Plato's Metaphysical Perspective On Ultimate Reality

Plato: His Metaphysical Perspective on Ultimate Reality
Plato is known in western culture as one of the greats when it comes to philosophy, he is most notably recognized in the field of metaphysics. He was born as an Athenian Greek around 428-348 B.C.E and was the disciple of the great Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. Plato wrote many books discussing philosophy through dialect and in fact, Plato was the one to record all of Socrates teachings. The works most known today are the Republic and Law. Plato’s most famous work is the Republic in which he discusses many aspects of his view of metaphysics. The Republic discussed many issues of justice and politics. However, it also discusses the nature of reality, the theory of forms, people’s …show more content…
Plato firmly concluded we all had a duty to fulfill the tasks we were born into. He called it the ‘Myth of the Medals’ and in this he believed we were all born unequal. He divided people into three categories on a pyramid. The top tier represented reason and they were known as the philosopher kings. They were tasked with making rules, and delivering justice. The color they were assigned was gold to signify it significance. The second tier represented spirit or emotion and they were soldiers. They were tasked with defending the city. The color they were assigned was silver to signify honorability. Lastly, the bottom tier represented appetite, usually most were placed here. They were tasked with everything else such as a baker, or blacksmith. Plato believes we all had these three attributes, however, one was stronger than the rest. As for philosopher kings they must have high rational in order to deliver justice, and they must be able to suppress emotion, and appetite. For soldiers they were spirited and emotional people, so if the ever the city was attacked they would defend it with their lives. Finally, the rest were appetitive, they were greedy, lustful, and carnal. He knew that corruption would run rampant if left unchecked, so he decided to place some rules. Philosopher kings cannot own wealth or even look at gold, including the inability to get married. However, they were allowed to have …show more content…
The first issue he disagrees Plato on is that there are no Forms. Aristotle though there was no ideal form. Aristotle argued that Plato failed in explaining the relationship between Forms and objects. Aristotle believes the world we live in currently is the real world, and there is no other. The second issue Aristotle disagreed on was the concept of participation. Aristotle did not believe in the world of Being, and the world of Becoming. He thought that the concept of participation made no sense because how can a certain Form be perfect, is it not a subjective answer? The last point Aristotle disagreed on with Plato was the central idea of the immortal soul. Aristotle thought that there was only a mortal soul, and when we die our soul dies as well. With no immortal soul, Aristotle did not consider in the idea of innate knowledge, and, therefore, no moment of recollection. He claimed we are all rational animals nothing more nothing