Plato and Aristotle:
Ideas, Substance, Form & Matter, Causation, Actuality & Potentiality
| Theories | Plato | Aristotle |
| Ideas | The world of senses is defective and full of errors; and so Plato refers to the world of ideas that is perfect, eternal, changeless and ideal. The real world (that we perceive) is a mere and imperfect imitation of a more real world of ideas or forms. | Aristotle rejected the idea of Plato’s “Theory of the Forms,” which stated that the idealized essence of an object existed apart from that object. |
| Substance | Substances are the things from which everything else is made. Forms are Plato’s substances, for everything derives its existence from Forms. | For Aristotle, things are made up of matter and form, and this form is called substance. Aristotle made a distinction between primary and secondary substances. The individual is a primary substance, and the kind of individual is a secondary substance. Example: ‘Aristotle’ is the primary substance and the category to which Aristotle belongs i.e., ‘human beings’ are secondary substances. |
| Form | Plato says Forms exist in an abstract state but independent of minds in their own realm. Example- Tree, Chair, Man, etc. For Plato, the Form or Idea is the permanent reality which makes a thing be what it is. | Aristotle identifies a thing’s Form with its essence |
| Matter | For plato, matter or material things are subject to change. | Matter is the primal element out of which all things are made. |
| Causation | A cause could be considered as something that acts upon something, being an element that generates particular effects. The focus of Plato was on teleological causes i.e., the end results. | 4 Types of causes- Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final. The material cause relates to what something is made of (matter), the formal cause is related to the structure or shape something is supposed to take, the efficient cause is tied to whatever directly causes the process of change to begin, and the final cause is the ultimate, overarching reason for the change. |
| Actuality & Potentiality | Form is associated with actuality, and matter with potentiality. Potentiality is the ability of something to undergo change and become a certain form, or to attain an actuality. |
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