The Gospel of Hellas - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

aristotle
standpoint with regard to dualism, the world of ideas (spirit), and objects
(matter). To this theory Aristotle’s monism was decidedly opposed.
The origin of Plato’s dualism was the ancient view of Oriental and Egyptian
mysteries concerning the good (spiritual) and evil (material) soul of the world.
After Zarathustra, whose teachings greatly influenced Pythagoras, the world
appeared as the result of a battle between the good principles of light and
spirit, Ormuzd and those of his evil opponent, Ahriman, the prince of darkness
and matter. The same duality is described by Plato in his Laws (I/10), where
he wrote concerning the spiritual soul as being created by God, concerning
the non-spiritual soul as being created by the evil soul of the world. In Plato’s
psychology, the ancient duality of Zarathustra, Ormuzd and Ahriman,
reappeared in the teaching of the two kinds of soul as the battle between Logos
and Alogos. This dualism originated in the fall of man and his entanglement
with matter, and it was obvious that a mind like Plato’s, which looked back to
the past, had to maintain the strict dualism of our descent and origin.
In the case of Aristotle this view of the past no longer stirred his cognitive
soul. His problem was how to master the present and how to live towards the
future. In Plato the mind was so far awakened that it was able to set thought
in dominance and lead it to the world of ideas. With Aristotle this domination
was taken for granted. Henceforth it was a question of affirming it in all fields
of cognition. Plato wanted to overthrow the objects of the outer world and to
return to the world of ideas, which overshadow the material objects. Aristotle
experienced thought as a tool which penetrates the essence of the objects. He
wished to dive down into objects and processes; for him it was important to
know how the soul appears within the human being on earth. Plato was also
concerned with the soul but in the manner of its participation in the spiritual
world.
To argue for the merits of Plato against those of Aristotle or vice versa,
to emphasize the weaknesses of the one and the shortcomings of the other is
fruitless. It is clearly evident that both philosophers belong to that realm of the
spirit from which only minds of the highest order and importance emanate and
that each in himself represents such a complete world of thought that he could
build up, nurture and influence the thought-life of all succeeding generations.