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Example research essay topic: Point Of View Plato Aristotle - 1,729 words

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Plato vs. Aristotle Comparison of two different notions of Form in the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. The philosopher Plato was the first to state about uniform, circular, completely correct movement of celestial bodies. In his works we meet for the first time the planets named after the gods completely conterminous with Babylon.

Plato was the first to formulate a problem for mathematicians: to find by means of what uniform and correct circular movements it is possible to rescue the phenomena represented by planets. In other words, Plato gave a task to construct geometrical model of the world in the centre of which, there is the Earth. (Stewart p. 3) Plato, in 387 BC, established a school of philosophy based on deduction rather than experimentation and observation. He stated that all heavenly bodies had a spherical shape and the motions in the Universe were circular. One of his pupils, Euduxos, worked out a theory of homocentric spheres. This theory was meant to give account of the positions of celestial objects.

It easily explained the motion of the stars. But the motions of planet still remained a complex question. The Sun, the Moon and the planets were regarded as the points on the surface of interconnected spheres. Earth occupied the central place. The spheres were aligned along various axes, revolving in different directions at constant speeds. Euduxos presented 27 spheres in order to explain the motions of all the celestial objects. (Stewart p. 4) Plato is the first (from writers known to us) fixed the distinction between concrete things and abstract forms.

Different people worked with abstract forms before him, for example at school of Pythagorean's. However, the texts of this school are not available. Thus far, the form of the Good must operate through some kind of soul, some process of thinking or feeling and the forms are essentially internal items in psychical process. We may have an alternating accepting of Plato by understanding of his metaphysics through the term of process. Plato's matter is that which is moved but this idea involves a puzzling dualism, since Plato used both matter and soul as things that can be moved, but with two implications of motion. Material can be actually moved and the soul is moved by deliberation joy, sorrow, confidence, fear, hatred, love and other primary movements which again receive the secondary movements of corporeal substances and guide all things. (Melchert p. 14) Really, the form of sphere is something distinct from all existing spheres.

It has special features. For example, volume of a sphere is calculated by formula V = (4 / 3) p R R R, and the area of surface by S = 4 p R R. Whatever concrete spheres we specify, these formulas were correct before the birth of the first of these spheres and will remain correct after destruction of the last of them. (Stewart p. 28) Plato formulates it in the following way: things exist temporarily, forms of things (ideas of things) exist always, before and after and irrespective of things. Where? In the soul of the world. How do concrete things appear?

The soul of the world creates them in an image of their forms. Here we see the obvious analogy with skill, reason and soul of the person. We certainly do not accept this too simple answer, we easily find out in it logic operations: "humaniform interpretation" and "scholastic abstraction." These are pseudo-answers. Correct answers are: 1. Where?

Nowhere, because there is no place for this. But existence is meaningful without place. 2. How do things appear? Every under its own laws, also it is necessary to study these laws anew every time.

But our prime interest is only the first part: things exist temporarily, forms of things (ideas of things) exist always, before and after and irrespective of things. (Stewart p. 40) Aristotle's views on astronomy and physics are implemented in Physics, Metaphysics, and De call. Unlike Plato, Aristotle built his explanations upon philosophical speculation and empirical observation. He insisted on the importance of scientific astronomy, that comprises the study and the position of celestial objects. He defined three types of motion: rectilinear, circular and mixed, accepting the idea of four basic elements by Empedocles. He insisted that sub-lunar bodies did not move in case they occupied their natural place. If these bodies are pulled from those places, they return along a straight line.

Thus, in his distinction between forced and natural motion, the idea of position was important. He didnt support the theory of vacuum, so motion could be possible only in resisting medium. He concluded that the speed of body was proportional to the pushing or pulling force acting on it and inversely proportional to the resistance of the medium. He also supposed that the speed of falling object would be proportional to its weight and it would be increased in the process of moving. (Stewart p. 50) Aristotle thought the universe was spherical, finite and he held the Earth to occupy the central place of it.

