Better philosopher: Plato or Aristotle?

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Charlemagne_III

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For several reasons I have not been able to decide which philosopher I prefer, either for the methodology or substance of his thought.

Anybody care to weigh in?

This could become an extended tutorial for those who know not much about either, and a refresher course for those who have forgotten all they used to know.
 
Aristotle

In my view, Aristotelian ethics are more developed than those of Plato.
 
From a literary perspective, Plato is better (his dialogues are much more interesting and better written). I have to agree that Aristotle is the better philosopher, however (with the caveat that I am someone who is far from comprehensive in his understanding of both), as his philosophy is more complete and adheres more closely to reality.
 
Charlemagne_III said:
For several reasons I have not been able to decide which philosopher I prefer, either for the methodology or substance of his thought.

Anybody care to weigh in?

This could become an extended tutorial for those who know not much about either, and a refresher course for those who have forgotten all they used to know.
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Aristotle----for the simple reason that without Aristotle there would be no Aquinas.

Also, Plato, for all his genius, was de-emphasized during the Middle Ages and only was “resurrected” (at least in the West) during the Renaissance, where he was used as a rationalize magic and the resurgence of covert paganism.

C.S. Lewis had it right. We did not get hordes of Maguses and Faust-type Magic practitioners until the Renaissance. Before that, they were few and far between (Roger Bacon, for example).

And a lot of those hordes were influenced by the resurgence of Plato’s philosophy.

There ya go. 👍:):p:o
 
Adeimantus4 said:
**From a literary perspective, Plato is better (his dialogues are much more interesting and better written). **I have to agree that Aristotle is the better philosopher, however (with the caveat that I am someone who is far from comprehensive in his understanding of both), as his philosophy is more complete and adheres more closely to reality.
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I agree with this. By comparison, Aristotle’s style is too dry.

Of course, style is not so important as truth, and though Aristotle falters at times, he is more grounded in reality than Plato seems to be. In his old age Thomas Jefferson read the dialogues again (he must have thought it would be a pleasure) but pronounced Plato’s Republic to be virtual insanity.
 
Here is the quote from Jefferson:

“I am just returned from one of my long absences, having been at my other home for five weeks past. Having more leisure there than here for reading, I amused myself with reading seriously Plato’s Republic. I am wrong however in calling it amusement, for it was the heaviest task-work I ever went through. I had occasionally before taken up some of his other works, but scarcely ever had patience to go through a whole dialogue. While wading thro’ the whimsies, the puerilities [childishness], and unintelligible jargon of this work, I laid it down often to ask myself how it could have been that the world should have so long consented to give reputation to such nonsense as this? … bringing Plato to the test of reason, take from him his sophisms [arguments used to deceive], futilities, and incomprehensibilities, and what remains? … Yet this which should have consigned him to early oblivion really procured him immortality of fame and reverence.” Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, July 5, 1814
 
For students new to the great philosophers, there is a survey of them by S.E. Frost titled The Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers.

Originally published in 1942, the book is divided into themes and shows the treatment of those themes from Plato and Aristotle to the early 20th Century. Very readable.

An excellent way to assess the relative merits of Plato and Aristotle.
 
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