Thursday, September 6, 2012
Knowing and Doing or Doing and Knowing?
Reading Plato and then Aristotle is interesting because although Aristotle was Plato’s student, there are many distinct differences between their views. At the end of Wednesday’s class, Dr. J stated that for Plato, to know the good is to do the good while for Aristotle, to do the good is to know the good. It can be concluded that Plato’s view of virtue is focused on wisdom. If one is wise, virtue will follow and this virtue is sufficient for happiness.
For Aristotle, although wisdom is the highest virtue, it isn’t the key to having all virtues. Knowing the good is not enough in Aristotle’s view because one’s habits must reflect virtue for a person to be virtuous. Therefore, from Aristotle’s perspective, virtue is not sufficient for the good life yet it is necessary.
Having read a little bit of both Plato and Aristotle, which seems more plausible? It seems that Aristotle’s view emphasizes the actions of doing good in order to truly understand what is good while Plato focuses on knowing what is good and then acting accordingly. In today’s society, which view is more prevalent? Is one more realistic then the other? Is it possible for a community to function efficiently if some people adopt Plato’s method while others focus on Aristotle’s ways?
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In today's Western society Plato's views are less prevalent than Aristotle's. In today's society one has to prove himself to be successful. People practice to perfect their skills. I liked Dr. J's analogy. She said that if a swimmer learns the idea behind swimming (e.g. the physics of swimming, etc.) they still won't be able to swim unless they've been in the water. I think it's more efficient for a community to follow Aristotle's guidelines, if they are proficient in a skill after practicing it, they will make mistakes less. But if one only studies the ideas behind a skill then they will not be able to anticipate all of the accidents that might happen. When we study the mechanics of a skill, we only learn about things that will happen if the skill is performed perfectly. We can't learn all of the things that can go wrong while performing a skill because there are an infinite amount of mistakes that can happen. So, I believe that to have a functioning society, Aristotle's rules must be followed.
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