King,  MWH    

Greek  Philosophers  Comparison    Step  1:    Read  through  the  “Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle”  article.    (Note:  This  is  not  an  easy  

article,  do  your  best  and  read  sections  a  few  times,  as  needed)  As  you  go:    • Circle  new  words  or  terms-­‐  define  these  in  the  margins    • Highlight  philosopher’s  names  • Underline  the  main  ideas  of  each  philosopher  

 Step  2:  Read  through  the  “Greek  Philosophy”  article,  which  is  at  the  end  of  this  packet  (This  

should  help  clarify  the  first  article)  As  you  go:    • Circle  new  words  or  terms-­‐  define  these  in  the  margins  • Underline  the  main  ideas  of  each  philosopher  

Step  3:    Use  both  articles  to  complete  the  Greek  Philosophers  comparison  chart.  You  may  also  use  the  textbook.  In  each  box  you  should  LIST  and  DESCRIBE  (meaning  that  you  need  to  write  more  than  a  few  words).    

 Socrates,  Plato  and  Aristotle:  What  Were  They  Thinking?  

 By:  Ronda  Bowen  •  edited  by:  Donna  Cosmato  •  updated:  7/12/2012  

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-­‐homework-­‐help/122533-­‐philosophy-­‐of-­‐socrates-­‐plato-­‐and-­‐aristotle/  

 Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle  were  among  the  greatest  minds  that  have  lived  in  Western  Civilization.  The  three  are  responsible  for  shaping  society,  as  we  know  it.  However,  it's  important  to  note  that  the  three  believed  different  things  -­‐  and  that  we  should  keep  them  separate  in  our  minds.  

 Ancient  Pre-­‐Socratic  Philosophy  Philosophy  literally  means  "love  of  wisdom."  Philia  is  the  Greek  word  for  "love"  and  sophia  is  the  Greek  word  for  "wisdom."  The  ancient  Greeks  were  no  strangers  to  the  love  of  wisdom,  and  they  offered  a  logos  -­‐  an  account  -­‐  of  what  they  believed  the  world  to  be  made  up  of.    Philosophy  can  be  broken  into  at  least  four  main  divisions:  

• Value  theory  (what's  right  or  wrong,  what's  the  best  political  system,  what  does  it  mean  to  be  a  good  person).  

• Knowledge  theory  (also  known  as  epistemology  -­‐  pronounced  ee-­‐pist-­‐ehm-­‐ah-­‐oh-­‐gee),  it  is  the  study  of  what  we  can  know,  what  it  means  to  say  something  is  true,  and  whether  we  can  have  certainty.  

• Reality  theory  (also  known  as  metaphysics  -­‐  what  sort  of  stuff  the  world  made  up  of,  what  does  it  mean  to  say  something  is  'real',  how  do  objects  exist  through  time  and  space).  

• Critical  thinking  (how  can  we  evaluate  arguments,  under  what  circumstances  if  we  have  two  true  sentences  can  we  say  a  third  is  true,  how  do  we  categorize  things).  

     The  ancient  Greeks  were  very  interested  in  these  topics.  Thales,  often  credited  with  being  the  first  Greek  philosopher,  believed  that  everything  was  made  up  of  water.  Democritus,  another  Greek  philosopher  believed  that  the  world  was  broken  up  into  

King,  MWH  atoms  -­‐  but  he  used  "atom"  a  bit  differently  than  modern  physicists  use  the  term.  He  was  responding  to  another  Greek  philosopher,  Parmenides.  Parmenides  offered  the  theory  that  there  only  "is  being"  and  we  cannot  speak  of  "not  being."                                                                      In  order  to  resolve  some  of  the  problems  this  theory  created,  Democritus  argued  that  we  could  break  up  all  of  the  stuff  of  the  universe  into  indivisible  parts  called  atoms.  Atoms  then  filled  the  void.    Pythagoras,  another  philosopher,  inspired  Socrates  and  others.  Pythagoras  was  a  heavy  influence  on  the  mathematics  we  use,  even  today.  However,  he  also  believed  that  mathematics  offered  some  insight  into  spiritual  matters.  Because  of  this,  many  debate  whether  we  can  legitimately  call  Pythagoras  a  mathematician;  some  argue  that  he's  a  cosmologist.  Even  so,  his  influence  on  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle  has  left  a  mark  even  today.          

