Plato And Aristotle And Plato's Theory Of Knowledge

Two popular Greek philosophers that have started up a debate that has now lasted for centuries. Plato and Aristotle are two of the most influential Philosophers in history. However, Plato and Aristotle contrast in their view of what knowledge we possess at birth. Plato supports the idea of Innatism, which states that we enter this world with prior knowledge. Every person in the world has an immortal soul so, whatever we learned in one life can be passed on to the next. It sort of corresponds with the idea of reincarnation. However, it is proposed that at the shock of birth we forget our prior learnings and spend the next years of life trying to remember lost knowledge. In contrast, Aristotle 's idea of the Tabula Rasa, or blank slate, argues that we are born without any knowledge. Aristotle agreed that we have souls, but he disagreed with Plato about the souls being able to live …show more content…
There are two ways in which children can gain knowledge. The first of these two ways is learning. This is when a child gathers information about their surrounding environment and then proceeds to use this information. For example, if an infant bites something that hurts its gums, let’s say a Lego, it has then learned not to put this in its mouth again. This is with the nurture argument. The infant did not already possess the knowledge that if he put the Lego in his mouth, then it would hurt his gums. He learned by doing and going through the motions. With nurture, abilities do not come naturally. The child can do anything but it takes effort to learn and maintain. This can be draining over time because of the amount of energy the person puts into it. The extreme side of this comes from the theory of a “Tabula Rasa”, also meaning “blank slate,” made known by John Locke. This implies that we know nothing at all when we are born and we have to go through life learning everything. This is the Doctrine Aristotle agreed