Compare and Contrast Essay on Plato and Aristotle: Similarities and Differences

Introduction

Historically, Plato and Aristotle are the two most influential people in the field of philosophy. However, Socrates is also viewed as one of the greatest philosophers since his teachings massively impacted Plato who was his student. Plato also went ahead to become the teacher of Aristotle. In as much as Plato was Aristotle's teacher for a long period, he came to point out numerous faults in the theories put forward by Plato and ended up becoming a huge critic of his own teacher. Regardless of the criticisms directed at his teacher's work, Aristotle's work was equally greatly influenced by his teacher thereby making the comparison of their aspects of philosophy whose target is almost similar.

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Comparison of their Works

The theories of both Plato and Aristotle were based on four beliefs that were widely accepted in the field of philosophy which posited that: knowledge arises from what is real; the world is only real if it is experienced through senses; knowledge comprises a fixed and unchanging element, and the world that is experienced through is neither fixed nor unchanging. These aspects of the philosophy resulted in a skeptic perspective which the two philosophers would like to target since both of them were in agreement that knowledge is a possibility. In overcoming the common contradiction in their arguments, it was necessary for each philosopher to decide what is to be disregarded and proved not to be necessary. As a result, Plato rejected the claim that the reality of the world is that experienced through the senses. On the other hand, Aristotle rejected the claim of knowledge comprising fixed and unchanging elements. Consequently, each philosopher had challenges to overcome, with Plato having to account for the source of knowledge whereas Aristotle was to prove to have knowledge of whatever undergoes changes (McKirahan Jr, 2017). The search for the proof of the different aspects of philosophy led to differences between the two great philosophers.

Differences in Meaning of Forms

In overcoming their relative challenges as far as knowledge is concerned, the philosophers relied on their definitions of forms as it was capable of classifying everything, for instance, a chair is a chair for the simple reason that it reflects the form of a chair. Nonetheless, with precision, they had different definitions of forms. According to Plato, objects are a crude representation of their respective forms, for instance, the beauty of an object is physical such that the senses can access it. However, the beauty is both temporary and relative depending on the observer due to factors such as aging alongside the differing opinions of the observers (Wood, 2017). The beauty in combination with both non-beautiful parts and perspectives imply that the form of beauty cannot be contained within the object.

Therefore, Plato's claim was that the form of beauty was non-physical and non-accessible through the senses and instead exists beyond the boundaries of time and space and as such the proper understanding is by reason. On the contrary, Aristotle disagreed with Plato's definition of form claiming that it is not only unclear but also illogical to say that it is possible to understand a chair as it is because of the relationship that it has with a form that exists out of time and space. Instead, Aristotle used a method of definition of the form of an object that relied on the purpose of the object which the designer gives to it. In that respect, a chair is a chair for the simple reason that it has been designed in the form of a chair.

The components of the chair could have a different form if the arrangement was different. Therefore, the form of an object exists in it as well as all the other objects that are designed in the same way and serve the same purpose which implies that it is not necessary to disengage from the world in the quest to understand form since its observation and understanding can be done on earth. Also, it makes it possible for one to understand an object as it undergoes changes. Although the two philosophers use the form of understanding objects, only Plato believes it is a necessity in gaining knowledge. Also, Plato believes that it is important to disengage from the world in an attempt to discover the form of an object while Aristotle posits that one only needs to study the objects as this would help in understanding its function.

Conclusion

In as much as there are similarities and differences in the works of Plato and Aristotle, both philosophers have lost ends as well as questions in their arguments. Critically, Plato is quite an elitist in his opinions because he solicits for a lot of time set aside for asceticism for learning to take place. In his view, Plato takes it that the people are ignorant and incapable or rather not ready to accept the truth of realities that are above individuals. Aristotle on the other end is more mentally and emotionally stable in his arguments in which he includes everybody as far as their ability to learn is concerned. Additionally, he criticizes Plato for his suggestion on the existence of form out of space and time because the aspects are not physical entities.

In his counterargument, Aristotle questions the possibility of something that existed beyond space as well as time having a relationship with objects that exist in both space and time. Surprisingly, Aristotle's belief in everything having a purpose also raises a lot of questions because of there some things in nature, for example, the human appendix, which serves no purpose. Both philosophers fail in accounting for the possibility of chance happenings just like each belief in the ultimate truth as well as an explanation of all things. The two philosophers have left huge loose ends in their theories which exposes them to a lot of criticism.

References

McKirahan Jr, R. D. (2017). Principles and Proofs: Aristotle's theory of demonstrative science. Princeton University Press.

Wood, J. (2017). The Unorthodox Theory of Forms in Plato's Philebus. Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 11(2), 45-81.