Plato, Aristotle And Newton's In Dialogue With Nature

In part I of the course of “In Dialogue with Nature”, a number of celebrated scholars in the Ancient Greece and Medieval Times, namely Plato, Aristotle and Newton, are introduced. In the journey of understanding the nature, education undoubtedly plays an essential role. Hence, the key to whose ideas is the most crucial and has the greatest impact is highly related to the way of learning proposed by these three philosophers. Through their works, their methods in learning can be observed—Plato believed the true reality lies in the World of Forms (Lindberg 11-15), Aristotle asserted that true knowledge lies within the sensible world while Newton attached great importance to mathematical deduction in the process of exploring the nature. I believe learning is a step-by-step process. Learning is like constructing a tower—without a solid foundation, it is probable that the tower will collapse. The same rule applies to learning, implying that establishing a concrete foundation is of utmost importance. Thereby, I reckon Aristotle’s and Newton’s understandings are the most …show more content…
Both Aristotle’s and Newton’s ideas play an important role in learning about the nature for they collaborated to create a complete picture for our learning. Education has always been emphasized in society. However, what exactly is education? Does education simply mean the gain of common knowledge that is taught throughout society? Plato had clearly defined education with the help of his “Allegory of the Cave”. Learning about the nature should not simply be confined to how to gain knowledge, we should also learn the true meaning of learning why we need to learn about the nature—the true meaning of education. Therefore, I find Plato’s ideas to have the greatest