Plato and Aristotle

Comparison Essay # 64728

Philosophy
Philosophy > Ancient Greek

Plato and Aristotle

An analysis and comparison of some of the writings of Plato and Aristotle.

2,041 words () | 3 sources | APA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

This report looks at and compares some of the writings of Plato and Aristotle concerning the subject of the struggle between liberty and authority. The report concludes that Aristotle seems to favor authority while Plato tends to favor liberty above all. The report also examines some arguments from each of these philosophers and analyzes direct texts in an effort to answer questions about how these thinkers felt about liberty and authority.

From the Paper:

"In Aristotle's works, the support of authority over liberty becomes clear from a number of angles. This is not to say that the philosopher discounted liberty as an important concept, but rather is to say that Aristotle saw the authority of the state as ultimate, and designed to protect humanity from the liberty of those who would do harm to the greater good. "Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view of some good... but if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and of the highest good" (Aristotle).
This shows and reflects on how Aristotle thought of the state as being the highest sort of community, and in the converse realtionship the liberty of the individual is comparatively unimportant, unless this liberty works to serve and protect the state, rather than challenge it or attempt to change it. "The state comes into existence for the sake of a good life. And therefore, if the earlier forms of society are natural, so is the state, for it is the end of them, and the nature of a thing is its end. For what each thing is when fully developed, we call its nature, wehther we are speaking of a man, a horse, or a family" (Aristotle).
Therefore, Aristotle saw the state as being the full development of a society in which liberty was important. But this does not mean that Aristotle supported liberty of individuals against the state; it is more like saying he supported liberty, but only if it served the greater good."