Plato insinuates that the World of Appearance and its sense experience is not valuable but this goes against our instincts. We need the knowledge gained from the World of Appearance to survive. How are we to justify our natural survival instincts? The nature of man applied to the State Plato said in that in order to have justice, the state must be run according to ‘The Republic’ the nature of man. When the state is run according to the nature of the self, justice results: A man who is unjust is ruled by desires (the appetite), but these can never be satisfied, thus he becomes frustrated unfulfilled. – A person who knows only appetite cannot make moral decisions. A philosopher knows both reason and appetite and is best to choose between them. Reason deals with eternal truths and values while the appetite is concerned with temporal satisfaction, therefore the values of reason are preferable. Therefore, Plato envisaged a perfect utopian society ruled by the Philosopher King. A man drawn to worldly success will remain unfulfilled since appetites are boundless Aristotle on the body and soul Aristotle says that the soul: is the structure, function and organisation of the body; gives the body its its characteristics; ‘form’ – gives a body life; has a different nature according to the living thing that it is in. An axe if it was a living thing, its body would be the matter from which it is made the – – wood and the metal. Its soul would be the thing that makes it and axe its capacity to chop. – An eye sight is its soul. When seeing is removed, the eye is only an eye by name. – A dead animal it is an animal in name only. It has a body but no soul matter but no form. – – Aristotle believed that there was a hierarchy of types of soul: 3. Plants have a vegetative type of soul with powers of nutrition, growth etc; – 2. Animals have souls with the capacity for appetite and so they have desires and – feelings; 1. Humans have a soul with the power of reason. The soul gives people the ability – to develop intellects and ethical characters. The soul and body are not distinct they are aspects of the same thing; –
Plato insinuates that the World of Appearance and its sense experience is not valuable but this goes against our instincts. We need the knowledge gained from the World of Appearance to survive. How are we to justify our natural survival instincts? The nature of man applied to the State Plato said in ‘The Republic’ that in order to have justice, the state must be run according to the nature of man. When the state is run according to the nature of the self, justice results: A man who is unjust is ruled by desires (the appetite), but these can never be satisfied, thus he becomes frustrated – unfulfilled. A person who knows only appetite cannot make moral decisions. A philosopher knows both reason and appetite and is best to choose between them. Reason deals with eternal truths and values while the appetite is concerned with temporal satisfaction, therefore the values of reason are preferable. Therefore, Plato envisaged a perfect utopian society ruled by the Philosopher King. A man drawn to worldly success will remain unfulfilled since appetites are boundless Aristotle on the body and soul Aristotle says that the soul: is the structure, function and organisation of the body; gives the body its ‘form’ – its characteristics; gives a body life; has a different nature according to the living thing that it is in. An axe – if it was a living thing, its body would be the matter from which it is made – the wood and the metal. Its soul would be the thing that makes it and axe – its capacity to chop. An eye – sight is its soul. When seeing is removed, the eye is only an eye by name. A dead animal – it is an animal in name only. It has a body but no soul – matter but no form. Aristotle believed that there was a hierarchy of types of soul: 3. Plants – have a vegetative type of soul with powers of nutrition, growth etc; 2. Animals – have souls with the capacity for appetite and so they have desires and feelings; 1. Humans – have a soul with the power of reason. The soul gives people the ability to develop intellects and ethical characters. The soul and body are not distinct – they are aspects of the same thing;
A2_Philosophy_Revision_Guide.docx