Plato, Aristotle, and Science

[Reaper]

Hey,

What were Plato's and Aristotle's views about science, pseudo-science, and proto-science?

As far as I understand it, Plato established an order according to which science should be taught in preparation of the Philosopher-ruler, while Aristotle thought that political science is supreme and should subjugate all other sciences. Is this correct or is this far from the answer?

[Reaper]

What do you think?

[Silver Guard]

On Plato please read my thread on Hume, hes at the bottom...
Aristotle did a lot of work on nature nd the classificatioon of its aspects, thus he cant of put political science above natureal science

[MaximiIian]

If you're asking for an opinion on Aristotle's influence on the sciences, then IMHO Aristotle ****ed up heavily. Good philosopher, but bad scientist. His ideas pushed Democritus' theory of the Atom to the sidelines until the 1800s. If Aristotle's stupid-ass thoughts on the matter had not gained prevalence, we would probably be generally a lot smarter and about a millennium years ahead technology-wise.
Though, I must say, his philosophical and political influence on the young Prince of Macedon was undoubtedly great and must not underestimated.

[Reaper]

As far as I understand, Plato thought that all sensible things are mere appearances. For him, physical appearances in science aren't really important. Only the characteristics that put stuff in common are important and create identity. Plato thus looked at the universality of things, which is the contrary of what we do today in sciences. Scientists are supposed to gather information by minimal facts in order to deduct a conclusion and establish a theory.

Did Aristotle believe in the latter? He did:

http://www.newgenevacenter.org/biography/aristotle2.htm