Plato and Aristotle
Samantha Meador
Rasmussen College
Author Note
This paper is being submitted on May 21st, 2017, for Cheryl Gunnaway’s G440 Political Thought.
Plato and Aristotle
Plato wanted people to reach full fulfillment in life. He wrote many books that featured his teacher Socrates. Among the books that Plato wrote, The Republic, The Symposium, The Laws, The Meno, and The Apology are some of the most known("PHILOSOPHY - Plato"). Plato felt that we should think more that we should understand why we are choosing the choices we are. He felt that we should know who we are and we shouldn’t just go along with everything. He also felt that our relationships should help each other. Another idea was that society should be reformed("PHILOSOPHY - Plato"). He was a visionary thinker and wanted people should focus more on Guardians and not celebrities. Plato thought that if we focused on bad things they would become a part of how we think and make decisions. Plato didn’t like democracy. He wanted people to think rationally and understand why and who they are voting for. He thought that all politicians should become philosophers and focus on things that are good("PHILOSOPHY - Plato").
Aristotle was a very influential philosopher. He tutored Alexander the Great who conquered the world. Aristotle was interested in how things worked and the practical aspect of things("PHILOSOPHY - Aristotle"). He wanted to know what made people happy. Aristotle thought that knowing how to have a sense of humor and good conversation. He felt that things were balanced and based upon deficiency, mean and excess traits. He much like Plato wrote many books explaining how people should look at life. Aristotle didn’t think that art was good for humans because it was based on strategies("PHILOSOPHY - Aristotle"). He also felt that friends were important and that there were many different types of friends. He thought that people should be persuasive and understand why people feel the way they do. Aristotle believed that politics and ethics should be as one. He says that all things have a purpose and it knows as telos.