Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle's influence on Western philosophy

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are the most famous of the ancient Greek philosophers. All three of them have left a deep impact on the Western philosophy. In this paper we will look at the main points of their philosophies and the impact they left on us.

Socrates (469-399 BC)

Socrates was the first of the famous trio. He did not write any books and most of what we know about Socrates has been derived from the works of his equally illustrious pupil, Plato. Socrates not having written any book is part of his philosophy as he believed in the superiority of argument over writing and spent most of his life in public places practicing dialogue and argument with his contemporaries.

Socrates' basic philosophy was ethical in nature. He believed in an objective understanding of justice, love, and virtue. He particularly emphasized 'self-knowledge' and believed in the essential goodness of men. According to Socrates no person is willingly bad and 'virtue is knowledge.' According to this philosophy, it is only with knowledge that one can differentiate between 'right' and 'wrong' and once a person has the knowledge he (or she) will act rightly. He also placed great emphasis on rational argument.

Plato (428-347 BC)

Plato was a true disciple of his famous teacher in every way but one: unlike Socrates, he believed in writing. Most of his writing was in the form of a dialogue in which his philosophical ideas were advanced, discussed and criticized through debate involving two or more persons. Plato's dialogues can be divided into the early, middle and the later dialogues. The early dialogues are an attempt by Plato to describe the philosophy of Socrates, while the middle and later works represent his own philosophy. At the heart of Plato's philosophy are his theory of Forms (or ideas) and his theory of Knowledge. Plato distinguishes between the two levels of awareness: opinion and knowledge. He believed that observations, including those of science were just opinions that could be right or wrong but the higher level of awareness was knowledge backed up by the insight of reason, which was abiding and universal. Plato's other theories include his political theory described in his Republic that is concerned with the question of justice and his theory of the enlightened 'philosopher-king' providing the political leadership.

Legacy

The legacy and influence of the three great Greek philosophers on human thought, society and culture has been all pervasive. Socrates can be credited with setting the wheels of 'rational argument' and importance of 'knowledge' in motion carried forward by his disciple Plato. A 20th century thinker sums up the extent of Plato's influence by describing the history of philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." Aristotle's philosophy helped to shape modern language and common sense, while his doctrine of the Prime mover helped shape theology in the three great religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) of the world.

Greek Philosophers