Plato and Aristotle: Metaphysics, Ideas, and Anthropology

Posted on Dec 9, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

Plato

I. Metaphysics

  1. The being of each being is its essence. Without essences, there can be no individuals. Science exists, and its object of study is essences.
  2. Essences are outside of individuals. In our heads, there are only concepts that refer to essences.
  3. Argument that essences are not within the individual: If the essence were inside, only one individual would have the essence, and that essence would be one. Moreover, if each had a part of the essence, the essence that each had would be different.
  4. Knowledge argument: No one can know essences through experience, but with reason. We say then that there has been contact between essences (ideas) and reason. For Plato, reason uses an outside world that he calls the world of Ideas (perfection, eternity, world of “being”…) where the ratio has seen the ideas in a previous life. This world is opposed to the sensible world (temporary); it is also flawed because it consists of matter. There are certain conditions that certify the existence of this world:
    1. Material: It relates to the ideas, but if we cut the link between both, we get a formless matter, pure and imperfect. So we say it is irrational because we cannot know it; it swings between being and non-being. If there is no idea of matter, there can be no concept.
    2. Essence (Idea): All that “is” is an idea or participation of an idea.
    3. Demiurge: This is a higher intelligence that lies outside of both worlds and makes their union possible.

II. Theory of Ideas

  1. Former life of Reason: Reason, in a previous life, sees the world of ideas and gets all the knowledge, but just at birth (soul-body union), this knowledge is lost. So we need to remember everything we learned in pre-life (Reminiscence, deploy reason. Learning is remembering).
  2. Body-soul dualism: The material body is irrational, and the soul is rational and inherited.
  3. Knowledge of perfection: We know the model of perfection (the very idea) so that when we value something, we compare it to its idea. Being material, it can never achieve the perfection of the idea, which is immaterial.
  4. Objectivism: There are absolute truths (Ideas) which, being eternal, must be absolute.
  5. Good idea: The idea of an idea exists that allows existing ideas and is the ultimate principle of everything. It’s all, yet nothing; it provides the knowledge of ideas and makes them possible.
  6. Problem of the Theory of Ideas:
    1. The relationship between individual and idea: It could be a relationship of imitation in which the model mimics the copy. It could be that the individual takes part in the idea. Somehow the idea cannot be separated from the body; reason tells us (although limited).
    2. Scope of Ideas: There are ideas of moral questions, mathematical objects, and the idea of an idea. There are no ideas of partial objects, imperfections (evil, ignorance…), artificial objects, or natural objects.

III. Anthropology

  1. Psychologically: You can divide the soul into:
    • Rational (immortal), which is the reason that allows us to think.
    • Irrational (mortal), which is tied to the body and is divided in turn into:
    • Concupiscible (will and desires)
    • Irascible (emotional or affective level, we can feel).
    Features of the rational soul:
    • Reminiscence (prior knowledge)
    • Simplicity of the Soul (Death is the separation of the parties; if the soul is immortal, it has no parts)
    • Theory of Opposites (A death follows life, reincarnation, depending on the purity of the soul)
  2. Ethics:
    1. Reason can know the truth (there is a theoretical truth, “what is”, and a practical truth, “it is appropriate”). With reason, one must acquire a good habit (an easy and permanent basis) to achieve wisdom and caution.
    2. Irascible: Allows you to feel; we must have courage, strength of will.
    3. Lusts: Allows desires; the body needs. There should be temperance, that is, moderation. If the three parties are balanced, “justice” is reached.
  3. Policy: Human beings are social beings by nature. The ideal society is a class society. The ruling class must be a philosopher class in which the end of the ruler is the good of the governed. You can only govern with the truth. There is no private property or the concept of family. This is the ideal governance model for Plato that corresponds to the following schedule:
    • Reasonable soul (reason) to politicians
    • Irrational soul (irritability) to the army
    • Concupiscible soul, which satisfies the needs of the other two classes.

