The word philosophy comes from the Greek name Philosophia which factually means “love of wisdom”; it meant 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; Plato was another great philosopher. They both had great influence on philosophical thought (Solomon, 2001 p.7). One of the areas where these two philosophers had major influence was on later developments of religion. Religion is defined as the existence of a divine, transcendent being or beings (Feibleman, 2013 p.5). Today we recognize many forms of Aristotle’s and Plato’s logic in the field of religion; they developed syllogistic theories which provided meta-theorems that still reflect in the major religions of today. The following essay is a discussion of the major influences of Plato’s and Aristotle's metaphysics on the development of religion.
The development of philosophical thought is needed before discussing how Plato and Aristotle influenced religion. Before Plato and Aristotle, there existed other well-known philosophers such as Heraclitus and Parmenides. These two philosophers tackled the perennial problem of the one and the many (Bracken, 2013 p.25). Heraclitus was a strong supporter of plurality and motion; according to his philosophical thoughts, the many form one hence in such a way there can be no stability in nature (Bracken, 2013 p.25). Parmenides, on the other hand, held the opposite position in that reality is uniform in what it is; thus, Parmenides is often referred to as the philosopher for the one. Parmenides thoughts illustrated that reality is timeless and uniform; hence the many exist as a function of the one (Bracken, 2013 p.25).
Plato in his argument favored the view of Parmenides on the monotonous of the one and recognized that common sense experience of physical reality gives priority to the empirical many over the non-empirical one (Mishan, 2012 p.16). Plato came up with the idea based on the empirical world characterized on the ongoing change and the world’s idea which is radically unchanging, in his idea he based his argument on the transcendent forms which give order and intelligibility to the common sense experience based on their empirical manifestation (Mishan, 2012 p.17). The one in the form of good enjoys ontological priority over the empirical many even though only in the two in ongoing combination fully explain the nature of physical reality.
Aristotle was not impressed with the Platonic ideas of these transcendent forms hence he initiated his substantial forms theory. This theory, gave materials realism in gaining self-identity through being internal rather than being external principle in their intelligibility and order (Copleston, 1953 p.361). The substantial form represents what one has that is mutual with other correspondingly constituted material things; it summaries from the entity in its particular as somehow different from other material things with the same substantial form or internal principle of order and intelligibility (Korak, 2012 p.19). “Aristotle believed that in order to fully comprehend any individual it was necessary to recognize four aspects of them which are: the motion or action that began it (the efficient cause), the function or purpose for which it exists (the final cause), the material out of which it is composed (the material cause) and finally the form it actualizes and by which it fulfils its purpose (the formal cause) (Ferguson, 2003 p.141).’’
Both Aristotle’s and Plato’s gave several different arguments in an attempt to describe the origins of the earth and the existence of God. The most argued question during this period was whether the universe had a beginning. Plato and Aristotle argued that from the cosmos matter always existed and had no beginning (Stone, 1955 p.34; Robinson, 2011 p.63). Though they both believed on this they had different ideas on how the matter was organized. David M. Carr argues that Genesis 1:1 can be read as temporal phrase describing what it was like when God began to create and as an independent sentence. God creation is through his word of mouth. The story of creation is originated from Israel’s cultural environment and is reminiscent of the Babylonian creation (Carr, 2001 p.22). According to Genesis God’s authority is unchallenged making it supreme. In Genesis 1-2 inaugurates God’s authority over all of creation, including humankind by making it clear that there is an ontological difference between creation and creator, the ousia or substantia of God is not part of creation (Carr, 2001 p.22).
