Rs Ph Plato and Aristotle

• Plato was a dualist, so he believed there were two realities; World of the forms and world of appearances.
• World of the forms was the immaterial, unchanging world reached via enquiry and knowledge
• world of appearances was the physical world in a constant state of change experienced by our senses
• Plato presented the problem of change. If things surrounding us are always changing, how can we obtain true knowledge about something that will never stay the same
• Plato argues we have the innate feeling of a perfect ideal form of an object. He uses justice as an example; we recognise justice because we know it is a true concept in the world of forms
• Plato argues we recognise things for what they are only because of our knowledge from the world of forms
• Plato argues there is a hierarchy of forms and the form of good is the most important
• Plato argues that people have the innate feeling to do good from the form of good. It is ignorance which causes immorality
• Plato used his cave analogy to explain his ideas of forms
• cave analogy: People are chained in a cave since birth, they can hear only echos and see only shadows of objects. One prisoner breaks free and sees the real world and physical objects realising that reality was different for what he had known.
• Plato uses the cave analogy to illustrate the importance of questioning our senses and reality though knowledge.
• strength of plato: It allows us to understand imperfections and evils in society and is a solution to the problem of evil
• strength of plato: encourages us to question in order to learn, giving us a purpose in life
• strength of plato: Kant agreed since he argues we are wearing "rose tinted glasses" and viewing the world not as it is but as we wish it to be
• Weakness of plato: ayer argues objects are not good or bad, humans just apply emotional reaction to the object.
• Weakness of plato: Dawkins argues we gain knowledge through science and testing. We can only test physical objects, not spiritual. so the WOF is illogical.
• Weakness of plato: Stephen Law argues if we are to believe there is a perfect form of everything, there must also be a perfect form of bad things.
• Aristotle rejects plato's dualism and argues we gain knowledge from the physical world around us.
• Potentiality is the idea that everything is capable of change
• Actuality is the outcome if change occurred, the state is not definite but can be reached
• Aristotle had four causes of change; material, formal, efficient and final
• Material cause is what something is made from and its matter. For example a rat is made from blood, muscles etc.
• forms cause is the shape something has that allows identification of an object. for example, a desk is made from wood but is recognised as a desk because of the legs, the flat surface.
• Efficient cause is the process activity to make something happen. for example, a dog's cause is from the sex from the mum and dad
• Final cause is the purpose and reason for existence. for example the purpose of a mug is to contain drinks.
• Strengths of four causes: easy to understand and gives life meaning
• Strengths of four causes: Dawkins would argue material cause is logical since it is physical
• Strengths of four causes: efficient cause solves the problem of change
• weakness of four causes: Not everything is a physical material, for example love, thoughts etc
• weakness of four causes: Hume argues not everything has a efficient cause. There is not always a link between cause and effect. Bus stop analogy
• Aristotle found a way of understanding the existence of the world as a whole
• He developed the Prime Mover since something must have started the change chain but cannot have been changed itself.
• The Prime mover must be God. however, it must be something that causes change without being affected otherwise there would be incite regress
• The prime mover must be eternal, perfectly good, immaterial and causes change by attracting
• The issue with the prime mover being perfectly good is that how can something be good if it cannot do anything, it cannot think, move, because then something would have caused the prime mover to move
• Strengths of prime mover: it solves issue of the problem of change by having an initial mover.
• Strengths of prime mover: uses a god-like scenario, however religious people may not accept since god is supposed to be omnibenevolent, omnipotent and omniscient.