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Plato Vs Aristotle - Coggle Diagram
Plato Vs Aristotle
Plato
The Cave Analogy
The Cave analogy explains how three men have been trapped in a cave since birth and have only seen shadows of things in the real world and not what they actually look like. Then one of them breaks free and sees what the world is really like but is blinded by the sun as he has never seen it before. Eventually he adjusts and explores the world then he goes back to his friends in the cave but they don't believe him and think that he has gone mad.
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Strengths + Weaknesses
Strengths:
It explains why we all recognise the same essential elements in something as they have bits of a Form
However Wittgen Stien rejects this idea due to the idea of Family Resemblance Theory which states that our ideas just have overlapping characteristics
Helps us understand all the evils and imperfections in the world around us as we merely live in the real of appearances
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Weaknesses:
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Some things like plants have so many different versions of them so is there a perfect version of each one or just a perfect plant
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Karl Popper said Plato wants to find certainty in an uncertain world and just because he wants it doesn't mean he has to create a whole second realm for certainty to exist
The two realms
The realm of apperances:
Plato believed that this is the realm of the world we live in now and it is imperfect because we gain knowledge through our senses instead of our reason
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He says there is a perfect form of everything in the realm of the appearances in the realm of the forms
He also believed that because everything in the world is constantly changing so we can never gain true and certain knowledge
The realm of the forms:
Plato believed the realm of the forms is a perfect version of our world which isn't changing and can only be perceived through reason.
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For Plato the most important form was the form of the good as it illuminates and gives value to all the other forms
The soul
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For Plato the soul was a part of a higher reality that is imprisoned by the body and is released when you die
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The argument from opposites states that since the body is materialistic and prone to death it needs something to give it life therefore the soul must exist
The argument from knowledge states that the goal of the soul is to reach the realm of the forms and it has been there before. Therefore learning on earth is really just recollection of what the soul once knew
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Analogy of the Sun:
The analogy of the sun explains how the sun shines onto an object then the object casts a shadow which is visible
In this analogy the sun is the form of the Good as it illuminates all the other forms, the object is a form as it is illuminated by the form of the Good and the shadow is a particular we see in the realm of appearances as we can only see it through our senses.
Aristotle
The four causes:
The formal cause - The formal cause is the expression, idea or plan that lead to the creation of an object (blueprint of a table)
The efficient cause - The efficient cause is the way in which an object is created (saw used to made a table)
The material cause - The material cause is the thing something is made from (table is made from wood)
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The Prime Mover:
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This is why the Prime Mover's existence is necessary as it is eternal and doesn't need a cause. It is the thing that put everything in motion.
Strengths:
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It relies on the natural world which makes it more understandable and reliable than an invisible world
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Weaknesses:
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Scholars like Russell, Satre and Dawkins say that there is no point in talking about the purpose of the universe with Russell just calling it a brute fact.
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He could be seen to dismiss Plato's ideas too quickly, especially Plato's dualism.
One idea is that the universe just happened by chance and therefore there is no need for the Prime Mover