Aristotle’s first cause (unmoved mover) did not believe in these, in Genesis, has a beginning as well as temporal time. As for monotheists anything that has a beginning is created hence cannot be called ultimate. In Genesis God has no beginning neither an end, and is not dependent on anything outside of it (Melchert, 2008 p.26). Hence, God is defined as ultimate. Aristotle’s model of creation is neither ontologically and epistemologically than the one in Genesis. Aristotle is mainly concerned with understanding mathematical principles and governing the world’s existence. He is mostly concerned with the status of objects in reality and he approaches this by the differentiating between the potentiality and the actuality of the matter (Melchert, 2008 p.26). He argues that matter has the ability to be various things through motion that potentiality is converted to reality. Aristotle describes the state of matter in four forms: water, air, fire and earth. He defines motion as “the fulfillment of the movable as movable, the cause of the attribute being contact with what can move so that the mover is also acted on (Stewart, 1973 p.524). The mover or agent will always be the vehicle of a form, either ‘this’ or ‘such’, which when it acts, will be the source and cause of the change, e.g. the full-formed man begets man with what is potentially man.” (Hooykaas, 2000 p.52)
Aristotle argues that being comes from non-being, because of potentiality of matter, he claims that being comes from this potentiality and not from what actually exists. Aristotle adds that motion must have a beginning, he claims that some things are movable whereas other are motive depending on the condition, he defines the primary source of motion as locomotion (Grant, 2004 p.54). There are two types of locomotion, successive and continuous. Continuous locomotion is circular thus eternal this is a likelihood that God is an eternal being hence mutable. He describes successive motion as having a beginning that God, as an eternal being, is mutable. Successive motion has a beginning and an end since it is based on change (Laks, 2015 p.280; Robinson, 2007 p.1).
Plato, based his story of creation on his writing Timaeus (Copleston, 1953 p.362). According to this writing, the voice of Plato asks questions which helps to differentiate between things that are ultimate, those that have no becoming and those that are unchanging. Therefore, those that are not ultimate are in a state of becoming; it is the same as the creation story in Genesis only that it has no creative elements since Plato’s craftsmen create the cosmos based on what already exists in God’s mind (Feibleman, 2013 p.6). He uses pre-existing elements in which each element is a combination of scalene, isosceles and triangles which combine to form matter. Plato emphasizes that the world has a beginning he differentiates the creator and the creation, and also distributing between necessary (eternal and self-sufficient) and contingent being (have a beginning and end) (Mishan, 2012 p.42). According to Plato God creation is out of generosity and goodness and not out necessity or to enrich himself (Ferguson, 2003 p.45). His idea is consistent with the scripture he says that to maintain the ontological distinction between creator and the creation the creator who is the father creates a divine being, which he defines as the soul, as the craftsman of the cosmos.
The soul has some divine and material elements. And a third being which has a beginning. Plato creation is the beginning of temporal time, the planets and the stars were created as heavenly bodies and the rest dialogue. The accounts of Genesis progresses in that order of creation day and night, heaven and earth, sea and land creatures and finally a creature with the ability to reason (Ferguson, 2003 p.64; Dahlsgaard, 2005 p.53). Identifying Plato’s forms with the divine mind, the primary influence of early Christianity’s understanding of logos was achieved through Plato’s World Soul whose function is to order the visible universe (Feibleman, 2013 p.6).
The questions tackled by these early philosophers, therefore, had a great influence on later developments of religion (Higgins, 1996 p.9). For instance, the main influence on Christianity was the Hellenistic understanding of the soul. Plato believed that the soul was present and it would return to the heavenly kingdom if only humans learned to live a righteous life (Grant, 1996 p.65). Thus, Christians and Jews believe in an immortal soul that is of divine origin (Wolfson, 1947 p.89). Thus, platonic philosophy contributed to the dualist beliefs about spirit and matter.
Aristotle, on the other hand, had an opposite view from that of Plato. He believed in rationality. According to Aristotle, humans are rational creatures that can only understand God through observing the natural world; this is evident from Aristotle’s explanation of God as the first mover that set in motion a cycle of events leading to the creation of the universe (Stewart, 1973 p.530). Aristotle’s Philosophy, therefore, focuses on the material; however, he does mention that God defines the effects, purpose, and properties of the material. The Genesis story of Abraham and the Israelites greatly reflects Aristotle’s epistemology; according to Genesis, the Israelites belief is the result of God’s self-revelation to Abraham. God initiates the process, He reveals himself to Israel through the generous act of creation, and not creation itself, which coincides with Aristotle’s philosophy of God as the first mover (Carr, 2001 p.64). Creation is through an effect of God. God reveals himself through the incarnation and the new Israel, the Church. Humanity can only know God by His acts that relate directly to us.
In conclusion, early philosophers had huge effects on the later development of religion; these influences are still visible in today’s major religions. For instance, Plato contributed to the dualist idea on matter and spirit. Aristotle, on the other hand, contributed to the idea of Humans as rational creatures capable of understanding God through observation of the natural world. The platonic ideas of soul and matter are still visible in major religions such as Christianity and Jewish religions. Aristotle’s philosophy is also evident in the major religions of today.
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