QUESTIONS: “Compare and contrast the differences and similarities of Plato and Aristotle political

philosophers”.

INTRODUCTION: Meaning of Political Thought

Political philosophy, or political theory, is the study of topics such
as politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority:
what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate,
what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law
is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately
overthrown, if ever.
History of Plato and Aristotle
Plato: Plato was born circa 428 B.C.E., ancient Greek philosopher and a student of Socrates and a
teacher of Aristotle. His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained
discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the
philosophy of language. Plato founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first institutions of higher
learning in the Western world. He died in Athens circa 348 B.C.E.

Aristotle: Aristotle Ancient Greek philosopher was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, Greece. When he
turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335,
Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life
studying, teaching and writing. Aristotle died in 322 B.C., after he left Athens and fled to Chalcis.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ARISTOTLE AND PLATO

Plato (c.428 - 347 BC) and Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) are two of the most influential Philosophers in
history. Socrates was also seen as a great philosopher and, as his pupil, Plato was greatly influenced
by his teachings. Plato then became the teacher of Aristotle who, although a long term pupil, was
able to find many faults in Plato’s theories and in fact became a great critic of his teacher. Despite
his criticisms though Aristotle was influenced by Plato and so their works are easily comparable as
they target the same aspects of philosophy even if the majority of points are contradictory.

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  Both Plato and Aristotle based their theories on four widely accepted beliefs of the time;
knowledge must be of what is real, the world experienced via the senses is what is real,
knowledge must be of what is fixed and unchanging, the world experienced via the senses is
not fixed and unchanging. These points led to a sceptic point of view which both
philosophers’ wished to target as both agreed knowledge is possible.

 Plato chose to reject the claim that the world experienced through the senses is what is real;
while Aristotle rejected the claim that knowledge must be of what is fixed and unchanging.
This presented problems to be overcome by each philosopher: Plato had to give an account
of where knowledge could be found while Aristotle had to account for how to have
knowledge of that which is undergoing change. This is what leads to the philosophers’
overwhelming differences.

Plato and Aristotle both use their definitions of ‘form’ to overcome their relative problems with
knowledge. Form for both philosophers is able to classify all things; chairs are chairs because they
reflect the form of a chair.

 However, their precise definitions of form do differ. Plato claims that Particulars’ (objects) are
only crude representations of their Form. For example, a Beauty Particular such as Helen of
Troy is physical and accessible to the senses. Her beauty is also only temporary and relative to
the observer, aging and individuals opinions will alter how her beauty is observed. Her beauty
being combined with non-beautiful parts and non-beautiful perspectives, such as organs,
mean that she cannot contain the permanent Form of Beauty within herself. Rather, Plato
claims the Form of Beauty is not accessible to the senses and is not physical, existing outside
of time and space, and so can only be understood through reason. The Form of Beauty (being
pure beauty) also differs from the Beauty Particular as it is eternally and irrefutably beautiful
no matter who experiences it and at what time.

 Aristotle refutes Plato’s definition believing it to be unclear and illogical in claiming that a
chair can be understood to be a chair due to its relationship with a form existing outside of
time and space. Instead Aristotle’s method of defining an objects form is through the objects

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 purpose which has been given to it by the designer, so a chair is a chair because it has been
designed to have the function of a chair. That which the chair is made of could have been
given a different form if it had been arranged differently. This way the form of an object exists
within the object and all similarly designed and purposed objects so it is unnecessary to
disengage from this world in order to understand a form as it can be observed and
understood on earth. This also enables him to have knowledge of an object whilst it
undergoes change as its change is contained within it’s purpose. For example, an acorn has
within its form the potential to become an oak tree if not interfered with; the change which it
is to undergo is contained within the knowledge of it’s form. This becomes the basis of
Aristotle’s teleology. Aristotle proposed that ’nature does nothing in vain as everything has a
purpose perhaps given to it by a God. With this Aristotle looks not only at human artefacts
but also nature; eyes have different structures and methods of operation between species
yet all share the form of an eye as they all exist for the purpose of seeing.

 Even though both philosophers use form to understand objects only Plato believes it is
required to gain knowledge. Plato also thinks it essential to disengage from this world to
discover an object form whereas Aristotle believes we need only study the objects and
discover its function (teleology).

 Plato’s Allegory of the Cave contains his view on the human condition. In this allegory the
human condition is likened to being trapped in a cave facing the back wall only able to see
shadows; unaware that there is anything else in the world. The world beyond though contains
the truth of reality and acts as a higher plain of reality which must be accessed in order to
gain knowledge. One of these people though is set free and forced to climb a steep hill
representing the struggle and effort it takes to gain knowledge and learn as a philosopher
would. However it is also portrayed as a worth while act as the person freed now knows
reality and not merely the shadows of it. The people remaining in the cave represent the
ignorant, uneducated majority of society and these people, when the philosophically
enlightened person returns, are unwilling to believe him and would rather cast him out of
there world that accept his truth. This allegory displays Plato’s feelings about how his teacher,
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 Socrates, had been treated for attempting to enlighten his pupils. It also though reveals
Plato’s own feelings towards gaining knowledge which would have been inspired by his
teacher. Plato was a transcendentalist meaning he believed that to understand truth we must
transcend beyond this world in to a higher reality where true concepts exist. In this reality
beyond the senses the knowledge found is unchanging. This makes it necessary to use
asceticism to find the truth. By doing this Plato is able to ignore the sensory distraction of the
body in which he is trapped while also minimizing the distractions of the appetites of the
body such as food and sex. Plato uses Mathematics as the paradigm of knowledge as it’s truth
exists beyond sensory perception.

 Aristotle does not agree with this idea of the human condition and so uses biology as the
paradigm for knowledge. This encompasses his view that knowledge need not be of the
unchanging but can be gained by observing the world around us. Aristotle becomes the
leading forefather of the naturalist thought in philosophy which studies natural occurrences
in the world and nature in order to gain knowledge. He did not see the human condition as a
trap distracting the mind from truth, instead Aristotle believed we could use the body as a
tool to aid learning. His view of everything having a purpose would suggest that the human
body had itself has a purpose which allows it to accommodate what humans should be able
to have knowledge of. If learning where to require asceticism then it would suggest that
humans were not meant or did not have the capacity to know or learn these things.

 Conclusion: the differences between Plato and Aristotle’s theories outweigh the similarities.
However, both philosophers do leave holes and questions in their arguments. Plato is often
criticized for being too elitist in his views he requires a great amount of time devoted to
asceticism in order to learn.

REFERENCES

 Earnest, B. (2009) Aristotle Politics. Oxford University.

 Ebenstan. A. (2002) Introduction to Political thinkers. Wadsworth Group.
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 Fine, Gail (1999) “Introduction. Plato 2 Ethics, Politics, Religion and the Soul. Oxford university
Press.
 Plato Encyclopedic Britannica (2002).