Philosophy Midterm

1. Plato in his distinction of knowledge, he tries to state that philosophers ought to be the only rulers. He argues that philosophers have vast amount of knowledge and this is since one can have knowledge of forms. He goes on to bring out two distinction of knowledge of belief and ignorance.

Plato believes that knowledge has to have two qualities, that is perfect and be unquestionable. If at any moment there arises doubt then knowledge cannot exists. Additionally, knowledge has to be eternal. Through this, it will not change (Lacewing, 2). From this, it is acquired that perfection is hard to achieve or eternity hence one cannot have knowledge but just an opinion or belief.

Contrastingly, the form acquired is described as the perfect eternal element. Hence it cannot be seen in our physical world but just in the intelligent setting. One cannot see it using senses but the mind. He supports this by stating that if knowledge is at one side and ignorance in the other side, then opinion is in the middle. A good example being beauty.

Plato has made use of dialogue instead of prose in most of his works. This makes it possible for most vital points that he wants to put across to be brought forward. A reader has to meet the desires of the one who is speaking in the dialogue and the manner the discussion went to where it is. Another thing is that the dialogue has the ability to change topics while similarly read Plato aloud (Lacewing, 4). The dialogue appear like drama as they have personal drama and tension.

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates argument was against Rhetoricians. The argument had two parts, the first one was an argument about love. While in the second sense, it makes the first an illustration of the varied attributes that rhetoricians may have. These attributes are the main focus in the second part of Phaedrus.

2. Plato and Aristotle were two great revolutionary philosophers who were tasked with indoctrination of metaphysical inquiry in the universe. Though their concepts of reality varied, their manner of inquiry was useful in defining and describing the universal setting.

According to Plato, the ultimate reality was notion of things. He stated that what we observe in the present world are abstract things of universal concepts (Balla, 74). Hence for one to be conscious of reality, they have to transcend the physical aspect in ideas which can be well described using Platonic Realism.

Aristotle on the other hand states that ultimate reality was instantiated universals’ which contradicted Plato’s view. He went on to state that the universal form is connected to the existing object. If an object I the universe cannot be felt then it does not exist (Balla, 76). This is backed using the Eleatic principle that states that the items are ontologically based.

Plato and Aristotle applied contrasting views of the metaphysics and epistemological aspects. This led to the contrast between the two in terms of the reality for Aristotle and Plato’s dualistic focus. Aristotle’s beliefs make him to see just one form of reality. He saw the world as being just one with forms being present in certain elements (Balla, 82). Aristotle believed that form had no separation. On the other hand, Plato had the belief of two forms of reality – the physical and mental. This view brings out the aspect of the ‘being and the becoming’ based the two worlds.

According to Plato forms had descriptions as either being good or bad. Hence his answer to basic metaphysic is that forms comprise of what is real and what is not. On the other hand, Aristotle gave focus to matter and form. In this he focused on four causes; the formal, material, efficient and final cause.

Generally, Aristotle and Plato had contrasting view to the universe. Plato gave credence to the inside view of metaphysics leading to the two worlds of existence to the one that is none existent while Aristotle applied an outward view of just a single form of universe. This is keen on the physical world and disregards the world of things that cannot be felt.

3. Metaphysics is concerned with the immovable aspects hence it is related to the first philosophy that is based on defining the nature of being. In Aristotle’ discussion, wisdom is a knowledge of causes and principles. With wisdom as being of science of first principles and every knowledge arising from the universe. Substance are things while the principles are regular elements (Friedman, and Nielsen, 76). This brings forth the discussion of causes by Aristotle: substance which is the formal cause, the matter that relates to the material cause, the aspect of motion that arises from the efficient cause and the purpose of something that arises from the final cause.

According to Aristotle, for one to be aware of the truth of a proposition they have to be aware of the causes that lead to proposition for it to be true. This may be caused by the realty of an additional proposition (Balla, 85). He went to state that what is true cannot be at the same time what is not true. He went on to state that the causes of things cannot be infinite and they have to have a first cause. Everything has to have a first cause. These causes can be probable or actual, vital or unintended. Change has to take place for something to be real.

As discussed above metaphysics is a first principle that is based on describing nature of being. It is related to things that are not in motion, they are stationary. On other hand, other branches of science and philosophy are based on the definition of classes, which is their genera and species, of being.

Metaphysics being a first principle, acquires the tag of being noble and divine. That is to say that gods are supposed to have it and not other beings. Humans could not work hard for it and if they start to acquire they being to philosophize (Friedman, and Nielsen, 76). Hence metaphysics and wisdom can be acquired by human in philosophical aspects. In the historical realm, it can be acquired through pure wonder. Hence it is an internal value. However, it goes above all aspects of benefits. All other forms of science are more significant than this one but none of them is superior.

The proper object of study is ontology which is the science of being and how they connect to each other. This is the modern term used from the initial metaphysics. It is concerned with aspects of existence or stated to be present and how they are categorized in their ranking and subdivided in their comparisons. In the much wider sense, this level of study focusses on what makes human beings to be who they are. It relies on institutional, social and technical aspects that shows the intellectual processes.

 

Works Cited

Balla, Chloe. “Plato and Aristotle on Rhetorical Empiricism.” Rhetorica: A Journal of the          History of Rhetoric 25(1), 2007: 73-85.

Friedman, R. and Nielsen, L. The Medieval Heritage in Early Modern Metaphysics and Modal        Theory, 1400-1700. New York: Springer, 2003. Print, 76.

Lacewing, M. Plato’s theory of Forms. New York: Routledge. Print. 2, 4.