In history, only a handful of philosophers have endorsed the views on knowledge and learning developed by Aristotle (384-322 BC). The opposition to Aristotle’s empiricism began before his birth, that is, with his predecessors, in particular Socrates and Plato. Let us take a look at how their views differ from those of Aristotle.
Socrates (469-399 BC) never wrote any books, but his ideas have been recorded by Plato and Xenophon in their books. If we trust those sources, Socrates had been born in Athens to Sophroniscus, a stonemason, and Phaenarete, a midwife.
Neither Plato nor Xenophon recount any details of Socrates’ youth. The first time they mention him, Socrates was already in his early thirties. Apparently, he was in the habit of holding lively conversations in the Athenian marketplace, attacking the established beliefs and traditions.
His attacks employed a method that has been later labelled as “Socratic.” It consists of taking an apparently true statement and asking a series of probing questions to test its validity. The questions will start in a friendly tone, and grow increasingly aggressive as the statement validity begins to crumble.
Aristotle’s views on knowledge and learning compared to Socrates’
According to Plato, Socrates said that true wisdom starts with recognizing one’s ignorance, which is a meaningless thing to say. In his work “Metaphysics,” Aristotle took the opposite view to Socrates.
Aristotle considered that wisdom should be measured only by objective standards. Truth must be universal or not at all. It is irrelevant if you fulfil Socrates’ requirement of recognizing your own ignorance because the truth is not subjective.
Socrates is supposed to have said that “I am wise because I know that I know nothing.” That’s another meaningless thing to say. Socrates was trying to look humble, but humility has no connection to wisdom. The fact that someone is modest doesn’t mean that he is wise, nor that he will ever be. Socrates’ theory of knowledge and learning did not make any sense.
Unsurprisingly, Socrates’ criticism of Athenian beliefs made him lots of enemies. Eventually, he was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth. The charges themselves were idiotic, but that was not the point. The real issue was that Socrates had made vast number of enemies.
Socrates’ failed views on knowledge and learning
The trial ended with Socrates being sentenced to death by drinking hemlock. Plato mentioned that, during the trial and in the ensuing days, Socrates had ample possibilities to flee, but failed to do so. He accepted his sentence without resistance, drank the hemlock, and died.
Socrates’ verbal bellicosity and his trial show that he wasn’t as clever as he purported to be. His theory of knowledge rested on humility, which is useless for learning. He would have done better if he had used his brain to flee and begin a new life far away from Athens.
Although Plato presents Socrates’ death as an unwavering commitment to principles, the truth is that Socrates behaved in a rather stupid, suicidal manner from beginning to end.
Plato is a devoted propagandist of Socrates’ alleged wisdom but his works “Apology,” “Symposium” and “Phaedo” fail to explain why Socrates had not applied his brains to achieving a long career, instead of suffering an early death.
Socrates’ approach to knowledge rested on questioning, but you should not expect questions to lead automatically to valid answers. Unless you know which questions to ask and how to build logical arguments, you will not discover the truth.
Aristotle’s views on knowledge and learning compared to Plato’s
Plato (428-347) developed a philosophy of knowledge and learning better than Socrates’ but worthless nonetheless. What’s puzzling is that, twenty-six centuries later, millions of men and women still believe most of the nonsense predicated by Plato.
According to the tradition, Plato had been born in Athens from a wealthy family. His mother, Perictione, and his uncle, Charmides, were related to prominent Athenian politicians.
Due to his family’s wealth, Plato received the best education in the fields of mathematics, rhetoric, music and philosophy. In 407 BC (when Plato was twenty-one), he met Socrates at the marketplace in Athens and grew enamoured with his endless, aggressive questioning.
After Socrates’ death in 399 BC, Plato visited Egypt, where he learned about Egyptian religion, medicine, mathematics, and architecture. He then returned to Athens and started a private school that he named “The Academy.”
The Academy attracted students from the Greek islands and mainland. Plato’s lectures covered ethics, politics, physics, and rhetoric, amongst other subjects.
Plato wrote extensively, in particular “dialogues.” Those are presenting conversations (for instance, between Socrates and some other philosopher) where a subject is treated thoroughly.
Plato’s failed views on knowledge and learning
In his dialogues “Symposium,” “Phaedrus,” and “Phaedo,” Plato is outlining his theory of knowledge and learning. Plato considered that all knowledge is deposited in a mystical world of pure abstractions, which he called “the world of forms.”
Those pure abstractions, said Plato, are eternal, unchanging archetypes. They alone constitute the “true reality.” Our world is just an imperfect reflection of those abstractions or “forms.”
Plato theorized that human beings acquire knowledge in a mystical way by accessing the “world of forms.” Learning is in fact remembering, said Plato. He regarded pure abstractions as pre-existing human birth.
Knowledge is gained by accessing the “world of forms” and meditating to remember what we are supposed to know before birth, said Plato. No wonder that Aristotle rejected Plato’s ideas as nonsensical and established instead an empiricist theory.
If you are interested in applying Aristotelian philosophy to problem solving, I recommend you my book “Rational living, rational working.”
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