Comparing and contrasting Aristotle and Plato (Essay Sample)

Contrasting and Comparing Plato and Aristotle by Student's Name Date Contrasting and Comparing Plato and Aristotle Plato and Aristotle are, without any shred of doubt, two of the most influential philosophers of history. It would suffice to argue that Plato's philosophical teachings were, to a large extent, influenced by his teacher, Socrates. By a stroke of philosophical edema, Aristotle became Plato's pupil. Consequently, the philosophic theories, which were originally conceived by Socrates, were passed on to Plato and then to Aristotle. In such a scenario, it would be alluring to entertain the idea that the teachings of Aristotle would resemble those of his predecessor and teacher, Plato. However, this could not be farther from the truth. Pursuant to Schofield, both Plato and Aristotle centered their suppositions on four widely acknowledged convictions of the time; acquaintance must be of what is factual, the world experienced through the brain is what is actual, awareness must be of what is permanent and invariable, and the world experienced through the senses is not permanent nor is it invariable (31). These four points of view presented an arguable paradox to the two philosophers. On one hand, Plato rejected the idea that the world felt through the brain is what is factual while, on the other hand, Aristotle contested the notion that acquaintance must be of what is fixed and static. The above paradox proved to be the major bone of contention between the two renowned philosophers. Nevertheless, Plato and Aristotle attempted to overcome their differences by employing their own definitions of the term ‘form' (Mayhew 59). Pursuant to the two philosophers, the term ‘form' expressed the universality of classification. However, despite their seemingly similar interpretations of the word ‘form,' Plato's definition alludes that some objects are only rudimentary depictions of their forms. In order to substantiate the efficacy of his allusion, Plato used Helen of Troy's beauty to exemplify its factualness as well as its variableness. Plato was obsessed with the idea of creating a perfect society whilst Aristotle was more concerned with deducing methods that ...