     Socrates  -­‐  Athens'  "Gadfly"    When  you  compare  the  philosophical  views  of  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  it's  important  to  distinguish  the  historical  Socrates  from  Plato's  Socrates.  You  see,  Socrates  did  not  write  anything  himself.  Instead,  Plato  chronicled  Socrates'  life  using  dialogues.  When  you  read  most  of  Plato's  work,  you  will  notice  that  it  looks  a  lot  like  a  play.  As  time  went  on  after  Socrates'  death,  Plato's  Socrates  was  less  like  the  historical  Socrates,  and  more  like  Plato.  The  historical  Socrates  was  written  about  by  another  Greek,  Xenophan.  Many  scholars  believe  that  Plato's  death  of  Socrates  dialogues  -­‐  Apology,  Crito,  Phaedo,  and  Euthyphro  -­‐  were  more  accurate  in  depicting  the  historical  Socrates  than  some  of  the  other  works.  What  we  know  about  Socrates  is  that  he  was  heavily  influenced  by  Pythagoras,  he  was  a  monotheist  -­‐  which  created  accusations  of  heresy  by  other  Greeks  -­‐  and  he  was  executed  by  the  Greeks  for  being  a  menace  to  society.  The  accusations  the  Greek  council  charged  him  with  included  that  he  was  corrupting  the  youth.  In  the  Apology,  we  are  given  the  phrase  "know  thyself"  and  we  find  that  Socrates  believes  himself  to  be  the  wisest  man  in  Athens  because  he  knows  that  he  does  not  know  anything.  While  earlier  philosophers  often  focused  upon  metaphysics,  Socrates  was  also  concerned  with  knowledge  as  well  as  value  theories.  Plato  often  presents  Socrates  in  situations  where  he's  trying  to  find  out  what  something  means.  For  example,  in  Euthyphro,  he  asks  a  question  like  "Is  piety  good  because  the  gods  like  it  or  do  the  gods  like  it  because  it  is  good?"  It's  hard  to  say  what  Socrates  actually  believed  because  we  only  have  the  writings  of  those  who  were  friends  with  him.  In  addition  to  Xenophan's  Apology,  we  also  find  a  comic  look  at  Socrates  in  Aristophanes'  play,  the  Clouds.  It  is  from  these  three  sources  -­‐  Xenophan,  Plato,  and  Aristophanes,  that  we  know  what  we  do  about  Socrates.            Plato  -­‐  Athens'  Philosophical  Writer  Plato  was  concerned,  even  more  than  Socrates  (so  scholars  believe)  with  metaphysics,  epistemology,  and  value  theory.  Scholars  distinguish  between  the  early  Plato  -­‐  closer  to  the  beliefs  of  Socrates  -­‐  and  the  later  Plato  -­‐  closer  to  his  own  beliefs  -­‐  within  the  dialogues.    Plato  was  very  concerned  with  ideas.  In  fact,  we  call  him  an  idealist  because  of  his  theory  of  the  forms.  The  theory  of  the  forms,  in  a  very  basic  sense,  involves  the  notion  that  the  world  of  ideas,  or  forms,  is  more  real  than  the  world  of  things.  This  might  seem  very  complicated.    Imagine  for  a  moment  your  favorite  pet.  I  have  three  cats:  LuLu,  Stripes,  and  Lady.  These  cats  are  all  very  different  from  one  another,  yet,  I  still  can  

King,  MWH  call  each  a  cat.  The  reason  I  can  call  each  a  cat  is  that  each  has  certain  features  that  exhibit  the  qualities  of  cat-­‐ness.  None  of  the  three  cats  is  "cat-­‐ness"  itself.  Instead,  they  each  "participate"  in  the  form  of  "cat."  LuLu  is  small  and  orange.  Lady  is  large  and  Siamese.  Stripes  is  orange  and  fat.  Thus,  the  idea  of  cat-­‐ness,  or  the  form  of  "cat"  is  more  real  and  accurate  than  any  of  the  three  cats  who  hang  out  with  me  while  I  write.            

