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Classmate 1……

Plato and Aristotle

            Plato and Aristotle are two of the earliest known philosophers in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Aristotle was a student of Plato’s but with the two together it was unmatched the wisdom they had come up with.

Let us get into metaphysics. They both believed in the concept of forms, even though they had different definitions of the concept. Plato’s take on metaphysics can be labeled as dualism, and he developed his ideas a priori which means he formulated his own explanations of an ideal reality and applied them to the observable world. Plato had two levels of what he thought about reality. One was the level of observable objects and the level of forms which is known as the ideal. The observable aspect of the world are imperfect copies of the forms and observable objects are impermanent, as opposed to forms where they are eternal. His forms can be understood as blueprints that exist outside of the observable and these forms are more “real” than the observable. Now, Aristotle developed his ideas posteriori meaning by directly observing the world and then deriving “formulas” for this observable reality. His concern was the area of causality. He also only believed in only one level of reality, and he believed that form had no existence outside of physical, observable reality. With Aristotle’s concern on the relationship of form and matter it led him to the concepts of causality (PhD, 2016-2021). HE believed that there were four very basic causes that can be applied to anything which is known as the material cause or in Aristotle’s words, “that out of which a thing comes to be, and which persists,” but the formal cause, is “the statement of essence” with definition meaning (which states that anything is determined by the definition or archetype).

Next let us get into epistemology. Plato’s epistemology holds that all knowledge is innate, which means the process of learning is just a recollection of knowledge buried deep in the soul and Plato believed that before birth the soul had a perfect knowledge of everything. He also believed that before birth the soul had a perfect knowledge of everything. Now, I highly believe this because why else would a child not be able to speak actual words to you before being “taught”, my mom always told me the babies know everything from their previous life and that is why they aren’t able to speak because then we would know all the secrets of the world. Obviously, this is only if you truly believe in reincarnation. In Plato’s views all human actions can be judged through the standard of these concrete and absolute ideas, but Aristotle refutes Plato’s theory on the grounds that Plato’s arguments are inconclusive but stating that Plato’s arguments are noy convincing or lead to contradictory conclusions. Aristotle claims though that all standards are based on things that are first experienced. He agreed with Plato’s notion that the immaterial (form) and the material (matter) were distinctly separate entities; however, he states that forms or ideas exist in the mind and are dependent on the observer and argues that Plato’s theory of ideas goes by the incorrect premise of absolute universal definitions for material, observable things (PhD, 2016-2021).

Finally, Aristotle acknowledges that justice should be responsible for nurturing the blief that good life is subject to all in society in disregard to their social class. He disagrees with these forms of justice, which he claims will eventually lead to the fall of a city-state. He does believe that justice does exist but in an objective manner. It involves treating all people equally and conversely, while it entails unequal treatment to unequal people. Plato on the other hand divided the soul into three parts, the will, reason, and appetite. Each of these sections had a certain role to play in the overall function of a being and was responsible for determining the interest, virtues and character of the being (IvyPanda, 2021). We must think to ourselves that we are only our soul, our body is just a flesh suit that we are temporarily using to experience “life” on earth and once we have experienced life as it is and go through the stages of what we were supposed to do in this lifetime then we “level up” in our next lifetimes. There is so much to learn about the physical body, the mind and what the two can do together and meshing the brain, while unlocking new beliefs.

 

Classmate 2………..

The difference between Plato’s and Aristotle’s view on the nature of form would be this. Plato believed that form is “objects are only crude representations.”  as stated in the article written by Jade Grace “Comparing the Similarities and Differences Between Plato and Aristotle.” It gives an example of Helen of Troy. She is beautiful and can be seen physically as beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder if you will. But Plato also claims that with the given example also stated in the article listed above that beauty is also temporary because people age. So, the object changing thus changing its beauty. Beauty is not permanent. True beauty only exists to those who understand the reason behind pure beauty.  

Aristotle's belief of form is much more direct. A bed is a bed because it is shaped like a bed and it functions as a bed. The objects the bed is made of like the wood from tree to make the bed frame can change form to serve its purpose but, in the end, it is still a bed. 

Descartes method in his meditations on first philosophy led to the certainty of “I think therefore I am.” started by questioning everything and doubting everything. He questioned the senses that not everything may be true. Senses can be deceiving. He even doubted even really existing because dreams can be very vivid and feel very real. So, perception of reality can be his very own imagination. And not to offend anyone but he even doubted that God was truly in your corner. What if God was really doing everything to watch you suffer instead of being all loving? With all that doubt one thing became certain to him. That was “I am, I exist.” With further study or meditations, he began to understand that all the information given through senses beliefs and physical form that “he thinks.” He understood he exists and he thinks with his mind using reason. “I think therefore I am”