Aristotle

I. Metaphysics

  1. Criticism of Plato:
    1. The theory of ideas is useless. Ideas cannot explain the motion of bodies of the material world. In addition, Plato complicates things by having to go to another world in order to explain this world, having two worlds.
    2. Ideas are inside the body. They must be within and make things what they are, causing a problem.
  2. Problem of essences: The essence (form) is within the individual, but no forms are numerically different but equally specific. For an essence, one must go to the individual, so to gain knowledge, you have to go to experience.
  3. Being: It is formed by an invisible and undetectable substance, which in turn is shaped by the nature (form), and the matter can be formed by other materials. A part of the substance are accidents, which is what we perceive through the senses. They can be classified into categories, such as quantity, quality, time, space, etc. The substance can be defined as supporting or sustaining determined accidents. There are several types of substances:
    • First (matter) or hylomorphic compound, which can be divided into sensitive (eternal = stars) or imperfect (perishable)
    • Insensitive (God)
    • Second (attached to the subject)
    The causes of the substance are:
    • Formal cause
    • Material cause
    • Efficient cause (refers to the shape of the parents)
    • Final cause (to achieve perfection)
  4. Changes:
    1. It is the passage from potency to act: Potency is the possibility of “being.” The act is what it is. Hardship is the limited nature of power. The form relates to the act and the material to power. The way leads to deprivation.
    2. Types: Accidental (just change the accident). Substantial (change the shape).
    3. Elements: In accidental change, the substance remains. In substantial change, the raw or pure prevails.
    4. Conclusions: In the passage from potency to act, the mobile appears in another individual or motor, which is the mobile that passes the power to act. To this, there must be a first unmoved mover that moves around the world and that is not caused by anything, God. In Aristotelian philosophy, God created the world and only makes the first move.

II. Cosmology

  1. Nature: It can be individual, i.e., the essence in that it identifies a range of activities. It is intrinsic to being and is a principle of movement and rest that is in the body in its essence and accident.
  2. Whole (cosmos): Totality of entities.
  3. Characteristics of the cosmos: Geocentric, finite, and heterogeneous.
  4. Movement in nature: The power to act process involves being and non-being. It cannot explain the principle of inertia. The movements are absolute. To analyze the movement, one must go to the mobile; the movement is determined by the way.
  5. Types of Movement:
    1. Natural movement: Movement that all being does by nature itself, made by itself.
    2. Violent Movement: It is performed by an outboard motor.

III. Epistemology

  1. Psychological field:
    1. Empiricism: As there are individuals, the attainment of knowledge is based on experience.
    2. Rationalism: Obtaining knowledge is based on reason.
    3. Relationship between soul and body: They cannot be separated. The union between body and soul is substantial; their union is necessary. There are three types of souls:
      • Vegetative soul (reproduction, nutrition)
      • Sensitive soul (emotions, memories)
      • Rational soul (reason)
  2. Field of ethics:
    1. There are two types of purposes: Means (for achieving other ends) and ultimate purpose (also called happiness or supreme end, related to eudaimonism; every entity must fulfill its role to achieve it).
    2. The function of man: To achieve happiness, it is necessary to acquire a good habit and maintain a balance. The human being is divided into three parts:
      • Reason (thinking), which is subdivided into:
        • Theoretical knowledge (contemplation), which leads to wisdom (dianoetic)
        • Practical knowledge, which leads to wisdom (ethics)
      • Feelings/passions (feeling)
      • Desires (action)
      The latter two give rise to the theory of the average, which says that the average is only one, involving an excess and a defect, and is dependent on the individual and situation.
  3. Political arena: Aristotle tells us that democracy as a policy would be invalid because the government would be in the hands of people who are not educated for it. So the government would be right in the hands of the aristocracy. We also have, in relation to man, that he is sociable by nature, as evidenced by language; ethical behavior depends on the relationship with others. Man needs to be in partnership to acquire the status of a human being, but we just might be beasts.