       

 Aristotle's  Groundings  in  "Reality"    In  the  picture  above,  you'll  see  Plato  pointing  upwards  towards  the  heavens.  However,  you'll  notice  that  Aristotle  is  holding  his  hands  out  in  front  of  him.  As  much  as  Plato  loved  idealism,  Aristotle  loved  realism.    Aristotle  was  more  concerned  with  the  way  things  are,  in  the  world.  A  lot  of  his  writings  on  metaphysics,  politics,  and  ethics  come  from  observation  rather  than  reason  and  deduction.  In  fact,  Aristotle  began  working  with  logic  (unfortunately,  he  was  a  bit  off  from  time  to  time,  and  some  blame  him  for  the  "dark  ages.")  Aristotle  turned  many  philosophers'  beliefs  that  the  sun  and  not  the  Earth  was  the  center  of  the  universe  on  its  head  -­‐  and  argued  that  the  Earth  was  the  center  of  the  universe  -­‐  a  belief  that  was  responsible  for  the  death  of  Galileo  in  the  1600s.    Whereas  Plato  wrote  in  dialogues,  Aristotle's  writings  read  more  like  lecture  notes.  They're  incomplete  in  a  lot  of  cases,  and  they're  not  as  engaging  as  Plato's  works  were.  During  the  Medieval  times,  however,  Plato's  works  were  lost  but  Aristotle's  survived.  Perhaps  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Aristotle  was  Alexander  the  Great's  teacher,  but  scholars  have  a  variety  of  theories  for  this  including  the  fact  that  Aristotle's  work  fit  more  closely  with  Christianity  than  did  Plato's  and  Aristotle  influenced  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  and  St.  Augustine,  the  philosophers  associated  with  the  Catholic  church.    Whatever  the  reasoning  behind  it,  it's  interesting  to  see  how  

King,  MWH  much  of  Plato's  theories  are  turned  on  their  heads.  Aristotle  might  have  believed  that  LuLu,  Stripes,  and  Lady  might  all  belong  to  the  category  of  "cats"  but  that  they  are  certainly  all  more  real  than  "cat-­‐ness,"  which  is  an  abstract  category  we  have  assigned  to  them.          

     Will  the  Real  Building  Please  Stand  Up?    Socrates  would  probably  have  been  the  most  concerned  with  determining  what  made  a  square  a  square  or  what  makes  a  building  a  building.  (Does  your  brain  hurt  yet?)  He  was  interested,  at  least  from  what  can  be  determined  from  historical  references,  in  raising  questions.    Plato  would  have  believed  that  squares  were  closer  to  reality  than  were  buildings  that  exhibited  square  shapes.  In  Republic,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  argues  that  the  artist  is  removed  from  reality  by  four  steps.  First,  there  is  the  idea  of  the  building,  as  it  exists,  in  God's  mind.  Then,  there  is  the  idea  of  the  building  as  it  exists  in  the  artist's  mind.  Third,  there  is  the  building  as  it  exists,  imperfectly  in  nature  as  the  artist  sees  it.  Finally,  the  building  drawn  by  the  artist  -­‐  not  even  approximating  the  ideal  square  -­‐  is  the  least  removed  from  reality.    Contrast  this  to  Aristotle.  Instead  of  starting  with  the  ideal  building,  Aristotle  would  look  around  in  the  world,  at  the  real  buildings  and  begin  his  investigation  there.  He  would  then  investigate  the  things  that  caused  this  to  be  there.  For  Aristotle,  there  were  four  causes:  

• Material  cause  -­‐  the  stuff  of  which  a  thing  is  made  (for  a  building  the  steel  and  concrete)  

• Formal  cause  -­‐  how  the  thing  is  arranged  (the  way  the  building  is  constructed,  its  participation  in  "building-­‐ness")  

• Efficient  cause  -­‐  how  that  thing  came  to  be  (the  builder  of  the  building)  

• Final  cause  -­‐  the  purpose  of  the  thing  (the  building  provides  shelter  from  the  elements)  

     For  Aristotle,  these  four  causes  make  up  the  reality  of  the  object  -­‐  this  is  in  sharp  contrast  to  Plato's  beliefs.  It's  difficult  to  say  who  was  "more  right."  People  tend  to  be  divided  between  Plato  or  Aristotle.  What  is  important  is  that  from  this  example  -­‐  looking  at  the  metaphysical  beliefs  of  the  three  philosophers  -­‐  you  can  see  how  they  are  different  from  one  another.  It's  up  to  you  to  determine  whose  argument  is  more  convincing.              References  Jowitt, The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Barnes, The Complete Works of Aristotle. Ronda Roberts has a B.A., honors philosophy from CSU, Chico and an M.A. philosophy from Northern Illinois University. In addition, she has 21 units of doctoral work under her belt in philosophy from Michigan State University. Her undergraduate honors thesis was on Plato and Kant, and her graduate work includes two Plato seminars. Death of Socrates Jacques-Louis David by Unknown under Public Domain The School of Athens Raphael by Raffaello Sanzio (1483 - 1520) under Public Domain