Plato, Aristotle and Descartes Essay

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the low the squ atomic number 18 tragedy of support is when hands are afraid of the light, Plato said. Studying noesis is any(prenominal)thing philosophers control been doing for as long as doctrine has been just about. People always make out a line righteous a part of things around the serviceman. They need an open judging to go out more(prenominal) deep and wise into the institution. Its one of those perennial topics that philosophy has been refining since before the clock time of Plato. The discipline is know as epistemology which comes from ii Greek words episteme which means acquaintance and logos which means a word or reason.Epistemology liter altogethery means to reason about cognition. Epistemologists try what makes up knowledge, what kinds of things can we know, what are the limits to what we can know, and unconstipated if its manage subject to actually know any(prenominal)thing at all. In fact, people al ways see entirely a part of things around the world. They need an open bear in mind to understand more deep and wise into the world. Plato becomes increasingly discourage by both the mob and the elite. The mob, represented by the jury at Socrates trial, was irrational and dangerous it was swayed by sophistic appeals to emotion, non by reason.Plato conclude that almost people are unfit by training and readiness to make the difficult and necessary decision that would result in a just society. The average person lacks wisdom and self-restraint. As Plato saw things, most people make emotional responses based on desire and sentiment, kinda than on rational consideration stemming from an objective view of what is genuinely comput fitted for the individual society. Socratess death, the revolt of the Thirty, sophistic abuses, and other factors convinced Plato that a corrupt state produces corrupt citizens.He thus attempted to puzzle a theory of knowledge that could refute sophistic skepticism and chaste relativism. Plato believed that if he could identify and articulate the difference between immaculate sight and genuine knowledge, it would wherefore be possible to identify the structure of an noble-minded state based on knowledge and lawfulness rather than the mere appearance of legality and personal whim. The allegory of the cave is an example for this from Plato. The prisoners (un adapted to warp their heads) would know nothing else only if the shadows, and perceive this as their own heartyity.This is an authorised development to the story because it shows us that what we perceive as real from give is completely false based on our imperfect interpretations of reality and Goodness. Plato expresses another(prenominal) of his favorite heads that education is not a process of putting knowledge into empty minds, but of making people realize that which they already know. This model that truth is somehow embedded in our minds was also powerfully im portant for many centuries. In Platos world, reality is not conceived through with(predicate) the moxies, but rather intelligible truths of reality in the forms of ideas and figures, as opposed to the ocular world.In The Allegory of the Cave, Plato describes the physical world as a dark place in which tenders can only perceive objects through the senses. Plato referred to these objects as phenomena, or weak forms of reality. Thus, the physical world is not a realm where gays can obtain knowledge of consecutive reality. Plato describes the process of acquiring knowledge from darkness to the light. In this journey, benignants are able to see the essence of truth, or in other words, they are able to gain an understanding of what is actually real.This process, though painful and distressing, will at the end offer freedom and enlightenment to those who have acquire knowledge. triumph is achieved by gaining an understanding of what is actually real. Because the philosopher has kno wledge, his task is to descend to the cave to uphold as many people as possible to gain knowledge, or in other words, to learn the truth. This doesnt convince me because science involves the interestingness of knowledge of general truths by victimisation observation and systematic experimentation. However, Plato did not count on a philosopher should use observation or empirical investigating in golf club to come about truth.He believed only abstract persuasion could lead to true knowledge. Plato said that the very essence of knowledge is unchanging. What is true is always true and he thought that knowledge is subjective I suss out about there are some absolute truth but I think we learn knowledge by hear not only by innate knowledge. Along with his teacher Plato, Aristotle is largely regarded as one of the most Influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, including political theory. What Plato believed about reality was very contrary from Aristotles ideology.Aristotle objected to Platos view, arguing that one cannot know the type of rudimentary interaction which is occurring between the ii Forms. If the real or ideal forms are eternal, fine and unchanging then how do they relate to the material objections or Forms on earth with all their physical imperfections? This participation or imitation liaison between the real and the imaginary (which Plato claimed existed) is erroneous sentiment as no one can has established such a link real or otherwise. And even if a link is established it fails to explain all the Forms in the material world.At some point Plato fails to explain how this great Form was controlled- how can Form control things? Was there energy in Forms? Aristotle argued that form can be distinguished from content only in thought and never in fact. Aristotle warned that we essential take care not to mistake intellectual analysis for ontological status. Aristotle accused Plato of doing just that by imputing actual existence to the Forms. For Aristotle, form exists within the natural order embedded in particular things and cannot exist independently. How does this criticism support Aristotles own metaphysics?Aristotle brings to full due date a second major human face of the search for the good life attempting to acquire facts without bias and then using that information to make this a dampen world. Aristotle stands alone as an example of the philosophical naturalist. Basically Naturalism is the belief that reality consists of natural world. The natural scientists universe is ordered in that everything in it follows un divergentiated and ascertainable laws of nature everything can be understood in footing of those fundamental laws. Nothing exists outside of space and time.Nature always acts with a purpose, and the rudimentary to understand anything lies in determining its essential purpose. Philosophical naturalist get over the existence of a separate supernatural order of reality. Th ey believe that human beings, although special, are part of the natural order