Chapter 2: RealityTwo Kinds of Metaphysics:

Plato and AristotleIntroducing Philosophy, 10th edition

Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Higgins, and Clancy Martin

Plato (427-347 B.C.E.)

• Born into a family of wealth and political power

• In Athens, influenced by Socrates; turned his talents to philosophy

• Conceived of a “philosopher-king,” the ideal wise ruler, who certainly did not exist in Athens

• Disillusioned by Socrates’ execution, devoted his life to continuing his work

• Set up the Academy for this purpose and spent the rest of his life teaching there

• First set down his reminiscences of Socrates’ life and death: using the dialogue form, with Socrates as his mouthpiece, he extended Socrates’ thought into entirely new areas, notably metaphysics and the theory of knowledge

• Plato incorporated a theory of morality into his metaphysics and politics, particularly in The Republic

• Saw ethics as part of politics and the good life for the individual, in terms of the strength and harmony of the society

• In The Republic, Plato argues against the various views of selfishness and hedonism that would interfere

• Virtue, he argues, is the harmony of the individual soul as well as the harmony of the individual within the society

• Since we have nothing from Socrates himself, it is difficult to know how much is original Plato and how much is transcribed Socrates

• Predicate: that which is asserted or denied of a thing, which refers to a property of things; familiar predicates would be “is red,” “is an animal”

The Forms• Sometimes referred to as Ideas: ideal forms

or perfect examples, the perfect circle or perfect beauty

• Forms are the ultimate reality, and they are eternal and unchanging

• Plato posits two worlds, the world of being (where the forms are located) and the world of becoming (where we live, the world that is always changing)

• Our only access to the world of being is through our reason and our capacity for intellectual thought

The Myth of the Cave

• Our world is like a set of shadows of the real world

• It is not an illusion• It is a mere imitation of the bright

originals

Forms as Definitions• Two horses have in common the Form

horse, and you recognize them each as a horse because they share the Form of horse. Each individual horse “participates” in the Form of horse

• Forms also explain how we know things outside of experience; e.g., each horse is also an animal

• But participation is a notoriously unclear notion, unless it means just “member of the class”

• Aristotle will attack Plato here

The Meno

• Because we cannot learn what Forms are from experience, Plato argues that knowledge of the Forms is innate

• Our bridge between the two worlds is the immortality of the soul

• The example of the slave boy is what Socrates uses to demonstrate our innate knowledge of the Forms

Immaterialist Conception of Reality

• The Forms exist independently of the material world

• The truth of triangles is not contained in any particular triangle

• Imperfection of a drawn triangle distinguishes it from the Form of triangle

• Plato believed that beauty, justice, and the good have Forms

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)

• One of the greatest Western philosophers, born in northern Greece (Stagira); father was the physician to Philip, king of Macedonia

• Was to tutor Philip’s son, Alexander the Great

• For eighteen years, a student in Plato’s Academy, where he learned and parted from Plato’s views

• Turned to the study of biology, and many of his theories ruled Western science until the Renaissance

• Was with Alexander until 335 B.C.E., when he returned to Athens to set up his own school, the Lyceum

• After Alexander’s death, the anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens forced Aristotle to flee

• Virtually created the sciences of logic and linguistics, developed extravagant theories in physics and astronomy, and made significant contributions to metaphysics, ethics, politics, and aesthetics

• Metaphysics is still a basic text on the subject

• Nicomachean Ethics codified ancient Greek morality; stresses individual virtue and excellence

• The best life of all is the life of contemplation, the life of a philosopher, for it is the most self-contained and the “closest to the gods”

• Such contemplation must be together with the pleasures of life, honor, wealth, and virtuous action

Aristotle’s Attack

• Plato never explained the relationship between the Forms and particular things

• Aristotle argued that the notion of participation is empty

Substance

• Substance is that which stands alone• It is independent being; a horse, a

tree, and a human are all substances • Secondary substances are what

Aristotle called the species and genus to which a thing belongs, and these are less real

• He also claimed that forms are real but that they cannot exist independently of the particular substance

Descriptions of substance:1. A substance is the thing that is

referred to by a noun2. Substance is what underlies all of

the properties and changes in something. For example, you look different than you did when you were five, but you are still the same person

3. Substance is what is essential

Teleology• Universe and all things in it have a

purpose• Four causes:

1. Material cause: the matter that makes it up

2. Formal cause: the principle or law by which it is made

3. Efficient cause: the person or event that actually makes something happen by doing something

4. Final cause: the purpose of the thing; on this account, everything has a purpose, not just things that are alive but also rocks, the stars, and even the universe

Prime Mover

• Aristotle argues that teleological explanations cannot go on forever (also called an infinite regress) but that there is some ultimate purpose that explains all of the other purposes

• The universe itself must have a purpose, a “prime mover” that Aristotle characterizes as “pure thought, thinking about itself”