He thought that the Universe was complete without anything outside it. He gave the symmetrical reasons for the idea that the Earth is spherical: all objects that fall on it fall from every direction. He also found that the size of the Earth was relatively small, since in case of traveling in the north direction, as well as in the south direction, the layout of stars changes a little. Aristotle wrote, This indicates not only that the Earth's mass is spherical in shape, but also that as compared with the stars it is of no great size. His estimation of the Earths size was the earliest known and is comparatively accurate. (Stewart p. 51) With Aristotle that we get the most deep Ancient analysis of this material of the world, that Aristotle called substance.

In the Categories and Metaphysics, Aristotle presents a notion of substance, one that was seldom met in the Western tradition. For Aristotle, the basic determinants of substance are of quantity, quality, relationship, and place. Every free term indicates substance or quantity or quality or relationship to something or place or time or posture or state or doing of something or the undergoing of something. (Melchert 15) Aristotle's type of substance is a mix of form and matter. Matter, states Aristotle, cannot alone be substance since a substance must be separable or of independent existence.

It [matter] owes what uniqueness it has to the substance it is the matter of. (Melchert 15) In Metaphysics, Aristotle states that an entity is conceptually primary if it is a definable unity, that is, if it is definable simply in terms of itself and without reference to entities that are prior to it. (Melchert 15) Form also cannot alone be substance, for what would have the form or essence other than some matter? According to Aristotle things are primary, forms of things are secondary. We take forms of things out of things and we keep them within the limits of our reason. Notice, that 1.

The opinions of Aristotle and Plato are opposite, mutually exclusive and apparently compile full group of events. That is one of two is true and only one. 2. Opinion of Aristotle is false, opinion of Plato is true (in its first part marked out by us) we will show it below. But it's not over yet. 3. If the business is so simple why does the opposition of these two systems exist so long, changing only a terminology and stresses, appearing before either as "materialism and idealism", or as "nominalism and realism"; either as "empiricism and rationalism", or as "phenomenological and theoretical"? That is whether it is time to stop this dispute, having awarded the winner and having expelled the defeated? (Stewart p. 55) First it is necessary to prove that Plato is right: If every time we took the form of sphere out of concrete sphere where are the guarantees, what the volume of it of "extracted ideal sphere" always would be counted by the same formula?

There are no such guarantees. It means that, those who adhere to the point of view of Aristotle should forbid mathematics, as not giving any guarantees. And those who allow mathematics should recognize defeat of Aristotle. (Stewart p. 61) But why does not the position of Aristotle disappear? The matter is not only in objective visibility.

The matter is that though abstract forms exist before, after and irrespectively of concrete things and though their independent (from concrete things) study has absolute value (Plato is right), we may define without studying concrete things which study of abstract forms is not useful to us in the nearest hundred years and what should wait. Here Aristotle is again right. Without concrete things study, study of mathematics threatens to appear the waste of resources. (Stewart p. 63) However the nearest hundred years is an extensible thing. I will give only one example when "the useless area of mathematics" appeared super profitable branch of business. This is fast construction of tasks which cannot be solved quickly.

Why do we need such tasks? They are necessary to cipher the message quickly and guarantee that the extraneous person can not decipher it quickly. Aristotle's idea of form, and not Plato's, is the one that has passed through ages. Hargrove states that Aristotelian-style philosophy gradually overshadowed the earlier Platonism By stating that matter and form did not themselves change at either level, Aristotle successfully produced a convincing explanation of transform that did not breach Parmenides point of view that absolute change was impossible. Marie Louise Gills study of what she calls the paradox of unity in Aristotle suggests that a fresh interpretation of substance and the relation between matter and form is possible. The harmony of material substances, she says, thus involves a dynamic relation between resistant materials and directive ends.

Possibly, Aristotle understood that the idea of material was not clearly a separation of location or place of an object in space. There was much more to the idea of substance. (Melchert 15) Despite the fact that many statements of the Plato/Aristotle doctrine were then argued and found wrong, it is not forgotten or overlooked up to now. Bibliography Stewart, Julia, On the Problem of Philosophic Learning, New York, 2002 Normal Melchert The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy (4 th edition). Oxford University Press.


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Research essay sample on Point Of View Plato Aristotle

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