Plato's Form of the Good vs. Aristotle's Prime Mover

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, arguments, and objections regarding the debate between Plato's Form of the Good and Aristotle's Prime Mover.

Form of the Good (FoG)

The highest of all forms residing at the top of Plato's hierarchy of forms (above higher forms such as justice and wisdom, lower forms, and objects); characterized as immaterial, perfect, transcendent, pure, immutable, and eternal.

The Sun (Analogy of the Cave)

Plato's representation of the Form of the Good in the Analogy of the Cave, demonstrating that other forms depend on the FoG and are illuminated by it, just as the world depends on and is illuminated by the sun.

Iris Murdoch

A 20th-century thinker who argued Plato's theory of knowledge is convincing, proposing that a Platonic form of 'goodness' must exist to guide individuals to become better people and rise to an external standard of morality.

Third Man Argument

Aristotle's objection used to challenge Plato's theory of forms, demonstrating a philosophical weakness in the foundational theory upon which the Form of the Good relies.

Aristotelian Goodness

The view that there is no single universal form of the good; rather, good is the fulfillment of an entity's specific telos (purpose), differing for each object (e.g., projecting clearly for a projector, building well for a builder).

Elitism Objection

The criticism that Plato's view implies only philosophers can grasp moral knowledge and the good, thereby excluding individuals who are intellectually disabled.

Prime Mover (PM)

Aristotle's necessary being of pure actuality that explains the chain of motion (movement from potentiality to actuality) in his theory of causation, acting as the final cause (telos) of the universe.

Pure Actuality

The state of being of Aristotle's Prime Mover, possessing no potentiality or change, required to explain the universal chain of motion from potentiality to actuality.

Gerry Hughes' Interpretation of the Prime Mover

The explanation that the Prime Mover causes motion through powers of attraction like a saucer of milk attracting cats; it does not perform actions other than contemplating itself, yet acts as the final cause through its very existence.

Biblical God vs. Prime Mover Objection

The objection that the Prime Mover contradicts the Christian God of the Bible, who is not totally removed from the world but is a God of love who interacts with creation and acts within time (everlasting).

Necessary Being

An entity that cannot fail to exist; a characteristic attributed to Aristotle's Prime Mover that influenced Thomas Aquinas' cosmological argument.

Connection Problem (Final Cause)

An objection questioning how the Prime Mover can act as the final cause of the universe if it is totally outside of it, noting that Plato's Forms have a clearer connection to the world by functioning as ideals.