Plato and Aristotle: Detailed Notes

• Who was Heraclitus?

  An ancient Greek philosopher
• What did Heraclitus believe about the world?

  The world is in a state of constant change
• What phrase did Heraclitus famously say?

  A person never steps in the same river twice
• How did Plato interpret Heraclitus' challenge?

  It challenges the possibility of gaining knowledge
• What is Plato's conclusion regarding knowledge from experience?

  True knowledge cannot be gained empirically
• What does Plato suggest we rely on for knowledge?

  A priori reason alone
• How does Aristotle differ from Plato regarding knowledge?

  He believes knowledge can be gained from experience
• What does Plato think about our perception of the world?

  We are trapped in ignorance and see imperfect things
• What does Plato call the true reality?

  The world of forms
• What are particulars according to Plato?

  Imperfect representations of the forms
• How does Plato illustrate his theory of forms?

  Through the allegory of the cave
• What do the prisoners in Plato's cave represent?

  People trapped in ignorance
• What do the shadows on the wall symbolize?

  The objects we experience in reality
• What happens when a prisoner escapes the cave?

  He sees the real world and the forms
• What does Plato believe about experience?

  It involves mere shadows of the real
• How does Aristotle criticize Plato's theory of forms?

  It lacks empirical evidence
• What does Aristotle think about the necessity of Plato's forms?

  They are an unnecessary hypothesis
• What is Aristotle's view on the relationship between forms and change?

  Forms cannot explain the change we experience
• What is the principle similar to Ockham's razor in Aristotle's criticism?

  Do not believe unnecessarily complicated explanations
• What is Aristotle's empirical theory called?

  The four causes
• What does the form of the Good represent in Plato's analogy?

  It illuminates and nourishes existence
• What does understanding the form of the Good enable?

  It makes it impossible to do wrong
• What are higher forms according to Plato?

  Aspects of goodness like justice and beauty
• What are lower forms in Plato's hierarchy?

  Forms of phenomena we experience
• What does Aristotle argue about the cause of immorality?

  It requires cultivating virtue
• How does Nietzsche view Plato's form of the Good?

  As a dangerous error
• What does Aristotle think about the unified form of goodness?

  It doesn't fit with our experience
• What is the third man argument against Plato's theory?

  It leads to infinite regress of forms
• How does Plato respond to the third man argument?

  Forms cannot partake of anything but themselves
• What is the argument from recollection?

  Knowledge of perfect concepts is innate
• What does Plato conclude about the source of knowledge?

  It must be a priori
• What is anamnesis in Plato's theory?

  The process of re-remembering forms
• What does Plato believe about the world of particulars?

  It is a vague shadow of the true reality
• What does Aristotle's theory of the four causes explain?

  Change in the universe
• What are the four causes according to Aristotle?

  Material, formal, efficient, final cause
• What is the material cause of a chair?

  What it is made of
• What is the formal cause of a chair?

  Its essence or defining characteristic
• What is the efficient cause of a chair?

  Whoever made it
• What is the final cause of a chair?

  To be sat on
• How does Aristotle view the relationship between form and things?

  Form cannot be separated from things