Реферат: Платон и Аристотель

Plato and Aristotle.

Aristotle’s philosophy was basically the opposite of that of Plato’s.They disagree in virtually everything, which I found very amusing consideringthat Aristotle was Plato’s student.

Plato believed that reality is permanentand our senses can’t be trusted. He believed that ideas are eternal,self-contained absolutes, which answered to each item of exact knowledgeattained through human thought. Ideas are in Plato's view concrete standards bywhich all human endeavor can be judged, for the hierarchy of all ideas leads tothe highest absolute — that of Good. He also believed that Ideas are immortaland are more real than the mortal. Aristotle on the other hand believed thatfor something to be real it had to have a substance and a form or a body and asoul. Our senses are also reality. Aristotle refutes Plato's belief that Ideasare perfect entities unto themselves, independent of subjective humanexperience. Ideas, Aristotle claims, are not abstractions on a proverbialpedestal but mere duplicates of things witnessed in ordinary daily life. Thus,according to Aristotle Ideas are not perfect entities, indefinable tosubjective human experience, but originate somewhere in ordinary human activityand perception.

Their views on afterlife were quite opposite as well. Aristotlebelieved nothing happens when we die because to even exist you should have botha body and a soul. So if you die and your body leaves then you don’t existbecause you don’t have both a body and a soul. Plato believed in some kind ofreincarnation. He claims that states of being are contingent upon the minglingof various Forms of existence. When one dies, that only means a death of amaterial part or one’s physical body. To Plato it’s not important as soon as wehave souls or our immortal parts. Later on your soul can inhabit another bodyand then another and so on up to eternity. In a sense you kind of get recycledover and over again.

The question about God’s existence and nature differ as well. Thoughboth of them agreed to some extent to the existence of God but according toPlato's philosophy God exists as a supremely good being whose goodness isanalogous (but not identical) to his Idea or the ultimate good. He owes theexistence of his Ideas to both God and goodness, but he claims the two are notthe same. It means that God is not completely perfect, but God's intentions andactions have good aims — goodness may emerge from other sources besides God.God, according to Plato’s philosophy appears to be not an ultimate creator buta  ‘coworker’ of goodness. To me thiseliminates the whole meaning of God as a being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent,omniscient originator and ruler of the universe. Aristotle on the other handargues that God is a self-sufficient, compelling force for both nature and man.He believes that all goodness comes from within God and that the goodness inman is drawn toward God and nothing else. This idea is quite consistent andwould serve as a good explanation from a pre-scientific point of view.

In summary, Aristotle and Plato indeed hold quite opposite views. Butinterestingly enough I found that their answers to philosophical questionsstrangely compliment each other. I would agree with most of Aristotelianphilosophy, which to me is very close to that of a modern scientificprospective. But in concern with political and sociological considerations Ilean mostly towards Plato’s views.  Hisidea of Utopia is quite appealing, although certainly not perfect. Not tomention the Aristotelian views of women as something inferior and incomplete I,as a woman find very offensive.

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