Aristotle's Refutation Of Plato's Theory Of Ideas
Aristotle refutes Plato's Theory of Ideas on three basic grounds: that the existence of Ideas contradicts itself by denying the possibility of negations; that his illustrations of Ideas are merely empty metaphors; and that they theory uses impermanent abstractions to create examples of perception. Though the theory is meant to establish concrete standards for the knowledge of reality, Aristotle considers it fraught with inconsistencies and believes that the concept of reality depends upon all forms' correlations to other elements.
Ideas, Plato believes, are permanent, self-contained absolutes, which answered to each item of exact knowledge attained through human thought. Also, Ideas are ...
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are not al all cogent. Aristotle says, or his arguments lead to contradictory conclusions. For example, Aristotle claims that Plato's arguments lead one to conclude that entities (such as anything man-made) and negations of concrete ideas could exist - such as "non-good" in opposition to good. This contradicts Plato's own belief that only natural objects could serve as standards of knowledge. Also, Aristotle refutes Plato's belief that Ideas are perfect entities unto themselves, independent of subjective human experience. Ideas, Aristotle claims, are not abstractions on a proverbial pedestal but mere duplicates of things witnessed in ordinary daily life. The Ideas of things, he says, are not inherent to the objects in particular but created separately and placed apart from the objects themselves. Thus, Aristotle says, Plato's idea that Ideas are perfect entities, intangible to subjective human experience, is meaningless, for all standards are based somewhere in ordinary human ...
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only a fool could not perceive it. His arguments seem the weakest of the four viewpoints here, for they are riddled with dogma and assume that God is a constant - using faith alone. Anselm considers faith paramount to logic or other forms of thought and asks no questions as to what powers the universe or what goodness is - he basically follows the Christian "party line" too closely to be valid.
In general, St. Augustine combines Plato's idea of a moral hierarchy with his own rational observations of truth and goodness being embodied in their highest form by God. While Plato wavers on God's superiority, Aristotle views man as god's pawn, and Anselm uses tortuous dogmatic logic, ...
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"Aristotle's Refutation Of Plato's Theory Of Ideas." Essayworld.com. June 6, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Aristotles-Refutation-Of-Platos-Theory-Ideas/9015.
"Aristotle's Refutation Of Plato's Theory Of Ideas." Essayworld.com. June 6, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Aristotles-Refutation-Of-Platos-Theory-Ideas/9015.
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