Might as well push my luck, and apply this six-point template again. 1) In anthropology, Aristotle dissented from Plato's dualism, treating the human soul as the form of the human body. 2) In metaphysics, he is remembered for a modified realism about universals. He held that appleness is one and the same fact whether I am speaking of this apple or that apple. BUT he denied that appleness is a fact metaphysically separate from any and all of the particular apples. 3) In epistemology, Aristotle added a note of empiricism to his teacher's critical rationalism. He sought for example to collect what was known about living organisms in his day before drawing conclusions about life processes. 4) In ethics, Aristotle believed that the virtuous man (the great-souled man) will do what is right. The task of ethics is neither laying down duties or deliberating over consequences, but cultivating virtue. 5) In politics, Aristotle believed that the best city is likely to be ...
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Just to practice concision. 1) In anthropology, Plato was the first of the great dualists. He emphasized the sharp distinction between a physical man and the real eternal man. 2) In metaphysics, Plato is remembered for his clear statement of the realist position on universals. A concept such as "justice" or "beauty" is not merely a notion inside someone's mind, nor is it merely a resemblance between the different acts we call just, the different objects we consider beautiful;, etc. It is more than that. The Idea or Form of Justice is a reality, one of the supreme realities, and specific examples are real by virtue of their participation in their universals, not vice versa. 3. In epistemology, Plato believed in critical rationalism. The way to approach truth is to begin with someone's naïve notions and cross-examine them ruthlessly. A philosopher thus becomes a midwife to a truth that will come out of others. (Those unlucky enough to run into him in ...