and behave according to frosty laws and principles. Thus a clear understanding of nature is necessary to any clear conception of human behavior. Ethics and political (social) science must be based on the actual facts of life, carefully observed and cool by a scientific method not on speculative, otherworldly, rationalistic schemes.Aristotle based his philosophical positions on scrutiny of particular, actual things, not on the isolated contemplation of mathematical laws or pure ideas. Aristotle brings to full maturity a second major approach to the study of the good life collecting facts and using factual information to make this a better world. Naturalism is the belief that reality consists of the natural world and that the universe is ordered. Everything follows consistent and discoverable laws of nature and can be described in terms of fundamental laws.Aristotle has a variety of views that range from nature to ethics and has memorable take on mathematics. He gives me the impression that the laws of nature are the boundaries in which we live and our meaning of life evolves around this boundary.I believe, there are some sort of absolute truths or knowledge but when we get knowledge we get most of knowledge through our experience. Descartes suggests the viewpoint that the human personate and the human mind are two completely different things with different functions. The viewpoint is called Dualism, and holds that both the physical world and the immaterial world exist. Dualism is based on two substances, which are mind and matter.Descartes explained that these two does not necessarily need one another to exist. Descartes doubts everything he was taught to believe because it is human tendency to believe what is false. In the beginning, he claims that most of what he believes is from his senses and that those senses are sometimes deceived. He wasnt uncomfortable with the idea that there isnt universal knowledge. He was the first to argue that the mind is a non-material entity which is straightforward and separate from the brain. He also identified the mind with concepts such as self-awareness and self-consciousness.He emphasized the sharp division between the mind and the embody as the most basic fact of our human existence. In Descartes Dualism, the body is considered to be a material substance, and the mind is considered to be an immaterial one. He suggests that although these two things combine to make a human being, but these two parts exist in two separate worlds. The body exists in the physical world, where all the objects that we can see and touch exist. While the mind exists in a different world, an immaterial one, where we are not able to see or feel. Descartes establishes the Conceivability argument to support his viewpoint.I think therefore I am, the well-known quote of Rene Descartes, is the basis of his theory known as dualism. The interminglin g of mind and body or extended substance and thinking substance display Descartes ideas of a genuine human being. Descartes idea of the body being totally independent of the mind is known as the mechanistic view. Descartess interest in the thinking thing itself was the first major step in a shift in strain in modern philosophy from metaphysics to epistemology. He recognized the need for nifty thinking, which he called method.He employed methodic doubt in his effort to find one absolute certain and undoubtable idea. Having found an undoubtable truth, Descartes tried to spend a penny a reliable foundation for knowledge on the innate idea of God. For Plato and Descartes mathematics becomes the blueprint for all knowledge. Mathematical knowledge remains true irrespective of time, place and circumstances. This is un resembling inductive knowledge or matters of fact whose truth depends on time, place and circumstances. On this basis Plato and Descartes reject our sense of sight, tinct ure and touch as providing any source of reliable knowledge.Both Descartes and Plato would agree that true knowledge is a priori. Basically this means that knowledge is innate and therefore prior to experience. If we take this innate knowledge we can build or expand on it to discover what Plato and Descartes could classify as final truths. acquaintance is a root of many challenges we face in a given day. Once you get past basic survival (though even things as basic as finding enough food and tax shelter involves challenges related to knowledge), were confronted with knowledge issues on almost every front.Knowledge questions range from larger, more weighty questions like figuring out who our real friends are, what to do with our career, or how to spend our time, what politician to vote for, how to spend or invest our money, should we be religious or not, to more mundane ones like which gear to buy for our hobby, how to solve a dispute between the kids, where to go for dinner, or wh ich book to read in your free time. We make knowledge decisions all day, every day and some of those decisions deeply impact our lives and the lives of those around us.I think I learned much more by these theory, do not say you know all the world, using our talented to understanding more about the world, and then do not fall apart doubting get make ourselves much more better in future. The knowledge is unlimited, so we could learn a lot every day, then using it for our own good and pass it out for our next times because knowledge is never old or too much, it could use time by time and always work. People could say that some of the knowledge is too old for the present and they have been use times by times, and always work even though it from centuries.I think the world is big, get to know it will help us have a better look about everything. It is amazing that we could use our own sense to organize everything about our life and get experience by it. inquisitive is as same as givin g us a circumstances to understanding more about the world we are living in, than we have a courage to know about it much more better. Gaining more knowledge is never too much, getting it from our teacher your friend is some of the simple ways to understanding more about our life in specific and the world in general. Work Cited . Aristotle . Internaet encyclopaedia of Philosophy.IEP , 21 2005. Web. 3 Nov 2012. Gill, N. S.. Plato Greek Philosopher. Ancient / Classical History. About. com. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . Greek Philosopher Plato. AllAboutPhilosophy. org. AllAboutPhilosophy. org. Web. 3 Nov 2012 . Plato. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Richard Kraut. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . Plato. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Richard Kraut , 16 2011. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . Plato. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP, 9 2009. Web. 3 Nov 2012. Shields, Christopher. Aristotle. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Christopher Shields, 25 2008. Web. 3 Nov 2012.