Influence on society

Aristotle and Plato were the greatest philosophers of ancient Greece and had a tremendous impact on society today. Although Plato was Aristotle’s teacher, Aristotle surpassed Plato’s level of thinking and grounded his experience to more concrete living. Aristotle wrote numerous books on politics that influenced our constitution. Aristotle discusses in one of his writings the elements from which the city originates. First comes the family, then several families unite to form a village; when several villages unite into a community large enough to be self-sufficient they form a state.

He wrote books about property, the role of men and women and the relationship between husband and wife. He stated a passage that in my opinion stated husband and wife to be a relation of ruler to ruled in a constitutional government. He discusses books questioning virtue and the relation of freedom and slaves along with women and men.

Plato wrote about abolition of family. Something that even seems to be in question today, he wrote about unity and argued how there should be no separate families. Many of their philosophies are things we still argue about today and affect our way of thinking. We use their principles of rhetoric on daily events and use their methods of persuasion even to this day.