidelines for a just society. Plato's utopia appears, at first, to be an excellent idea. However, after further examination, his perfect society is less than ideal. Several flaws are obvious when considering Plato's vision from a contemporary perspective. In addition, in The Politics Aristotle critiques Plato's ideal city and offers his own model for society. .
Plato tries to define justice by implementing the Socratic method of oral teaching through dialogue. He uses Socrates as the protagonist who poses the question: What is justice? Socrates then proceeds to eliminate his opponents by attacking the weaknesses and exposing the limitations of their arguments. By refuting the flawed logic of his opponents, Socrates shows what is not justice.
Plato assigns characters to Socrates" dialogue partners who argue differing opinions. The first is Cephalus, who states that justice is to return what you have taken. The main critique of Cephalus" argument is that his proposal is instrumental not intrinsic. The next challenger is Polemarchus. His describes justice as helping your friends and hurting your enemies. He advocates proportionality, to treat others how they deserve to be treated. Plato simply rebuts that we are unable to fairly judge our friends and our enemies because we are biased. The next person that Socrates responds to is Thrasymachus who declares that there in no justice; he says that those in power dictate justice and that justice changes with regimes. The idea that justice is in the interest of the stronger is the most convincing that Socrates encounters. Socrates does not have a strong defense to this argument. Thrasymachus is a precursor for later political theorists.
Aristotle was Plato's student. Aristotle managed to be a devoted student even though he disagreed with Plato on his theories. ... (Palmer, p.59) in the allegory of the cave: Sensible Realm vs. ... Aristotle refutes Plato's Theory of Forms using the third man argument. ... Though there are similarities between the theories of Plato and Aristotle they are different in a big way. ...
The beliefs of Plato and Aristotle can be both valid and invalid in many different ways. ... Personally, as I mentioned already, I think neither is completely valid and I also believe that without Plato's views coming into play, Aristotle's views are quite passé. ... Although regardless I do ultimately agree with the ideas of Aristotle over those of Plato, I also feel that ultimate agreement with Plato in this essay would be somewhat illogical and contradicting of the itinerary expected. Aristotle believes in experience as reason and Plato does not. ... In relation to this ...
As an example of their fundamental differences, we can take Aristotle's critique of Plato's theory of the forms. Aristotle critiques Plato's forms as only abstract copies of actual things or beings. ... The idea that the soul (psyche) is the form of the body was agreed upon by both Plato and Aristotle, however, the question of the soul being mortal, as Aristotle believed, or immortal, as Plato believed is were the similarity ends. ... Aristotle did agree with Plato that the soul is the form of the body. ... Consequently, both Plato and Aristotle had their own views on this c...
." -- Aristotle, Neomachean Ethics, p. 165 In Aristotle's writings, he disagrees with Plato's views on the world in many different instances. In this quote, he states that though Plato is his friend and might have taught him a lot, Aristotle believes his way of thinking is correct and he isn't afraid to refute Plato's ideas. ... In his book Neomachean Ethics, Aristotle's ideas conflict with those of Plato many times. ... First, Aristotle objects to Plato's suggestion to have common children in the state. ... Finally, in his book on Poetics, Aristotle c...
Plato vs. 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. ... Just as Plato was studied under the wing of Socrates and later established his own philosophy, Aristotle followed suit. ... In terms of women, Aristotle was in total disagreement with Plato on their importance. ... From here I can now say that I don't agree with the philosophies of Aristotle, or as much as I do with Plato's. ...
Although this was said by Darth Vader to Obi Wan, it nonetheless provides the perfect setting for the philosophical debate that, in my opinion, would exist today Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle, a student of the Academy, did not believe in Plato's theoretical view of the world. ... He, unlike Plato, accepted that the world was constantly evolving and welcomed the transformations. ... But it will always be Plato to whom Aristotle is indelibly linked. Plato once called him, "the intelligence of the Academy". ...
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. ... 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 believe that because Aristotle has such a distinctive science background that all ...
Plato's thoughts on reality were "heavily influenced by Heraclitus, Parmendes, and Socrates " (Silverman). Plato's metaphysical view, for example, has us divided into two worlds: the becoming and the reality. ... Plato illustrated his concept of reality with his divided line analogy. ... By contrast, Aristotle was a empiricist, meaning his ideas came from the senses and experience. ... Aristotle, who believed as a scientist that a focus on understanding the observable world was the priority, explained reality and entelechy by the four causes. ...
This distinction has been presented in many forms : real vs ideal; spirit vs flesh; earthly vs ethereal; temporal vs eternal; imperfect vs perfect. ... The reason why I am so condemnatory of modern philosophy is because it has generally accepted this dualism of Plato's uncritically, when his star student Aristotle did not. ... Both accepted Plato's dualism, but simply picked opposite sides of the same coin. ... If Aristotle had been given due attention, philosophy would be very different today. Aristotle rejected the idea that the mind and body are contradictory or mutu...
