Knowledge and Ethics: Plato vs. Aristotle
Theory of Knowledge
Plato’s Rationalism
For Plato, sense knowledge was misleading, and the senses hindered access to the truth of Ideas. His rationalist theory of knowledge posited that only reason could reach truth. He believed in the Theory of Reminiscence, which states that reason knows the Ideas from birth.
Aristotle’s Empiricism
Aristotle’s theory of knowledge contrasts with Plato’s. It is an empirical theory, asserting that all knowledge begins with experience. There is no innate knowledge; human understanding must process sensory data. Therefore, pure rational knowledge, as Plato believed, is not possible.
Levels of Knowledge (Aristotle)
- Sensation: Sensitive knowledge related to perception and memory.
- Imagination: The ability to represent reality through concrete images.
- Experience: The ability to organize, classify, and generalize data from imagination and senses.
- Understanding (Entendimiento): Equivalent to Plato’s logical reason and abstract intelligence. The ability to think with abstract concepts, propositions (two or more concepts), and reasoning (two or more sentences).
The Process of Abstraction (Aristotle)
- Receive images or representations from the senses (e.g., the image of a table).
- Abstract or understand the essence or universal features of the image (e.g., the concept of “table”).
- Formulate the concept once the essence is known.
- Make judgments or propositions and reason using the concepts.
The highest capacity to reason is science, which is knowledge of the principles and causes of things:
- Metaphysics (the study of being).
- Physics (the study of being as mobile).
- Biology (the study of being as alive).
- Ethics (the study of being as active).
- Politics (the study of being as a state member).
Ethics
Ethics, or moral philosophy, analyzes the patterns governing human behavior.
Plato’s Idealistic Ethics
Plato’s ethics begins with the Idea of the Good. Virtue is the way to know and realize it. Plato defined virtue as liberation, knowledge, and harmony. His idealistic ethics proposed the ethical model of the scholar or philosopher.
Aristotle’s Practical Ethics
Aristotle found Plato’s Idea of the Good too abstract. He identified the good with living well, which ultimately is happiness. The question then becomes: what constitutes living well? Some believed happiness consisted in pleasure, political success (fame, glory), or riches. Aristotle argued that understanding happiness requires understanding human nature. The activity most characteristic of humans is what brings the greatest happiness.
Humans have different dimensions, so happiness should address each of them, not just the principal one, as Plato thought. Plato believed humans were primarily rational beings, and their main activity was knowledge, which liberated them from the body, allowing them to know the virtues under the direction of a balanced rational soul.
Aristotle agreed that contemplation, or theoretical wisdom, is the most characteristic human activity and brings the greatest happiness. He concurred with Plato that the main virtue is wisdom.
Intellectual and Moral Virtues
While wisdom is the principal virtue, other virtues align with human nature and contribute to happiness. Aristotle distinguished between intellectual and moral virtues:
- Intellectual virtues: Directed toward contemplative activity, including theoretical knowledge (science) and prudence (practical wisdom).
- Moral virtues: Address other dimensions of human nature, such as appetites, instincts, feelings, and emotions.
Aristotle defined virtue as any intellectual or moral activity (e.g., prudence, friendship, learning to eat and drink, household management). He stated that virtue is a habit or permanent provision for action, manifested as a golden mean between two vicious extremes (e.g., moderation in drinking).