Plato and Aristotle Quote Comparison
Plato- “According to Plato, man is a dual creature. We have a body that ‘flows’, is inseparably bound to the world of senses, and is subject to the same fate as everything else in this world– a soap bubble, for example. All our sense are based in the body and are consequently unreliable. But we also have an immortal soul– and this soul is the realm of reason and not being physical, this soul can survey the world of ideas...Plato also believed the soul existed before it inhabited the body” (Gaarder 88).
Aristotle- “What Aristotle called the ‘form’ chicken is present in every single chicken as the chicken’s particular set characteristics– for one, that it lays eggs. The real chicken and the form chicken are thus just as inseparable as body and soul” (Gaarder 107).
In the first quote the author is talking about Plato’s beliefs. Plato looked for the immutable in our world. But unlike most of those before him, Plato believed that humans have a physical and spiritual body. The physical body can only interact with the things in the physical realm, but our soul can interact with the ream of ideas. This quote indicates that Plato believed the world of ideas and reason to be everlasting whereas our world (and more so the things in it) is subject to death and the natural cycle of life. This quote seems to relate to the basic Hindu philosophy. In Hinduism, there are also two worlds, the soul or “atma” and the physical world. Hindus, like Plato, believe that true knowledge can only come once a person has been to the other world. Both believe that the soul is perfect and knows all before it enters the body, but it loses all knowledge as it enters. In the second quote, the author is talking about Aristotle's beliefs. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believed that the physical body and the soul were inseparable. He believed that there was no spiritual world, and anything we can observe through our senses is real. This is extremely similar to an Atheistic worldview, which also
Aristotle- “What Aristotle called the ‘form’ chicken is present in every single chicken as the chicken’s particular set characteristics– for one, that it lays eggs. The real chicken and the form chicken are thus just as inseparable as body and soul” (Gaarder 107).
In the first quote the author is talking about Plato’s beliefs. Plato looked for the immutable in our world. But unlike most of those before him, Plato believed that humans have a physical and spiritual body. The physical body can only interact with the things in the physical realm, but our soul can interact with the ream of ideas. This quote indicates that Plato believed the world of ideas and reason to be everlasting whereas our world (and more so the things in it) is subject to death and the natural cycle of life. This quote seems to relate to the basic Hindu philosophy. In Hinduism, there are also two worlds, the soul or “atma” and the physical world. Hindus, like Plato, believe that true knowledge can only come once a person has been to the other world. Both believe that the soul is perfect and knows all before it enters the body, but it loses all knowledge as it enters. In the second quote, the author is talking about Aristotle's beliefs. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believed that the physical body and the soul were inseparable. He believed that there was no spiritual world, and anything we can observe through our senses is real. This is extremely similar to an Atheistic worldview, which also