Plato and Aristotle’s Philosophies on Society, Ethics, and Metaphysics
The Social Nature of Man
Sophist
Society is a covenant of individuals. Plato believed that society is a livelihood for the “natural” human being. If we conclude based on the characteristics of human life, humans are not self-sufficient, either materially, morally, or spiritually. This idea was maintained after Aristotle.
Individual and State Nature
- Rational -> Ruler
- Irascible -> Warriors
- Concupiscence -> Artisans
The Social Life of Humans
The idea of man’s life is identified with their social life. The city-state was the main social life of Greece, dominating the community to the point that the life of man was not separate from the state.
The Government in the Republic
Philosophers are rulers in the ideal city because only they knew the idea of good.
Platonic Ethics
As seen in his conception of the ideal city, the goal of human life cannot be reduced to the satisfaction of material needs. Beyond these, man should be subject to a full development of his personality, according to the higher parts of his soul: the irascible and the rational, in order to achieve happiness identified with the harmony of his life.
Justice and Ethics
If justice in the city is that each social class does what it must do, justice to man also resides in every part of the soul doing what it must. This implies that the good life for man is a life in which both “material” and “spiritual” needs are met. Plato rejects in an absolute way that the body is unwarranted. The true good of mankind, happiness, must be attained through the practice of virtue.
But what is virtue? Plato basically accepts the Socratic identification between virtue and knowledge, which shows how far the idea goes. In the Republic, Plato speaks of four main virtues: wisdom, fortitude, temperance, and justice. As we have seen, he establishes a correspondence between each of the virtues and the various parts of the soul and the social classes of the ideal city. The highest part of the soul, the rational part, has its own wisdom as a virtue. Justice, that general virtue, is that each part of the soul fulfills its own function, setting the corresponding harmony in man, imposing limits or the extent to which each is to develop virtues in man. The fact that Plato has an absolute conception of the Good makes the role of the rational part of the soul remain in the organization of the practical life of man, his moral life.
Division of Plato’s Works
Youth
Socratic reflection to set values of human life, defend Socrates
Transition
After his first political failure, Plato returned to Athens with the same beliefs. He had his sixth contact with Pythagorean and Orphic dialogues. France, during that period, was markedly political. To extend his thoughts, he traveled for political reasons.
Maturity
This was Plato’s period of intellectual splendor. He wrote his most important works, “The Republic” and “The Banquet.” He developed the theory of ideas, the first Western metaphysical system (idealistic) “explanation of reality as a whole.”
Aging
Failure to practice his politics led to many questions about the fundamentals of political doctrines and laws (amending Platonic political thought) philosophy, politics, praxis.
Aristotle
A pupil of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle was born in Stagira (territory of Greece) in the year 384 BC. The son of the doctor of the king of Macedonia, Aristotle explained that his interest in physical science or biology stemmed from his upbringing. At eighteen, he went to Athens to join Plato’s Academy. The Macedonian king, Philip II, sent for him in order to raise his son and successor, Alexander. In the year 335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens and founded his own school, the Lyceum, called “peripatetic.” A year after leaving Athens, he died on the island of Euboea at the age of 62 (year 322 BC).
Aristotle’s Metaphysics
His theory is found in the text “The Metaphysics,” which is made up of twelve chapters and is not a unified thought. From Aristotle’s perspective, the fundamental objective of metaphysics is to acquire knowledge of things (wisdom). This area of philosophy is defined by Aristotle as the “science of first principles and first causes.” Wisdom, for this philosopher, is traced to the causes of events. There are two specific groups, this concept is called “hylomorphism”:
- Substances (real):
- SUBJECT (Represents the particular, which is different in all beings)
- FORM: (Represents the concept definition, this is the essence of things.)
Reflections on substance led Aristotle to distinguish two elements. If we take some particular substance, for example, a specific human being, we find something that belongs to all mankind, the concept of “man,” and peculiarities that distinguish it from others. These characteristics Aristotle called “form,” the rest is “matter.”
The Act and the Power
Being, as the essence of natural beings, is “energy” or “act,” which is the substance of this action. “Being” does not take up space but acts. The form is the act, matter is the “power.”
Movement is the shift from power to act. The question arises, how can something that is not, be? Aristotle said there are two ways of non-being. For example, the stone is not a tree, nor can it become one (absolute non-being). The seed is not a tree, but may become so (relative non-being). This makes possible the transition from non-being (relative) to being.
The Doctrine of the Four Causes
Aristotle investigates the causes acting in nature. The causes are of four types:
- Material Cause: Represented by the subject.
- Formal Cause: The structural principle according to which matter is organized.
- Efficient Cause: The agent that triggers the change by imposing a form on the subject.
- Final Cause: The goal toward which the process tends, the end that is pursued.
Theory of Substance (Ousia)
“Being is understood in many ways (substance and accident), but they all relate to one major way: the ousia (substance). Example: Socrates is mortal (substance). Socrates is 1.70m, Socrates was a friend of Plato, Socrates is a good person, Socrates is healthy, Socrates is a good teacher of oratory (these are accidents).”
Cardinal Virtues
: Justice – Fortaleza – Temperance – Prudence