Plato Aristotle

Similarities -Plato and Aristotle both argued that the standards of the political community must arise form within that community (and from human nature) not from any outside or absolute standard or source. -Both Plato and Aristotle found a principle of intellectual organization in religious thinking that could function metaphysically as a halt to the regress of explanation. Both thinkers also developed versions of natural theology by showing how religious beliefs emerge from rational reflections on concrete reality as such. -goal of the state is happiness good life. -In Book VII of Platos Republic and Aristotles Poetics both philosophers try to highlight the human condition of ignorance and how it is the duty of every adult human being in the planet to reach the palace of wisdom and enlightenment. -Aristotle and Plato both believed in the importance of virtue. That being virtuous was the greatest good and that the whole purpose of life was to be virtuous. -Aristotle believed that one must have wisdom and understand how the world works. One must know the workings of the world and the working of oneself in order to know how to live the good life. Eudemonia means happiness. The purpose of life is to be happy. And the only way to be happy is to be satisfied. To be satisfied, one must live a good life. And to live a good life, one must be virtuous. Plato also believed that wisdom was important. That is why in his work The Republic, he decides that the best rulers of the perfect city would be philosophers. Plato believed that in order to be virtuous one must know exactly what virtue is and in order to do that one must spend many years in study.Both Plato and Aristotle believe that one must understand the world and understand oneself in order to know how to live a good life. They both believed that wisdom and knowledge were very important probably because they were both philosophers. -A comparison of the political philosophies of Aristotle and Plato reveals that both believed in importance of virtue. That being virtuous was the greatest good and that the purpose of life was to be virtuous. They both believed that one must understand life and oneself in order to live a good life. -both have classes (Plato: ruler, auxiliary, artisan; Aristotle: rich, middle class, poor)

Differences -Plato believed that the philosopher should rule. Only the philosopher king would know what is best for the city and its citizens and so he should be the one who made the decisions and guided the city. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that only the laws should rule a city. For Aristotle the laws represent all that is reasonable and just and so they should be followed and not any one ruler -Soul: Plato 3 parts desire, spiritual, rational; Aristotle 2 parts philosophical/theoretical, rational. -Aristotle proposes that the whole of the society in general should determine who is the leader, more like a democracy but with smaller terms and more watchdog councils set up but in a structure where all rational people have a turn to benefit society. On the contrary Plato sees that only the one philosopher king can rule, -Plato believes that the predetermined soul level is the humans nature which one cannot escape and is part of no matter what, and Aristotle believe that our nature is equal in all of us and the nurture is the next significant factor that can lead to the ability of rationalism. -Plato continues and to use his classification system throughout the whole of society. Aristotle proposes a far less hierarchical society. Both perfect societies are based on the ultimate goal of achieving happiness for all. Plato claims happiness can be easily achieved once all the different classes co-operate with another, with each accepting their position in society, mainly due to the reason no matter what social class one is they are essential and part of this perfect society. Aristotle sees that the happiness of society can be found through the pursuing of leisure. Aristotle strictly emphasizes the importance of leisure seeking but recognizes that this must exist in specific environment. The role of family and the union of family are encouraged in many aspects in Aristotles philosophy. -Aristotle leaves no part of societies citizens isolated. Plato prefers to look at the isolation he puts the citizens in as soul categories that one must accept to be happy. Applying both points of views parallel, I can see very little competition in which Plato may prevail. -For Plato what was ultimately real was the notion or concepts of things. He decreed that what we see in the physical world are merely abstract representations of universal concepts. -Aristotle: there is only one reality, the one which man perceives -The major differences that can be seen between these two arguments are seen when we examine the goals of both Plato and Aristotle. Plato has two main goals behind his argument, the first is to refute the position that injustice is better than justice. Secondly, his human function argument helps to set up the idea of his model cities, in which each person has a function and the city is virtuous when everyone performs their own function. Aristotle is examining happiness as the ultimate end and is searching for ways to get to that end. Thus, by proving that this good is found in the expression of reason, Aristotle is able to prescribe a path to happiness. If one fulfills ones function, expression of reason, and does so in an excellent manner, one will necessarily attain happiness. Another way in which the two arguments differ is on their

Augustine Aquinas

-(Aquinas) He felt that intellectual inquiry into the faith was to be understood as faith seeking understanding (fides quaerens intellectum). To believe is to think with assent (credere est assensione cogitare). It is an act of the intellect determined not by the reason, but by the will. Faith involves a commitment to believe in a God, to believe God, and to believe in God. Augustine argued further that the final authority for the determination of the use of reason in faith lies not with the individual, but with the Church itself. -both men were inspired greatly by classical philosophers -Both men are supportive of the supremacy of natural law but sharply distinguished their thoughts on this subject on how it should come about. -the supreme authority is God. happiness is incomplete without the presence of God. ultimate knowledge is that of God. -The first similarity is their description of an ascent of the soul that moves from reason to beyond reason, known to most as a mystical experience. -faith -both from africa

Medieval Classical

-state for good life -virtuous living -the idea that there is a soul

actual conceptualization of what the human function is. For Plato, the human function is defined as deliberation, ruling, living and taking care of things. This differs greatly from Aristotle idea of the human function which is, to perform activities that express reason. Not only are these two definitions very different, but they illustrate the chasm between the ways that each philosopher is thinking of the concept of a human function. Plato thinks of it in terms of the persons place in society. His ideas of ruling, deliberatingetc pertain to the community in which one lives, and ones relation to it. Aristotle approaches the problem from a much more individualistic point of view. Expressing reason in ones action does not have anything to do with a relationship with other people or a community, but relates only to the individual. -idealistic (Plato) vs. realistic (Aristotle) -Unlike Augustine, who made little distinction between explaining the meaning of a theological proposition and giving an argument for it, Aquinas worked out a highly articulated theory of theological reasoning. -Unlike Augustine, Aquinas distinguished sharply between philosophy and theology. He held that theology begins from faith in God and interprets all things as creatures of God, while philosophy moves in the other direction: it starts with the concrete objects of sense perception such as animals, rocks and trees and reasons towards more general conceptions, eventually making its way to God. Aquinas also believes in reason and its conjunction with faith. -Although both men where inspired greatly by classical philosophers such as Plato for Augustine and Aristotle for Aquinas, Augustine fundamentally was inspired by scriptural contents, catholic faith and belief and on going events at his time. On the contrary, Aquinas based his knowledge and inspiration on the thoughts and knowledge of classical philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato making him different from every other Christian theologian and philosopher. -Aquinas was unique because he basically unified classical philosophy with Christian dogma thus, reconciling human power of reasoning with spiritual and faith belief. -While Aquinas agreed with the teachings of the faith or divine revelation, he acknowledged the important of human reason in understanding that supernatural revelation called faith. Augustine however dismissed that idea and insisted that man needs intellectual illumination from God to understand intelligent thoughts; there he spoke about the eternal truth which is introduced into man through Gods divine wisdom. -For Aquinas sensing is how we come to knowledge. Augustine has different idea. Augustine says that we come to know through divine illumination of ideas in the memory. -Greek religions, in contrast to Judaism, speculated primarily not on the human world but on the cosmos as a whole. They were often formulated as literary myths. Nonetheless these forms of religious speculation were generally practical in nature: they aimed to increase personal and social virtue in those who engaged in them. Andrew Bailey wrote that Christian theology is ultimately based on faith or scriptural revelations, while the conclusions of Plato and Aristotle are supported by reason