Many years ago, while I was a bookseller in a busy downtown Boston bookstore, I did a window display that took me most of the day. My manager was wondering what took me so long.
I was a Political Science major, so I created two pyramids. At the top of one pyramid was Plato's Republic. On the other was Aristotle's Politics. I also included other great works by these two philosophers at the top of each pyramid.
Then I choose books throughout
the bookstore that I deemed to reflect either Plato's ideas or
Aristotle's. By the end of the day, I had created two diametrically
opposed pyramids. (Ayn Rand, of course, was prominently displayed with
Aristotle.)
Not sure how many passers-by got the significance of that display, but we did have an uptick in our sales for politically oriented books that week. Also sold three hardcover copies of Atlas Shrugged!
I didn't keep score and didn't discover who won, Plato or Aristotle. In today's political environment—worldwide—the war of ideas continues. Who will win—Plato or Aristotle?
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Meanwhile, allow me to offer Philosophy 101: Plato and Aristotle.
The two most famous philosophers were Plato and Aristotle.
Plato believed in perfect “forms” existing in a perfect dimension. He thought that everything we know and see is a representation of these perfect forms.
Aristotle thought differently. He saw the world with its animals, plants, rocks, land and sky, as simply what it is—not a representation of some other dimension. For Aristotle, this world was dimension enough.
Other great thinkers came after. Many follow Plato’s thinking, and many follow Aristotle’s. In fact, all philosophy is essentially a contest between the ideas of Plato and Aristotle.
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Ken West is the author of the goal achievement workbook, Get What You Want. It was later republished under the title Achieve Your Purpose. Both editions are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Contact Ken at kenwest@bettergripmedia.com. Let him know if you want to be notified when his next book is to be published.
Not sure how many passers-by got the significance of that display, but we did have an uptick in our sales for politically oriented books that week. Also sold three hardcover copies of Atlas Shrugged!
I didn't keep score and didn't discover who won, Plato or Aristotle. In today's political environment—worldwide—the war of ideas continues. Who will win—Plato or Aristotle?
-
Meanwhile, allow me to offer Philosophy 101: Plato and Aristotle.
The two most famous philosophers were Plato and Aristotle.
Plato believed in perfect “forms” existing in a perfect dimension. He thought that everything we know and see is a representation of these perfect forms.
Aristotle thought differently. He saw the world with its animals, plants, rocks, land and sky, as simply what it is—not a representation of some other dimension. For Aristotle, this world was dimension enough.
Other great thinkers came after. Many follow Plato’s thinking, and many follow Aristotle’s. In fact, all philosophy is essentially a contest between the ideas of Plato and Aristotle.
-
Ken West is the author of the goal achievement workbook, Get What You Want. It was later republished under the title Achieve Your Purpose. Both editions are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Contact Ken at kenwest@bettergripmedia.com. Let him know if you want to be notified when his next book is to be published.
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