Your Status: Logged out Log in

Aristotle refutes Plato's Theory of Ideas on three basic grounds: that the existence of Ideas contradicts itself by denying the possibility of negations;  

Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Mon Jun 19 2006

Page Preview
Preview
Previous 1 of 2 Next

On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:

Aristotle refutes Plato's Theory of Ideas on three basic grounds: that the existence of Ideas contradicts itself by denying the possibility of negations; that his illustrations of Ideas are merely empty metaphors; and that they theory uses impermanent abstractions to create examples of perception. Though the theory is meant to establish concrete standards for the knowledge of reality, Aristotle considers it fraught with inconsistencies and believes that the concept of reality depends upon all forms' correlations to other elements. Ideas, Plato believes, are permanent, self-contained absolutes, which answered to each item of exact knowledge attained through human thought. Also, Ideas are in Plato's view concrete standards by which all human endeavor can be judged, for the hierarchy of all ideas leads to the highest absolute - that of Good. In addition, the theory claims that states of being are contingent upon the mingling of various Forms of existence, that knowledge...

Get instant access



  • Instant, unlimited access to our documents in full
  • Swap your work for free access, or pay £4.99
  • To see the full version of this document and 150,159 others
Register Now