A.J.+Week+2

Plato and Aristotle were among the first humans to begin classifying what they saw around them. Of course everyone noticed objects were moving, but these two individuals wanted to understand how they moved and what made them move. Aristotle more than Plato was into living creatures and discovering just what made them tick. He began dissecting animals from all different species to better diagram what they were and how they fit in. Aristotle believed that all objects had four "attributes"-matter,form,moving cause and final cause. This flowed well Christianity, but also with nature since everything is created for a cause. Aristotle came up with his own laws of motion including: heavier objects must fall faster than lighter objects. All of us know that this is false, but with Aristotle having such a great mind, why didn't he realize his error through experiment?

Aristotle is know today as a philosopher, but he was much much more. He wasn't as much of a Plato prodigy as many believe. Yes, he did use some of his ideas, but he changed them around and added his own twist. For example, Aristotle began a school like Plato, yet he included the teachings of all sciences. Plato's idea of creating a community where "everyone shared the women and children" was preposterous in his eyes. "The essential difference between them was that Plato felt //mathematical reasoning// could arrive at the truth with little outside help, but Aristotle believed //detailed empirical investigations// of nature were essential if progress was to be made in understanding the natural world."(Aristotle) I have to agree with Fowler on this topic. Plato was more of the philosopher than Aristotle. Plato liked to figure things out without really investigating his findings, while Aristotle was the total opposite. If Aristotle believed he had discovered something, he would go out into nature and back it up. This is what modern science involves. If a claim is made it needs to be backed up, not only by the discovering body but also by others. The way Aristotle made discoveries is still used today. In order for something to be claimed as true it must be repeatable and Aristotle started it back in the 300 B.C. period.