MAJOR INFLUENCES OF PLATO’S AND ARISTOTLES’S METAPHYSICS ON LATER DEVELOPMENTS IN RELIGION AND THEIR INFLUENCE IN RELIGION TODAY
Introduction
The word philosophy comes from the Greek name philosophia which factually means “love of wisdom” it means the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake and comprised all areas of speculative thought, including the arts, sciences and religion. Aristotle (384-322 B.CE.) was among the greatest philosopher with Plato during this time with their philosophical influence. Religion is defined as the existence of a divine, transcendent being or beings. Today we recognize many forms of Aristotle’s logic, he developed a syllogistic theory which provided meta theorems accompanied by Plato.
Plato’s ideas on religion and how they are influential in religion today.
At the time of Plato in the Ancient Greece, basically the religion was theoretical hence most of the nature questions were left unanswered. Zeus’s myth stated that lightening of bolts, appeasing of gods with offerings and other beliefs were related to our human nature. Our human nature to question, Plato, reflected the nature of reality, notion of the soul and bringing out our existence. As humans, we tend to seek answers, the key principle occurrence in all religion is the human intention to pursue and own the ability to influence our fortune on this world and the generations to come. This is the main reason as to why the Ancient Greeks built the temples and made offerings to their gods and the same reason as to why Christians today in order to communicate with God. It is the human nature that pushes us to look for great things and also question our spiritual place and pursue purpose.
Custom, belief and practice whether they are communal or personal convictions they are all shared through the expression. Religious belief expressions are normally expressed through human culture. Today it is always advisable to question the data that you have been provided in order to win the confidentiality that it is based on truth and sincerity. According to Plato’s graft was to recommend a dilemma and and discuss the issue from the characterized points. Socrates provided inspiration by appealing people in conversation to question the basis of their beliefs. Through the inquiries, the row for beliefs were the subject to scrutiny and through this became the dilemma that needed to be examined. Based on Plato’s cosmological argument, he states that things in the atmosphere change or move.
Change or motion is one and the same which is caused by various things that do affect them. In order to come into conclusion of these causes, we must understand that motion or change originates in a self –moved mover. Plato believed this mover was the source of the change in this motion. Plato also stated the stipulation to end the series of this causes one need to perceive this to to be a primitive version of Leibniz’s logic that their sufficient reason for the initiation of a series. This Plato’s view glimmered the debate into whether the possibility of infinite regression should be rejected or accepted. F.C. Copleston argued from Plato that also mere existence can be argued from a said cause, and the argument from contingence stems from this idea. The belief of a necessary being would inspire critics to heavily investigate such religious arguments. These cosmological discusses within the religion philosophy today have been influenced by the works of Plato.
Plato also discusses the problem of evil in relation to God, the Demiurge is not omnipotent but it is Omni benevolence. Therefore, this is a clear explanation about the nature of God the logic in it is that if the evil does exist, then God cannot be both omnipotence and Omni benevolence. During evolutionary process, the role of was limited hence He could not initiate the process. These are the current scientific findings which have been influenced by the Plato’s argument. Plato well-thought-out that there was a measure of goodness that would help to identify God as benevolent enhance standards based on goodness that would be independent of God. This became the most important base of Plato’s idea to relate to with his notion of the soul. The theory of forms reinforces todays religion and tries to explain our instinctive moral knowledge.
Plato begins by debating on various definition of words a technique he had acquired from Socrates. Plato upholds that given perfect time and space we have perfect ideas and themes which we may discover what it resembles. He gives an example of beauty which is transferable because beauty is perceived in different ways. Plato considers that our own senses are mostly imperfect we may have a clue of something but we don’t know the perfect ideas to manipulate it hence the Forms translate. Plato discloses that there is a sense in which the inquirer both knows and does not know what he is seeking. This is defined as the Meno’s Paradox. He used this argument as the basis of his doctrine on the forms. He strongly believed that way we could gain knowledge of absolute realities from bodily sense-experiences while it is our pre existing knowledge of the forms that allows us to inquire into their nature. Plato described it as an inborn possession which constitutes that our soul pre-existed the body. Plato goes ahead and adds that the supposed pre existence brings in question the post-existence. The immorality of the soul, may suggest that creator gave life to human beings for greater purposes.
Plato believed that the Forms could never be encountered in this world because they are permanent and have a permanent concepts-beauty, justice truth and justice which he also believed that even if we have unknown perfect example of them he believed we have instinctive appreciation. The physical world, consists of objects which are ever changing hence they are not a true source of knowledge. Our experiences are based on what is interpreted by our senses which may not be perfect. According to Christian application, Plato argued that we commit wrong doings because of lack of knowledge whether it is a bad thing or not, this may be correct assumption because most of the times we carry out actions without fully knowing the kind of consequences of the choice one has made.
