Essay On Differences Between Plato And Socrates

Plato and Aristotle hold very similar beliefs on truth, such as that truth is universal, knowing the cause of things is necessary for knowing the truth, and that the senses are somehow related to it. While the two may disagree on the finer details of these things, their most apparent disagreement seems to be in their opinions over who possesses truth, or is capable of possessing truth. Aristotle appears to be more optimistic on the general population’s ability to learn truth than Plato, as well as the exact role truth plays in human life. For the sake of simplicity, Socrates’s and Plato’s arguments will be considered to be one in the same, since Plato only ever expresses his philosophy through Socrates, and Socrates never wrote any works, thereby …show more content…
Aristotle does not seem to believe in the separation of philosophy and politics, either, although my reason for thinking this comes less from his writing and more from his life’s actions. Aristotle was the tutor of Alexander the Great and many of the Diadochi, perhaps the most important political figures of their time. Aristotle also encouraged Alexander in his eastern conquests, so to claim Aristotle wasn’t political would require a very particular and widely unused definition of politics. But returning to Plato’s view on philosophy and politics, he is quite clear on the subject. In Book VI of The Republic, Plato describes his ideal government as being led by a philosopher king, which is the very embodiment of politics and philosophy merging. Another interpretation of this might be that Plato doesn’t view politics and philosophy as separate, only democracy and philosophy. If this is the case, then it goes to further the argument that Socrates did not see anything wrong with his mistruths towards the democratic Athenians at his trial. The jurors would have been not only prisoners in the cave, but prisoners led by prisoners, rather than prisoners led by a