Plato and Aristotle - Approach to Truth
Plato and Aristotle arrive at what they deem to be "truth" through sometimes similar and often times different paths. While both philosophers seek comprehensive explanations of reality and both made huge contributions to Western philosophical thinking, each did so seeking an ultimate method to define their experience.
Plato, the teacher, Aristotle the student; it is natural that one would build upon the ideas of the other. "According to Plato, sense objects are not completely real. Beliefs derived from experience of such objects are therefore vague and unreliable" (Dartmouth, 23). In his theory of Ideas, he expressed reality as being divided into two realms: There was the realm of ideas and the realm of things that one knows through the senses. Therefore, the idea of a rock, for Plato, is more the rock than the rock itself. The reason for this is that all objects undergo change. Therefore, a rock is not the thing described, but the idea - since the idea of a rock does not change with time.
Aristotle disagreed with Plato in his separation of the idea and the thing. Aristotle theorized that the idea of a thing was contained within the thing itself. For Aristotle, a rock is perceived as a rock because its reality is inside it and that is what the observer perceives. Everything either is or is becoming. Aristotle did agree with Plato with reference to pure intellect. It in itself is in pure form.
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