Plato’s concept of the soul contained a theory from the Ancient Greek culture. Their belief was humans composed two different elements, the soul and the body. This was among the Greek mythology which they believed in the existence of ire in the underworld. The ancient Greed did not believe in any life after death they acknowledged true immortality belonged to h gods of Olympus. According to Plato the soul was our identity, he therefore goes on and states that it would be incredible to be interested in the soul immorality he derives this from Phaedo. Plato clarifies that the soul must be spiritual if anything is to remain of us since the physical body does not live after death.
Plato expressed these theories that appealed to them because of human inabilities to come into terms with death. This belief is also in the Christianity and other religions based on our nature to draw connections to others.one may consider the correspondence to the belief that we will be reunited with our loved ones during the eternal life. Plato argued that one must take care of the soul through controlling the body desires and self control, because the soul is imprisoned by the body. This was the belief of Plato in religion, according to him the main central task of life was to care for the soul. He went ahead and argued that submitting to our body desires is a risk of damaging the soul. He also states that wrongdoings harm oneself than others by damaging the soul.” He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he suffers it. According to Christianity, the trial and execution of Jesus, Jesus ascended into Heaven without any vengeance at all. Christians therefore are supposed to use Plato’s idea to portray that the body needs to be overpowered to overcome any sort of evil.
Aristotle’s ideas on religion and how they are influential to religion today
Aristotle dismissed the original sacred mythology he did this my first clearing the analytical space from the religious mythology and the doctrines from the ancient. A century before him, a Greek martyr Protagoras had been expelled with his book burnt in public since he had refused to agree on the divine origins of the universe. Protagoras publicly uttered, ‘‘I am unable to arrive at a knowledge whether there are any gods” he uttered these words on the presence of 30,000 gods which were invented and worshipped by the Greeks. They found this statement very offensive since these gods had been ruling them all through.
Thereafter, wise men from the ancient times stared to question the authority and rigidity of the tribes of their priests. This shows that as long as we are human we all wish to know and live by the experience. Aristotle’s opinions questioned the accepted dictatorial anti-cosmology that locked homo sapiens in the prison of belief, myth and false perception leaving reason dormant. Aristotle opened the door to the unhindered investigation about the beautiful cosmos wondrous mysterious nature and everything that demanded inquiry. He absolutely defended the right to know and accept the fact that some people believe in the existence of gods but wise men should also be allowed not to believe.
Aristotle developed his own platform which he used throughout on his inventions, he wrote that one sign causes knowledge whereas the other one causes belief. The idea of falsehood religious beliefs, or the predominant theories came out from this conceptual base. Belief causing sign which covered all the human misconception, also contained the critique of the reductions of myth and false explanation of the mysterious cosmos. Aristotle noticed the etiology of the religion amidst all other harmful dominant dominant signs precluding human reasons from natural functioning. He confronted the predominant religious institutions and cultural ethos with the logic of his invisible semiotic and classification of signs. His critiques were not always obvious hence remains undetected by the priests of the most society.
Aristotle’s ontological statement, this focused on the existence of God and argues that God is not just a sort of being to say it exists. This principle relies on possibility and necessity. Ontological argument may defend that the concept of God is basically an excellent being which necessarily existed. This concept, is conceived widely across time and cultures and an evidence that it is possible there is God. The division of causes into material, efficient, formal and final every material thing having a God defined principle that determines its cause, effects ,properties and purpose to human this is the soul.
According to teological arguments, Aristotle, tries to expound that human creatures are capable of understanding God through observation of the world naturalism; God existence can be related from the goodness from the world. By understanding God’s goodness, we come closer to the non –voluntarism stand. The choice between seeing God’s very being as good and voluntarism is very exceptional. Theists opposed voluntarism in order to allow voluntarist elements. To some extent, virtue ethics; is adhering to asset of virtue as a path to goodness and salvation.
Conclusion
The rise of the religious can be partly explained by the weakened immunity of the human civilization. The ideas about God within the Christian religion today is developed based on, Plato and the Aristotle’s. the basic questions that they addressed were highly influential and did set up many debates. The approach to these questions changed a lot in the development of science and radical transformation in culture and society and most importantly the religion.
Reference
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Aristotle. ”Rhetoric to Alexander” in Complete Works, ibid., tr by E.S. Forster " J. Barnes. Vol.2, pp. 2270-2315.
Aristotle. On Divination in Sleep” in ibid.,vol. I, tr. by J.I.Bear, pp. 736-739.
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Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics,in ibid., tr. by W.Ross, vol.2, pp. 1729-1867.
Aristotle. Magna Moralia, in ibid., tr. By E. S. Forster, vol. I, pp.626-640. Aristotle. Metaphysics. Tr with commentary by Hippocratus G.Apostle. Grindell, Iowa: The Peripatetic Press, 1966
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