The word philosophy comes from the Greek words 'philo' meaning love and 'sophos' meaning wisdom (Philosophy). It is the search for wisdom, the understanding of human behavior, nature and, ultimately, the meaning of life. Plato was the student of Socrates, influenced by his work, Plato aged to become a great philosopher himself; establishing his philosophy from that of his master. Aristotle was a student of Plato and, like his teacher, grew up basing his philosophy on that of Plato. Although both Plato and Aristotle criticized their teacher's works, they were also influenced by them. Both Plato and Aristotle developed their own ways of acquiring knowledge; Plato's Platonic idealism and Aristotle's analytical empiricism. In this article, my goal is to identify the differences in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, which lead to the development of two contradictory ways of acquiring knowledge and their influence on later thinkers. Plato (428-328 BC) was a successful philosopher, influenced by people such as Heraclitus, Parmenides and the Pythagoreans: but the most influential person in Plato's life was Socrates (Nicholas). Socrates used oral discussion to question people, asking them to define an idea or concept and, through argumentation, improve their answer to give a better definition and thus gain wisdom; this was called the Socratic method. Socrates used to argue concepts such as wisdom, justice, virtue and love. Plato supported Socrates' ideas but criticized his work. He supported Socrates because he was not biased and did not hide the issues at hand: but Plato criticized Socrates' work because Socrates believed that during the “reincarnation of an eternal soul which contained all knowledge, we lose contact with ingenuity… .. half of the sheet ......13. Network. May 23, 2014.Boeree C George. The ancient Greeks. Webspace.ship.edu. 2009. Network. May 23, 2014.Russo S Michael. Plato in a nutshell. Sophia Project, Philosophy Archive. 2001. Network. May 23, 2014. Bloom, Allan. Plato's Republic. United States of America: Basic Books. 1991. Print. May 24, 2014.IEP. Aristotle. Encyclopedia of philosophy on the Internet. 2014. Web. May 25, 2014. Groarke, Louis. Aristotle's logic. Encyclopedia of philosophy on the Internet. 2014. Web. May 25, 2014. Buckner. Mill on the syllogism. The Museum of Logic. 2007. Network. May 25, 2014. Moore E., Edward. Origen of Alexandria. Encyclopedia of philosophy on the Internet. 2014. Web. 25 May 2014.Moore E., J. Aristotle's contribution to science, education and physics. JCMoore E. Online. 2010. Network. May 25, 2014. Right, Felix. Western religions. Catholic resources. March 18, 2012. Web. May 25, 2014.
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