From Plato to Aristotle HUM 2051: Civilization I Fall 2010 Dr. Perdigao September 29-October 1, 2010

Conceptual Shifts From Homer’s hero Achilles who does not fear death from spiritedness: philosopher who is not concerned with life, his own existence Radical shift in notion of self and world Reason > Spiritedness; Rational > Thumos

Schemata “‘pre-Socratic’ philosophers formed speculative theories about the nature of the world and its constituent parts that would be immensely important for Plato and Aristotle, especially when they disagreed with those theories. Conversely, religion and traditional piety flourished in the midst of the Sophistic revolution and the growth of philosophical systems. Though we often see the collision of these beliefs in Greek tragedy, the continued strength of religion is most evident in the building of temples and less formal shrines and in the huge number of dedications in all of them, acts of devotion by the faithful.” (784) “The Platonic (Academic) and the Aristotelian (Peripatetic) schools further developed their systems of thought and continued to do so long after. Neoplatonism would exert an important influence on Christianity, as would the writings of Aristotle much later.” (785)

Metamorphoses Peripatetic school—shift from Plato’s Academy, foundation of the Lyceum Empirical method—from particular to inference (contrast to abstract Forms governing all aspects of the cosmos) Emphasis on perception as way of knowing reality that is not wholly transcendent but traceable in world Matter, form, motion in Physics and Metaphysics Shift from tripartite soul (of the Republic [reason, thumos, eros]); rejects dualism of body/soul, that split (which Descartes later returns to)

Aristotelian Logic Aristotle as student of Plato Use of poets to the city—a political function in theatre Catharsis, with an emphasis on pity and fear Notion of literary studies—from studies of plot (beginning, middle, and end) to reception theory

Some Forms “and effecting through pity and fear [what we call] the catharsis of such emotions” (780) Spectacle as tragedy; melody and language; character and thought “imitation of action” as plot Imitated objects—place within Plato’s system? “the poet’s function is not to report things that have happened, but rather to tell of such things as might happen, things that are possibilities by virtue of being in themselves inevitable or probable” (781). Reversal; recognition Goal of plot to achieve excellence—new form to follow (arete in new arena)