Aristotle The Apothosis Of The Greek Philosophical Tradition
Submitted by JLP32782 on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
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Aristotle The Apothosis Of The Greek Philosophical Tradition
Aristotle is an interesting figure to study because he seems to be culmination of an entire tradition. He pulls together and synthesizes a majority of the ideas expressed in the Greek philosophical tradition and at the same time he goes his own way and opens up things on many new levels. He, in many ways, both concurs and objects to Plato's teachings while also looking to the past for answers for the future and the questions left unresolved by his master. In this essay I will succinctly discuss how Aristotle remains faithful to his Platonic legacy while also discussing how he diverges from it. Once I have done this we can then see where Aristotle was influenced by the presocractic traditions, specifically in the area concearning the theme of change. I think in order to understand how two people are similar and how one influenced the other via their teachings, one should first look at how they two individuals are different and that is where I shall begin.
Aristotle and his teacher differed greatly in not only thier philosophies but also in their places of birth and life experiences. It is easy to see why Plato thought that this world was not real because of his life as a "city rat" in a city of ignorance and corruption where the only real force of positive change, being philosophy, was being stamped out like embers before they could start a real fire. Aristotle, born as a rich Ionian country bumpkin, thought differently than his master, he thought this world was totally real. I think that being raised in the country with more interaction with nature could certainly purport such different feelings than one who has had more interaction with cosmopolitan city, and the beauty man creates, rather than the beauty created by nature. In addition to this Plato placed the rift of the ethereal world of sensory perception between the realm of the Ideas and the realm of the physical. Despite his master's segregation, Aristotle directly linked the two by saying that the...
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