Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were leaders of a movement that espoused that truth is real and absolute standards exist. They opposed the relativism, skepticism, and individualism found in
sophism, a more radical philosophy of the time that was gaining adherents. Most of our knowledge of sophism comes from Plato, a severe critic, who disparaged the rise in individualism and the power of citizens during the flourishing of democracy in Athens in the middle of the fifth century B.C. As a result, it is not surprising that Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were all opposed to democracy to varying degrees.
Socrates did not write anything himself, so it is difficult to know precisely what he believed. However, there is evidence he thought poorly democracy and viewed a government comprised of members of the intellectual aristocracy as being the only acceptable form of government. His attachment to aristocrats, one of whom was a traitor during the Peloponnesian War, is believed to be one of the reasons he was condemned to death.
Plato, a pupil of Socrates, wrote extensively. He sought to create a government that would be stable with an absence of strife between bot individuals and classes. He preferred harmony and efficiency over democracy and liberty. He proposed to organize society into three
classes based on how he perceived their innate character. The bottom class included farmers, artisans, and merchants because of their tendency to indulge their baser appetites. The middle class comprised soldiers because of their strong wills and spirits. The members of the uppermost class, because of their reasoning abilities, would be the intellectual aristocracy. The intellectual aristocracy would possess absolute control of political power.
Aristotle rejected the views of Socrates and Plato favoring the aristocracy, considering the best state to be a polity, which he described as being a government situated between an oligarchy and
democracy. He rested political control with the middle class, who he intended to be a sizable portion of the population. He believed government should promote the welfare of its citizens, recommending it provide the poor with financial means to purchase small farms or to
start small businesses. He rejected monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. He viewed the establishment of governments as being both essential for civilized life and a fundamental characteristic of mankind.
Socrates believed knowledge could best be acquired through the exchange and analysis of opinions until a universal truth could be uncovered. He believed that a universal and unchanging valid knowledge existed and could be found by people through this method. The discovery of these truths would provide a perfect guide to virtuous living. Socrates had little use for the physical world, declaring he could learn nothing from trees and stones.
Plato shared Socrates' belief that knowledge was the path to virtue. However, Plato viewed knowledge derived from physical sensations to be limited and subject to change. Therefore, he believed only the rational mind was useful for comprehending goodness and justice. He
viewed the body as a hindrance to the mind, believing that the body's appetites and emotions should be strictly subordinated to reason. Plato clearly believed in the value of education because under his scheme of government, people would be assigned to one of his three classes based on each individual's ability to gain from receiving an education. The lowest classes would be those who had demonstrated the least intellectual capacity, while the uppermost class would be the
most intelligent and therefore, the most educated.
Aristotle departed from both Plato and Socrates by having considerable regard for the physical world as a source of learning. Although he maintained Plato and Socrates' interest in discovering absolute, unchanging truth, he also was an empirical scientist. His studies included biology, physics, and astronomy. Aristotle clearly believed in the value of education. He wrote even more works than Plato on a wider range of subjects. He served as a student and teacher at Plato's Academy, tutored Alexander the great for seven years, and then organized the Lyceum, a school of his own, which he led until his death.
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