When it comes to the world of philosophy, there are two names that stand out above the rest.
These two individuals were pioneers in their field, exploring matters of ethics, science, politics, and more.
While one of them is known for having more surviving works, the other’s contributions have arguably been more influential in certain areas.
Despite their differences, both of these philosophers continue to hold great historical value.
But the question remains: who came first?
In this article, we’ll explore the timeline of these two great minds and try to answer the age-old question: who was first, Aristotle or Plato?
Who Was First Aristotle Or Plato
To answer the question of who came first, we need to take a closer look at the timeline of these two philosophers.
Plato was born around 428 BCE, while Aristotle was born in 384 BCE. This means that Plato was older than Aristotle by about 44 years.
Plato began his philosophical journey as a student of Socrates, who himself was a philosopher in ancient Greece. Plato went on to establish his own school of philosophy, known as the Academy, where he taught his own students.
Aristotle, on the other hand, was a student of Plato’s Academy. He spent many years studying under Plato before eventually leaving to establish his own school of philosophy, known as the Lyceum.
So while Plato may have come first in terms of age and establishing his own school of philosophy, Aristotle was a student of Plato and learned from him before branching out on his own.
Introduction To Aristotle And Plato
Aristotle and Plato were two of the most influential philosophers in ancient Greece. They both studied matters of ethics, science, politics, and more. While Plato’s works have survived the centuries in greater numbers, Aristotle’s contributions have arguably been more influential, particularly when it comes to science and logical reasoning.
Plato began his philosophical journey as a student of Socrates and went on to establish his own school of philosophy, known as the Academy. Aristotle, on the other hand, was a student of Plato’s Academy before eventually leaving to establish his own school of philosophy, known as the Lyceum.
Despite their differences in approach and style, both philosophers’ works continue to have great historical value and underlie much of Western culture. Their ideas continue to inspire contemporary literary and philosophical work and shape the case for the central importance of the humanities today. Overall, understanding the contributions of Aristotle and Plato is essential for anyone interested in philosophy, literature, politics, or science.
Plato’s Life And Contributions
Plato was born into an aristocratic family in Athens, Greece. His father, Ariston, died when he was young, and his mother, Perictione, remarried with her uncle Pyrilampes. Plato had a number of siblings, including three brothers and one sister.
Plato’s philosophical contributions are vast and influential. He is best known for his theory of Forms, which asserts that the world we know through our senses is only an imitation of the pure, eternal, and unchanging world of Forms. Plato’s works also contain discussions on ethics, political philosophy, moral psychology, epistemology, and metaphysics.
Plato’s philosophy had a profound impact on Western thought and influenced many subsequent philosophers. His ideas on ethics and moral psychology emphasized the importance of habituation to healthy emotional responses and harmony between the three parts of the soul (reason, spirit, and appetite).
Plato’s school, the Academy, fostered research not just in philosophy but in a wide range of endeavors that today would be called mathematical or scientific. Through Neoplatonism, Plato greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy.
Aristotle’s Life And Contributions
Aristotle was a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, who made important contributions to various fields such as logic, criticism, rhetoric, physics, biology, psychology, mathematics, metaphysics, ethics, and politics. He was a prolific writer, lecturer, and polymath who radically transformed most of the topics he investigated.
As a student of Plato for twenty years, Aristotle took a large part of his philosophical agenda from Plato. However, Aristotle was beginning to distance himself from Plato’s theory of Forms, or Ideas. In his Metaphysics, he argues that the theory fails to solve the problems it was meant to address. Instead, Aristotle proposed his own concept of forms as a way to explain the world around us.
Aristotle’s contributions to logic were groundbreaking. He was the first to develop a formal system for reasoning. He observed that the deductive validity of any argument can be determined by its structure rather than its content. Aristotelian logic dominated until the rise of modern propositional logic and predicate logic 2000 years later.
In his natural philosophy, Aristotle combined logic with observation to make general, causal claims. For example, in his biology, Aristotle used the concept of species to make empirical claims about the functions and behavior of individual animals.
Aristotle’s works exerted tremendous influence on ancient and medieval thought and continue to inspire philosophers to this day. He was the founder of the Lyceum, a school based in Athens, Greece; and he was the first of the Peripatetics, his followers from the Lyceum.
Comparing The Philosophies Of Aristotle And Plato
Despite being influenced by the same philosophical traditions, Aristotle and Plato had different views and approaches towards philosophy.
Plato’s philosophy was more idealistic and theoretical in nature. He believed in the existence of universal forms, which were ideal and perfect representations of objects and concepts. These forms were not attached to any individual object or concept but existed independently in a separate realm. Plato believed that knowledge could be attained through reasoning and thought experiments rather than through direct observation.
Aristotle, on the other hand, believed in a more practical and experimental approach to philosophy. He rejected Plato’s theory of universal forms and believed that each individual object or concept had to be analyzed on its own. He emphasized the importance of direct observation and experience in gaining knowledge about the world.
Both philosophers believed in the existence of the soul, but they had different views on its nature. Plato’s views were more radical and elite, while Aristotle’s were more physical and realistic.
Plato’s philosophy had a significant influence on religious and mystical traditions, while Aristotle’s approach laid the foundation for modern scientific inquiry. Despite their differences, both philosophers had a profound impact on Western thought and continue to be studied and debated today.
Timeline Of Aristotle And Plato’s Lives
To better understand the timeline of Aristotle and Plato’s lives, let’s take a closer look at key events throughout their respective journeys.
Plato was born in Athens in 428 BCE, while Aristotle was born in Stageira, Greece in 384 BCE. Plato met Socrates when he was around 20 years old and became a student of his philosophy. After Socrates’ death, Plato fled to Megara with other members of Socrates’ circle to avoid prosecution in Athens.
For nearly 20 years, Plato traveled throughout the ancient Greek world before returning to Athens to establish his own school of philosophy, the Academy, in 380 BCE. The Academy was a place where students could study philosophy, mathematics, and science.
Aristotle began his studies at the Academy in 367 BCE and spent the next 20 years there studying under Plato. During this time, Aristotle also wrote dozens of books on a wide range of topics, including astronomy, biology, and literary theory.
After Plato’s death in 347 BCE, Aristotle left the Academy and went on to establish his own school of philosophy, the Lyceum. The Lyceum was known for its focus on science and empirical research.
Plato’s Academy continued to function for nearly 1000 years before it was closed by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 529 CE.
Who Came First: Aristotle Or Plato?
Plato and Aristotle are two of the most well-known philosophers in Western philosophy. While Plato may have come first in terms of age and establishing his own school of philosophy, Aristotle was a student of Plato and learned from him before branching out on his own. Plato began his philosophical journey as a student of Socrates, while Aristotle was born later and began his philosophical journey as a student of Plato’s Academy. Both philosophers had differing views on concepts and how they should be analyzed, with Plato believing in ideal forms and Aristotle believing in direct observation and experience. Despite their differences, both philosophers believed that thoughts were superior to the senses, although Aristotle believed that the senses were necessary to properly determine reality. While we may never know exactly what Socrates said, both Plato and Aristotle have left behind significant contributions to philosophy that continue to influence modern thought.
