There are several differences in the theories of knowledge between Aristotle and Plato. The first difference is in the view of what knowledge is possessed by us at birth. Plato believes that we are born into this world with prior knowledge and that we possess immortal souls hence the knowledge from one life can be transferred into another. We spend our lives trying to recollect our knowledge that was lost at our birth. On the other hand, Aristotle believes in the theory of blank slate and that we are born with no prior knowledge. Aristotle agreed with Plato on the existence of souls but disagreed on their immortality. He believed that the knowledge couldn’t be transferred by a dead soul. Furthermore, Plato believed that a perfect world exists beyond the world around us whereas Aristotle believed that our world is a reality. In short, Plato believed in the existence of two worlds whereas Aristotle believed in a single world. Plato thought that our world is full of mistakes such as impurity, unevenness among others. This led to his belief about the relationship between realm of forms and our world that brought order to life. Plato further believed that our physical world and its forms imitate the real forms in a disorderly way. Aristotle objected saying that we cannot assume the interaction that happens between the two forms. Plato claimed that the participation or imitation link between the real and the imaginary is erroneous thinking as no one has established such a link. Although a link can be established it still fails to explain all the forms in the material world.
The Theory of Forms was intimately integrated with Aristotle's belief that we develop some type of biological and scientific wisdom of a primary substance only when we know what are usually called its “causes.” The forms that Plato believed in can be seen as unreal. In his writings, Allegory of the Cave, seen in the Republic, he talks about the replicas of the real thing. Inferring from his writings, we can conclude that they are seen as an illusion of the real thing.
On the other hand, Aristotle did not believe in the existence of two worlds. He believed that the world we live in is real and physical. Considering Aristotle to be a knowledgeable scholar as he was a teacher concluded that not all forms were ideal or perfect. He argued that we could identify natural forms on earth using our senses. He ended his argument by asking an explanation to what were the two separate realms in Plato’s theory of forms and how do they explain our present state of life.
