Plato vs. Aristotle: The Battle of the Ages

The world is divided into two major groups. Those that favor bigger government and those that favor smaller government. The battle between these two groups has occurred since the beginning of mankind and has been the primary cause of great atrocities. 

No two philosophers personified this conflict as greatly as Plato and Aristotle. Plato focused on the idea of the ‘perfect utopian society.’ He believed that individuals were incapable of thinking for themselves and needed an intellectual elite to make decisions. These decision-makers were called ‘the Guardians.’ Aristotle did not seek to create the ‘perfect society.’ He was the original realist and much like modern day conservatives, he dealt with men as they are not as he wanted them to be. Throughout history, Platonians have sought to create the perfect ‘socialist man.’ Aristotleans, on the other hand, have sought to create the perfect system which would enable men to strive and achieve. 

Aristotle’s works greatly influenced the Republics of Greece and Rome and we know the advancements that emerged during these periods. However, in the 3rd Century AD, Holy Roman Emporer, Constantine I adopted Christianity, marking the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe. Very little progress or human advancement occurred during this period in Europe. The ideas of Aristotle, however, made their way and spread throughout the Middle East with the help of Islamic philosophers such as, al-Farabi.  During this period, the Middle East flourished with great developments in maths and sciences. 

As the Islamic golden era was waning, the works of Aristotle made their way up to Europe which drove it out of the Dark Ages and led to the birth of Humanism. Humanism was basically the idea that God was not responsible for everything and man had answers inside of him. This significant shift in thinking led to the Age of Enlightenment and the Renaissance. Paintings were suddenly colorful and self-portraits emerged because, again, people believed themselves to be important. Not to breeze through major periods in history but, basically, this led to the emergence of Protestantism which, ultimately, led to the Anglo-Scottish Enlightenment, which influenced the founding fathers of the United States of America. There is a great book on the subject by Max Weber called “Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.”

Plato also had great influence throughout the course of history, but it really wasn’t until the French Revolution, do we see strides made by Platonian philosophers to create the ‘perfect socialist man.’ The French Revolution influenced Marx and Engels, which influenced Lenin and Stalin and all of the Socialist revolutions since. So, in order to keep my explanation of the world to about five paragraphs I have had to be simplistic but, hey, most concepts when you boil them down are simple. As Aristotle said so wisely, “A is A.”