Comparison Of Metaphysics

Comparison of Aristotle's and Plato's Metaphysic

"What is reality?" Many early philosophers had different answers to this question. Some believed in one world and others believed in multiple worlds. This is a major difference in the metaphysics of Aristotle and Plato, two well known philosophers. Plato's Theory of Forms is known as dualistic idealism because he believed reality was made of two worlds, the physical world and the intelligible world (world of Forms). Plato illustrated his idea of dualism in The Divided Line. The Divided Line showed the division between the intelligible world and the physical world and shows the divisions within those two worlds. Aristotle, who was a student of Plato, rejected dualism for naturalism. He believed in one, single world which centered on primary and secondary substances. The two of them had very different views, beliefs, and answers to the question of metaphysics, but still shared few common elements.

Plato's Theory of Forms begins with the assumption that there are two worlds. The world that we live in and see is called the Physical world, and the world of forms is called the Intelligible world. The intelligible world is what Plato says is reality, and the physical world is made up of illusions and shadows of the world of Forms. The Divided Line shows the divisions of the two worlds that Plato believed in. First, there is a line that is unequally divided into two parts. The smaller part is labeled the Intelligible World and the larger is labeled the Physical World. This is because the physical world is composed of shadows of the forms that exist in the intelligible world. One form can have many shadows, which is why the physical world is larger than the intelligible world on the Divided Line. Now, the physical world is then divided into two more sections, one labeled shadows, reflections, and images (A). The other is labeled things and objects (B). The intelligible world is also divided into two sections, lower forms (C) and higher forms (D). For example, a horse named Pinky is here in the physical world. But the characteristics that make up horses, or "Horseness," is a Form. The Form Horseness allows us to distinguish a horse from a cow, or a dog, which all have four legs but have different forms. In the Divided Line, Pinky would go under section B (things and objects) in the Physical world, and Horsesness would go under section C (lower forms) in the intelligible world. Plato believes that the physical world is dependent on the intelligible world.

Aristotle's Theory of Substance completely rejects Plato's theory of two worlds. Aristotle believed in one, single world that possessed multiple substances. While Plato