Critical Analysis of Plato and Aristotle
A
TERM PAPER
ON
POL 311 (HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT)
TOPIC
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT
WRITTEN BY
OKWOR, STEPHEN USHIE
09/ED/EF/814
DEPT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS (POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIT)
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
SUBMITTED TO
DR. EJERE
DEPT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO
AKWA IBOM STATE
MAY, 2012
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT
In order to compare these great philosophers, it is important that we first of all view their history from an individual perspective.
PLATO (427 – 347BC) Greek philosopher, born into an aristocratic Athenian family in the year 427BC, he was expected to take up a political career but circumstances and inclination persuaded him to turn to philosophy instead. He joined the Socratic circle at the age of 20 and remained in Athens until the tragic death of his master Socrates in the hands of Athenian democracy. He remained profoundly critical of democratic institutions all his life. He did however; make one foray into the world of “real politics,” when in the middle age he attempted – entirely unsuccessfully – to put some of his political theories into practice in the Greek city state of Syracuse. Although some of his earlier dialogues raised key political issues (e.g. The Apology, Crito and particularly Gorgias,) it is The Republic that is usually considered to be Plato’s first big contribution to political theory. He died in 347BC.
ARISTOTLE (384 – 322BC) Aristotle was a Greek philosopher. He was born into a wealthy family in northern Greece, where his father was a physician to the king of Macedon. In 367 he moved to Athens and associated himself with Plato’s academy, where he studied until Plato’s death in 347BC. After several years travelling and researching in the eastern Aegean, he was invited by Philip of Macedon to be tutor to the young Alexander the great. In 335BC, he returned to Athens and
TERM PAPER
ON
POL 311 (HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT)
TOPIC
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT
WRITTEN BY
OKWOR, STEPHEN USHIE
09/ED/EF/814
DEPT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS (POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIT)
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
SUBMITTED TO
DR. EJERE
DEPT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO
AKWA IBOM STATE
MAY, 2012
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLES POLITICAL THOUGHT
In order to compare these great philosophers, it is important that we first of all view their history from an individual perspective.
PLATO (427 – 347BC) Greek philosopher, born into an aristocratic Athenian family in the year 427BC, he was expected to take up a political career but circumstances and inclination persuaded him to turn to philosophy instead. He joined the Socratic circle at the age of 20 and remained in Athens until the tragic death of his master Socrates in the hands of Athenian democracy. He remained profoundly critical of democratic institutions all his life. He did however; make one foray into the world of “real politics,” when in the middle age he attempted – entirely unsuccessfully – to put some of his political theories into practice in the Greek city state of Syracuse. Although some of his earlier dialogues raised key political issues (e.g. The Apology, Crito and particularly Gorgias,) it is The Republic that is usually considered to be Plato’s first big contribution to political theory. He died in 347BC.
ARISTOTLE (384 – 322BC) Aristotle was a Greek philosopher. He was born into a wealthy family in northern Greece, where his father was a physician to the king of Macedon. In 367 he moved to Athens and associated himself with Plato’s academy, where he studied until Plato’s death in 347BC. After several years travelling and researching in the eastern Aegean, he was invited by Philip of Macedon to be tutor to the young Alexander the great. In 335BC, he returned to Athens and