Dialogue Between Plato and Aristotle

Dialogue Between Plato and Aristotle

Jonathan Frederick Bruce Ward Junior

PHI/105

August 4, 2013

Socrates’ famous student Plato, born c. 428-347 B.C.E., along with Plato’s student, Aristotle, born 384-322 B.C.E), were known for their similar interest in particular subjects but their differing beliefs, theories, and ideas.

Plato: “What is real is not what is encountered through sensory but it is what is understood intellectually.”

The theory of Forms was also known as Plato’s metaphysics in which “Forms” served as his interpretation of reality.

Plato: “We can not see nor feel ‘Forms’ for they are things that can only be experienced.”

Plato Says to Aristotle: “Let us use art for an example. Art is nothing more than an imitation of a world that has already lost its authenticity. There is only truth in intellectual gains than concrete objects. The essence of a thing is more real than the actually object itself”

Aristotle: “I’d beg to differ mentor. I feel that knowledge of truths and what is good can solely be gained through what can be observed. The truth lies in existence over essence. How can we say reality is falsified the moment it is experienced through the senses?”

Plato: “Because the physical world is merely a mockery of the universal world.” “Beauty is an example of a form.” “It is not physical beauty that one should deem authentic but the beauty that exist outside of the physical world that comes to you.”

Aristotle: “This is no universal system to which one can truly inquire about this ‘essence” “you now say beautiful is more than ‘human’ so are you saying that measuring the essence of existence is beyond human comprehension?”

Plato: “When referring back to art, there is no true substantial understanding or knowledge grasped through an object that is imitated. If an artist merely copies the surface of an object without fully understanding the essence of what they are painting, the truth of the object is removed. Artist play of the senses...