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Chapter 2: Reality
Two Kinds of Metaphysics:
Plato and Aristotle
Introducing Philosophy, 10th edition
Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Higgins, and
Clancy Martin
Plato (427-347 B.C.E.)
• Born into a family of wealth and political power
• In Athens, influenced by Socrates; turned his
talents to philosophy
• Conceived of a “philosopher-king,” the ideal wise
ruler, who certainly did not exist in Athens
• Disillusioned by Socrates’ execution, devoted his
life to continuing his work
• Set up the Academy for this purpose and spent the
rest of his life teaching there
• First set down his reminiscences of Socrates’ life
and death: using the dialogue form, with Socrates
as his mouthpiece, he extended Socrates’ thought
into entirely new areas, notably metaphysics and
the theory of knowledge
• Plato incorporated a theory of morality into his
metaphysics and politics, particularly in The
Republic
• Saw ethics as part of politics and the good life for
the individual, in terms of the strength and
harmony of the society
• In The Republic, Plato argues against the various
views of selfishness and hedonism that would
interfere
• Virtue, he argues, is the harmony of the individual
soul as well as the harmony of the individual
within the society
• Since we have nothing from Socrates himself, it is
difficult to know how much is original Plato and
how much is transcribed Socrates
• Predicate: that which is asserted or denied of a
thing, which refers to a property of things;
familiar predicates would be “is red,” “is an
animal”
The Forms
• Sometimes referred to as Ideas: ideal forms or
perfect examples, the perfect circle or perfect
beauty
• Forms are the ultimate reality, and they are eternal
and unchanging
• Plato posits two worlds, the world of being (where
the forms are located) and the world of becoming
(where we live, the world that is always changing)
• Our only access to the world of being is through
our reason and our capacity for intellectual
thought
The Myth of the Cave
• Our world is like a set of shadows of the
real world
• It is not an illusion
• It is a mere imitation of the bright
originals
Forms as Definitions
• Two horses have in common the Form horse,
and you recognize them each as a horse
because they share the Form of horse. Each
individual horse “participates” in the Form of
horse
• Forms also explain how we know things
outside of experience; e.g., each horse is also
an animal
• But participation is a notoriously unclear
notion, unless it means just “member of the
class”
• Aristotle will attack Plato here
The Meno
• Because we cannot learn what Forms are
from experience, Plato argues that
knowledge of the Forms is innate
• Our bridge between the two worlds is the
immortality of the soul
• The example of the slave boy is what
Socrates uses to demonstrate our innate
knowledge of the Forms
Immaterialist Conception of
Reality
• The Forms exist independently of the
material world
• The truth of triangles is not contained in
any particular triangle
• Imperfection of a drawn triangle
distinguishes it from the Form of triangle
• Plato believed that beauty, justice, and the
good have Forms
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
• One of the greatest Western philosophers, born in
northern Greece (Stagira); father was the physician
to Philip, king of Macedonia
• Was to tutor Philip’s son, Alexander the Great
• For eighteen years, a student in Plato’s Academy,
where he learned and parted from Plato’s views
• Turned to the study of biology, and many of his
theories ruled Western science until the Renaissance
• Was with Alexander until 335 B.C.E., when he
returned to Athens to set up his own school, the
Lyceum
• After Alexander’s death, the anti-Macedonian
sentiment in Athens forced Aristotle to flee
• Virtually created the sciences of logic and
linguistics, developed extravagant theories in
physics and astronomy, and made significant
contributions to metaphysics, ethics, politics, and
aesthetics
• Metaphysics is still a basic text on the subject
• Nicomachean Ethics codified ancient Greek
morality; stresses individual virtue and
excellence
• The best life of all is the life of
contemplation, the life of a philosopher,
for it is the most self-contained and the
“closest to the gods”
• Such contemplation must be together
with the pleasures of life, honor, wealth,
and virtuous action
Aristotle’s Attack
• Plato never explained the relationship
between the Forms and particular things
• Aristotle argued that the notion of
participation is empty
Substance
• Substance is that which stands alone
• It is independent being; a horse, a tree, and
a human are all substances
• Secondary substances are what Aristotle
called the species and genus to which a
thing belongs, and these are less real
• He also claimed that forms are real but that
they cannot exist independently of the
particular substance
Descriptions of substance:
1. A substance is the thing that is referred
to by a noun
2. Substance is what underlies all of the
properties and changes in something.
For example, you look different than
you did when you were five, but you
are still the same person
3. Substance is what is essential
Teleology
• Universe and all things in it have a purpose
• Four causes:
1. Material cause: the matter that makes it up
2. Formal cause: the principle or law by which it is
made
3. Efficient cause: the person or event that actually
makes something happen by doing something
4. Final cause: the purpose of the thing; on this
account, everything has a purpose, not just
things that are alive but also rocks, the stars, and
even the universe
Prime Mover
• Aristotle argues that teleological
explanations cannot go on forever (also
called an infinite regress) but that there is
some ultimate purpose that explains all of
the other purposes
• The universe itself must have a purpose, a
“prime mover” that Aristotle characterizes
as “pure thought, thinking about itself”