This is Raphael (1483-1520), one of the three outstanding figures in the Renaissance. In his famous painting "Athens Academy", Raphael depicts the scene where scholars, sages and philosophers of different times gather together to discuss enthusiastically, so as to show people's admiration for Athenian civilization, praise people's yearning for wisdom and truth, and reflect people's persistent pursuit and lofty pursuit of a better life.
In the center of the painting are the protagonists to be introduced today: Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC). What are they discussing? Plato holds his Timanus in his left hand and points to the sky in his right hand; Aristotle holds his ethics in his left hand and his right hand is down. This gesture reflects their differences in world outlook and epistemology. Plato is an idealist and a rationalist, while Aristotle is a realist and an empiricist.
Let's review the famous sayings of this pair of mentoring:
1, Plato (Republic): Ignorance of oneself is double ignorance. Respect for people should not be superior to respect for truth.
2. Aristotle (an encyclopedic scientist who advocates the spirit of critical questioning): The ultimate value of life lies in the ability to awaken and think, not just in survival.
Plato was born in 427 BC, an Athenian aristocrat. Grow very tall and strong, Plato's name means broad verve. Under the guidance and inquiry of Socrates, a life tutor, Plato gave up his previous love for literature and drama, even burned all his tragedies and literary works, and bravely abandoned literature and followed philosophy.
Plato's main points:
1, Art and Imitation
Plato took "three kinds of beds" as an example to show that poetry and other arts only imitated the image of real things, and the concept of "bed" was real. The carpenter's physical bed imitates the concept of bed, which is its dim shadow, while the art bed is not the image of the concept image. It has the lowest degree of truth and belongs to the lowest part of the world and cognitive structure sequence, because "it only touches or grasps a small part of the object, and it is still.
2. Art and soul
Plato believed that art only imitated feelings and passions.
When Plato discusses the relationship between art and soul ability, he thinks that artists only imitate the feelings and desires in the soul in their creation. "He was stimulated and strengthened this low component in the soul. By strengthening this low component, it will tend to destroy the rational part of the soul. "
He also believes that the artistic effect of Greek tragedy at that time only catered to and satisfied the part of people's inner desire to vent their emotions. Over time, this persistent pity will make it difficult for them to be bound by reason when they are in pain.
3. Plato believes that the function of literature and art lies in purifying the polis.
Plato emphasized that literature education is very important, because bad art will pollute the mental state of the city-state, while good art can purify the social atmosphere and personal mind of the city-state. Therefore, he personally advocates that the utopia should strictly supervise art, prevent artists from "depicting evil, debauchery, meanness and filth in paintings or sculptures", cultivate and carry forward works of art that can be purified, and make art contribute to the long-term stability of the utopia.
4 Cave metaphor:
The world is divided into two parts.
One is the world inside the cave, and the other is the world outside the cave.
Suppose there are several prisoners who have been tied up since childhood and can't turn around, sitting in a hole facing the cave wall. There is a fire at the mouth of the cave, and some puppets come and go. These prisoners always thought that shadows were real things, until a prisoner freed himself and turned to see the puppet under the fire, only to know that what he had seen before was only shadows. When he walked out of the cave and saw everything in the sun, he realized that the puppet itself was not a real thing, but a copy. Finally, he saw the sun and understood that everything could be seen through the light of the sun. The sun is a real thing.
What is the world like in the cave? The world supported by torches and images, the world bound and enslaved are illusory and imperfect.
The world outside the cave doesn't depend on anything. There is a real sun here. It is rational, abstract, invisible and intangible to the naked eye, and must be grasped through thinking.
Well, it's true.
Aristotle was born in 384 BC in a family of court doctors in Macedonia. Where is Macedonia?
Put Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras and Aristotle on the map, is it clear right away ~
Look at contemporary China, during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States Period.
What Bian Xiao remembers most clearly is his "I love my teacher, and I love the truth more", that is to say, teacher, although I love you very much, what you said is wrong. I love the truth I pursue through my own practice and deduction! I can't help it, I am better than blue in shine on you!
I guess everyone wants to know how he challenged his teacher Plato?
He thinks it is too difficult and painful to get out of the cave, and ordinary people can't do it after hard study. And you people, philosophers, you did what you said, saw it, did you really see it? What are the benefits and effects on the real life of the rest of us?
The question is, does this cave really exist? Are we really going out of this cave? Caves, hallucinations, bondage and hallucinations are just our own constructions.
We don't need to go far away at all, the world is right in front of us!
Let's sum up, Plato and Aristotle both believe that there is an absolute truth in this world, just like mathematics, just like the sun outside the cave. Among them, Mr. Bai also believes that we all live in an emotional world, and this world is illusory. We are all people with poor colors, imperfect tables and imperfect sculptures.
Where is perfection?
Perfection is beyond the cave, in the distance. We must stand up, we must learn, we must reflect, and the unexamined life is not worth living. We should constantly examine our lives, and we should pursue absolute truth.
Estee said, no, perfection does not exist. Like a radish hanging in front of a donkey, it can never be reached. So there is no need to pursue it deliberately.
What is the origin of the world? It is themselves.
Let's review Aristotle's main points:
Think that art is an imitation of reality.
He first affirmed the authenticity of the real world, thus affirming the authenticity of "imitating" real art, and Aristotle further believed that the imitation function of art made art even more real than the real world it imitated.
"four causes theory"
This paper discusses the reasons for the emergence and existence of entities, which is a theoretical summary of various primitive theories in ancient Greece. Aristotle believes that things exist and change for four reasons:
(1) "Material cause"-refers to what things are made of.
(2) "formal reasons"-refers to what form things have.
(3) "dynamic cause"-refers to what forces promote the formation of matter.
(4) "Purpose"-refers to the purpose of composing things.
For example, building a house, bricks and tiles are material reasons, design drawings are formal reasons, builders are power reasons, and the purpose of the house is the purpose reason.
In fact, form is not only the purpose pursued by materials, but also the driving force to promote materials, so form cause, motivation cause and purpose cause are integrated, so the "four causes" can be summarized as two causes-form cause and material cause.
The relationship between material and form:
Material is the most basic thing and the foundation of things; Form defines the essence of things, and it makes a thing become it. Material is a negative, passive and decisive factor, while form is a positive, active and decisive factor.
However, the distinction between this form and material is not fixed, but relative. A higher-level thing is the form of its lower-level thing and the material of a higher-level thing at the same time.
For example, like a flapping chicken, the "shape" of this chicken is that it can flap its wings, coo and lay eggs. When the chicken dies, the "form" no longer exists, leaving only the material of the chicken.
Aristotle is very knowledgeable, and his knowledge is wider than his teacher. In addition to philosophy, he is also keen on the study of natural science, social science and ethics, and has made great achievements in zoology, astronomy, meteorology and poetics.
He is the king of all kinds of knowledge through the ages.
So he can go beyond Plato's theory of dividing the world into two parts and put forward a broader theory. Together with Socrates and Plato, these three sages laid the academic foundation of the whole history of western philosophy and influenced the next two thousand years.