During our discussions this week, we highlighted the
differences between Plato and Aristotle’s ways of thinking and how they defined
justice, or virtuousness. It was interesting to see how much the views of
Aristotle differed from his former teacher, and how in some aspects were almost
completely opposite.
I believe that the best way explain the difference between
the two is to look at two quotes that are usually mis-attributed to them. “To be
good is to do good,” is the saying most commonly assigned to Plato. He believed
that you needed to study about what virtues are before you can do virtuous
things. And doing this will help balance out the soul.
Aristotle, on the other hand, is aligned with “To do good is
to be good.” He believed in phronesis, or “practical wisdom”. In his view, it is your actions that help
shape your views on virtues. He believes that you could not truly be virtuous
without doing virtuous things. And I think my personal views align more with
his than with Plato’s.
Take the swimming analogy. I believe that we all agreed that
a man who knew everything about swimming but had never been in the water before
could not be called a swimmer. You have to swim before you can earn the title
of swimmer. Just like you must perform virtuous actions before you can be a
virtuous person.
-SL
I liked your summary of views from both Aristotle and Plato. It appears that both philosophers just want to explain what being a good person is at essence. I agree that Aristotle's view is more aligned with my perspective, than Plato's. I feel that although it is important to be taught what virtues are, I still feel that we all have a conscience and that gut feeling tells us if we are being immoral or not.So unless you are a sociopath, then I do not think that you have to be taught every single virtue, as Plato may argue.
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent summary of both Aristotle's and Plato's view of how to be a virtuous person. To begin with Plato's view, he states that we must first understand what is the good or bad and then act it out. Aristotle's view, he states that we must experience these actions in order to know what is good and bad. I most certainly feel that we must experience first and then understand in what is right or wrong based on our action. We do not have to be taught what virtues are as stated in Plato's view.
ReplyDeleteYour summary of both Plato and Aristotle's view helped me to understand what values a virtuous person hold. I have to agree with Aristotle's view. It took me a while to understand Plato's reasoning so maybe that's why I can better relate to Aristotle.
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