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Teachers' Resource Web Philosophical Differences between Plato and Aristotle Al Drake, UCI Truth: Plato says that Truth exists in a realm of Forms independent of our thoughts and perceptions. Truth, he says, must not be confused with our own perceptions of this world of mere "appearances." Instead, we apprehend Truth through a methodical kind of reasoning that Plato calls "dialectics." Aristotle would agree that truth exists independently of our perceptions, but he says that the primary characteristic of the universe is becoming, not being. The Cosmos is active and dynamic, not statically beautiful and timeless as Plato would have it. So one vital way to learn about truth is to employ the scientific, inductive method and to observe physical nature and our fellow humans whenever possible. That way, you can learn the potential and "nature" of phenomena and thereby understand how they will behave in future. Aristotle says that life is an action and that the goal of action is further action. A thing grows into what its potential enables it to become, and then acts in accordance with its nature. Consider an acorn--it is a potential oak, and when it grows up to be a sturdy oak, it goes on doing all the things that a sturdy, living oak ought to do. By careful observation, says Aristotle, we can make sense of the universe; we can understand its laws. Art: Plato says that poets and artists tell lies--all they do is copy the Forms at third hand, and thereby mislead their audiences. Plato claims that art appeals only to irrational desires. Censorship, and even banishment, is the appropriate remedy for such corruption of the public morals. Aristotle disagrees with this "contagion theory of art"; he says that humans learn about themselves and the universe from artistic imitations. After all, he says, art is imitation, and we learn our first lessons in life by imitating what we see and hear around us. Moreover, since a good play operates in accordance with the fundamental laws of the universe--probability and necessity--we reconfirm our understanding and acceptance of these laws every time we see a well-constructed play. Plato says art corrupts; Aristotle says it teaches. Politics: Plato says that art is harmful to an orderly state because it makes people desire things they shouldn't want or do. Aristotle says that drama is good for citizens because it "purges" harmful emotions or "clarifies" the nature of things. If we accept an Oedipus' downfall, we will not be disobedient citizens. Aristotelian drama terms: Since Aristotle says that art is such an excellent way to learn about our society and ourselves, he offers a theory of poetics. We have at least part of this theory in the Poetics. From it I draw the explanation below. Tragedy: "An imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude . . . in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions." Action: The principle of intelligibility revealed by the arrangement of causally connected incidents. The dramatist arranges the events of his tale so that they reveal an intelligible pattern, something universally true about us or about the cosmos. In Oedipus Rex, the "action" consists in Oedipus' gradually discovering the limitations of human intelligence and courage in confronting an externally imposed fate. The plot, which revolves around Oedipus' discovery that he is the incestuous murderer polluting the city he loves, reveals something universally true about us all. The Greeks always admired someone strong enough to respond to a given situation; but even the most courageous response might not save the hero. Plot: The "arrangement of incidents" and most important element of tragedy. Sophocles takes an old legend about King Oedipus and arranges the events of the story into a logical sequence. He chooses what to show on stage and when to show it, and each thing he shows must be clearly connected to what came before it and what comes after it. Further, plot is "the soul of tragedy." For Aristotle, the "soul" is the purpose, the telos, of the body. Similarly, the plot is the reason for which the tragedy exists. Why? Because it is the enactment of the plot that reveals, one might even say embodies, the action--the intelligible principle. Watching the plot unfold, we, along with the protagonist who learns at first hand, come to understand something universally valid about the cosmos and ourselves. Plot imitates an action, and this action reveals something universal about humans and the order of the universe. Character: This second most important part of tragedy is revealed mainly through action. By watching the plot unfold, we learn about Oedipus' character, his "type." We begin to understand why he does what he does, and can begin to predict how he will respond to a given challenge or situation. The tragedian, writes Aristotle, should portray a character as true to life--that is, true to the type--and as consistent. He should "preserve the type and yet ennoble it." Spectacle, Thought, Diction, Song: I'll omit discussion of these last four parts. Hamartia: The protagonist's tragic error, the way in which or reason for which he commits some mistake and offends the societal order and the gods. Don't confuse hamartia with Christian "sin." The Greek verb hamartano means "to err, to miss the mark." Notice that this definition need not imply moral condemnation. Things are otherwise with sin--when Christians "sin," they willfully and perversely violate a well-known moral code. One may love the sinner, but the sin itself is to be condemned. Let's make an analogy between breaking a moral law and running a red light. Say I run a stoplight. Even if I didn't see it, I was negligent in failing to see it. I knew that there is an established network of stoplights and that I should be on the lookout for them at all times. I'm responsible for obeying the well-known rules of the road. The same goes for Christian morals--Christians know what the Ten Commandments are, and if they break them, they must pay the price. But your Greek "stoplight" is entirely another matter. It is not always possible for a Greek to know precisely what will offend the gods and what won't. Unless we're good Platonists or solid Aristotelian philosophers, the universe isn't a very rational place. At least, the common Greek sensibility as revealed in myth and religion doesn't hold that it is. The gods do what pleases them, and a Greek is responsible nonetheless for any errors made. That's what's frightening about Greek morality: you pay the same penalty for "making a mistake" as the Christian does for committing a willful sin. When Oedipus killed that provocative old man, he could not have known that the deed made him a parricide; he could not have known that Jocasta was his mother! But he's going to pay nonetheless. The gods are offended. Hubris: The quality of thinking you have powers that you really don't possess. Oedipus' dogged pursuit of the truth is admirable, but there is an element of hubris about it, as he learns to his sorrow. In its less literary usage, the term had to do with a serious violation of Athenian law. Recognition and Reversal: Reversal has to do with a sudden turn in events, as when the messenger arrives meaning to make Oedipus happy, but instead implicates him in the worst crimes imaginable. Recognition consists in the protagonist arriving at a vision of his own moral status; Aristotle describes this moment as "a change from ignorance to knowledge." The best, most sophisticated plays link the two moments, as in Oedipus Rex: The protagonist realizes what he has done and grasps the consequences to himself. Pity and Fear: The emotions that a good plot--specifically reversal and recognition--should arouse. Why do we identify with the hero to the point of feeling pity and fear on his account? The protagonist is a noble type of humanity. When the protagonist errs and suffers, we realize that it could happen to us, too. The unfolding plot makes us understand that we are subject to the same laws or limitations that destroy the protagonist. Are we better or smarter than Oedipus? No! Catharsis: Either emotional purgation of potentially harmful emotions or intellectual clarification of something important about humans and the world they live in. Either way, the point is that watching a tragedy is therapeutic for the Greek community; art serves an important social function. Probability and Necessity: The basic laws of the universe--things
happen because they are probable and necessary. The idea is that
the universe works in a certain way; it operates in accordance with
rational laws. Things don't "just happen" at random.
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