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Comparing the views of Plato, Aristotle, Epicureans and Stoic
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RST3708Assignment 2 - Semester 1 – Unique number – 738346
1. Introduction
Plato was an Athenian philosopher whose work was and still is greatly appreciated and
respected. Together with his student Aristotle, were regarded as the two giants in Greek
philosophy in the Classical Period. Plato together with other young people were devoted
to the works of Socrates, hence many of them wrote their philosophical texts in the form
of Socratic dialogue which became a new genre for philosophical writing. Plato’s works
are usually divided into an early, middle, and late period in accordance with the
development of his ideas regarding God/the Gods, the soul, how one/we should live, and
the nature of knowledge.
Unlike the writings of Plato usually considered in terms of their chronology, Aristotle’s
works are considered under his division of the sciences into theoretical, practical, and
productive sciences. Aristotle, however, did not make provision for what we would
consider ‘logic.’ According to Aristotle’s view, the principles of correct argumentation did
not belong to any one science. Aristotle’s investigations into logic have come down to us
from the Middle Ages under the heading the Organon which means tool in Greek.
Aristotle, Plato’s best student, attended an academy which was founded by Plato. It was
the institution of research and higher education in Athens known as The Academy,
where he remained for 20 years until the death of Plato. Aristotle found his own school,
the Lyceum, named after its location – a temple dedicated to Apollo Lyceus. The rival
philosophical system that Aristotle developed has proven to be at least as great as that
of Plato in its importance and influence in later philosophical traditions, which included,
Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and African traditions.
During the Hellenistic period, two major philosophical schools emerged which were the
Epicureanism and Stoicism. The founders arrived in Athens only after the death of
Aristotle, which happened to be the same year as the death of Alexander. Epicurus
arrived in Athens 17 years after the death of Aristotle and founded a school known as
The Garden. Zeno of Citium arrived about six years earlier and developed a following
among those who gathered in a painted colonnade known as The Stoa Poikile and
became known as the Stoa, or Stoics. Zeno’s works did not survive except as
fragmentary quotations by later authors. However, the titles of many of his works are
,known. The best known of his works is his Republic, the title of which hints at Plato’s
work of the same name. It outlines Zeno’s vision of the ideal Stoic society built on
egalitarian principles.
Two schools of philosophy came after Aristotle, they were the two main Hellenistic
schools of philosophy. The schools differed in their fundamental tenets, however both
shared the idea and goal of philosophy being the transformation of the self into a sage.
Nobody can be a sage, however to make progress towards a better self is attainable.
There were two main differences between the school of Stoic and the school of Epicurus:
Epicureanism is a philosophy which highlights the training of one’s desires. The founder,
Epicurus stated that man is miserable as man desires things he should not desire. The
belief is that man should be able to desire things that are natural and necessary, and
should man be able to do this, he will understand how beautiful and pleasurable it is to
exist. So, when man can be satisfied with the basics of life, that is having food and
shelter, he is able to attain an abundance of universal happiness. Whereas Stoic
philosophers believed that there are many aspects outside of our control (Academy of
Ideas, March 2014). Life can become difficult when things like sickness, loss, poverty,
death and other life’s tragedies befall human beings. Stoic philosophers believed that
when the Roman Goddess of luck or fortune knocks on one’s door with a terrible illness,
there is at times very little or nothing one can do but wait for the storm to pass and not
cause a tragedy.
So, Unlike Epicureans, the Stoic philosophers emphasised that to be alive means to be
open to the many troubles which can arise in our lives at no fault or control of our own,
and that to be happy is not just a matter of ceasing to desire things we need not desire.
According to the Stoics one requires courage, moral strength, and of course, wisdom to
live a successful life. Unforeseen and bad things happen to everyone. The Stoic
philosophers emphasise one who has become a true Stoic, a Stoic sage, will bear
difficulties with strength, understanding, and equanimity; and will refrain from acting upon
or giving in to his base desires/impulses.
The focus of this assignment is to compare the views that Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans
and Stoics had when it concerned the following questions:
• Who/what is God/God?
, • What is the soul/self?
• How should I/we live?
• What, and how, can I/we know?
2. Comparing the views of Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans and Stoic
Philosophies
2.1 Who is God or who are the Gods?
a) Plato
Plato based his concept of God on the Form of the good. He based his belief on
what he perceived as logical, abstract and that God is transcendent-the highest and
most perfect being-and one who uses eternal forms, or archetypes, to fashion a
universe that is eternal and uncreated (Morley, B, 1995). Plato reflected on how
many different things could be called by one name and how each one’s goodness
can bring on an absolute Form of the good. Plato did not focus a belief on sensory
information (touch, feel, taste, hear, see) but rather on the Forms of good like; the
sun, the air, the stars, basically the upper world. Plato’s concept of God was based
on the theories of his predecessors: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes (Milesian
Philosophers). They associated celestial bodies like the sun, moon, and planets to
that of Gods and Goddesses. Plato’s theory of Forms (Plato’s work, The Republic),
was the basic of his understanding of the divine. Plato stated that things we see as
real in the visible world are mere reflections of a higher reality. He calls the world of
experience a visible world and the world of Forms as the intelligible world. Just like
the sun plays a role in the visible world, giving life to organisms on earth, so does the
Forms in the intelligible world depend on the Form of good. He believed that
goodness exists independently of what we believe or desire and structures reality.
Plato is not committed to monotheism but suggests for example that since planetary
motion is uniform and circular, and is the motion of reason, then a planet must be
driven by a rational soul. These souls that drive the planets could be called Gods.
(RST3708/501/2020_3 (2020:8/9)
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