Plato and Aristotle’s theories of knowledge (epistemology) each sprout from opposite sides of the tree. Aristotle is all about logic and evidence, while Plato’s theory thrives on idealism and recollection. Even though both of these Philosophers have very different ideas that each fall on the opposite sides of the spectrum, you are able to understand and make sense of how each of them understood epistemology. Plato had a much more spiritual understanding of epistemology. He believed knowledge was just simply a recollection or a memory of ideas rather than newly learned information. Plato could be described as an idealist because he didn’t necessarily have to see it to believe it, he was more of a visionary. His way of thinking was
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The Allegory of the Cave is a story used to teach us about ignorance and looking deeper than the surface. Plato first writes about four prisoners chained to a wall in a cave, and as far as they know the cave is the world and there is nothing more. Behind the wall there are people holding objects that cast a shadow that the prisoners look at every day and night. So since they have never seen those physical objects in front of them they have never even thought about the possibility of thoes objects being real and tangible. Plato then says, if one of the prisoners is unchained and emerges from the cave and sees the sun, and the grass, and everything else in the world he would obviously be shocked. He will go down to tell the prisoners what he saw and they will not believe him. So in this story Plato uses the chains to signify people’s ignorance. “Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death.” ( Cottingham, …show more content…
Aristotle had a strong belief that true innate knowledge was unchanging and completely objective. For example, numbers or deductive reasoning. His whole belief of knowledge was formed on the basis of logic, evidence, and actuality. The purpose of Aristotle’s ten categories is to place objects of human awareness in one of the ten possible categories. The first category is substance and is separate from all the rest. Categories two through ten are all considered to be accidents and properties that describe substances. All categories except for the first are all dependent and are not able to exist on their own. There are two types of substances according to Aristotle, primary and secondary. There are three different categories in which something can fall under. Animal (Genus), Human (Species), and Socrates (Individual Substances). Primary is the individual object, and secondary is whether it is an human or an animal. “For example, the individual man belongs in species, man belongs in a species, man, and animal is a genus of the species; so these - both man and animal - are called secondary substances.” (Cottingham,
The Allegory of the Cave is a story used to teach us about ignorance and looking deeper than the surface. Plato first writes about four prisoners chained to a wall in a cave, and as far as they know the cave is the world and there is nothing more. Behind the wall there are people holding objects that cast a shadow that the prisoners look at every day and night. So since they have never seen those physical objects in front of them they have never even thought about the possibility of thoes objects being real and tangible. Plato then says, if one of the prisoners is unchained and emerges from the cave and sees the sun, and the grass, and everything else in the world he would obviously be shocked. He will go down to tell the prisoners what he saw and they will not believe him. So in this story Plato uses the chains to signify people’s ignorance. “Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death.” ( Cottingham, …show more content…
Aristotle had a strong belief that true innate knowledge was unchanging and completely objective. For example, numbers or deductive reasoning. His whole belief of knowledge was formed on the basis of logic, evidence, and actuality. The purpose of Aristotle’s ten categories is to place objects of human awareness in one of the ten possible categories. The first category is substance and is separate from all the rest. Categories two through ten are all considered to be accidents and properties that describe substances. All categories except for the first are all dependent and are not able to exist on their own. There are two types of substances according to Aristotle, primary and secondary. There are three different categories in which something can fall under. Animal (Genus), Human (Species), and Socrates (Individual Substances). Primary is the individual object, and secondary is whether it is an human or an animal. “For example, the individual man belongs in species, man belongs in a species, man, and animal is a genus of the species; so these - both man and animal - are called secondary substances.” (Cottingham,