Aristotelian Reality Part 1

 

Aristotelian Reality Part 1

Aristotle, a disciple of Plato, departed from his philosophical master’s teachings and taught that true reality is the everyday material reality and experienced through the five senses.  Plato believed that true reality consists of mystical ideas, experienced by the enlightened philosopher.  Aristotle believed the opposite: to him, true reality is concrete, experienced through the five senses.  Plato’s reality is invisible.  Aristotle’s reality is visible.  Plato’s logic is unconscious.  Aristotle’s logic is conscious.  The masterful painting of Raphael (called “The School of Athens”) shows Plato with his right finger pointing upwards, symbolizing invisible, mystical reality.  Next to him is Aristotle, with his right hand stretched out straight head, symbolizing visible, tangible reality.  This Great Debate between intangible, unconscious, Platonic mysticism and tangible, conscious, Aristotelian science continues to this day.  Somehow both realities are valid.  But how can we synthesize them together, given that they are antithetical?  We will discuss this in another blog entitled Aristotelian Reality Part 3.

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