Aristotle and Plato are two of the most influential philosophers in history. Plato was Socrates' greatest student and in turn taught Aristotle. Over time, Aristotle became Plato's greatest student. Together, Aristotle and Plato, along with Socrates, laid the foundation for what we today call Western philosophy and science. Plato, in addition to being a philosopher, who fought at the Olympic level, is one of the authors, mathematicians and founders of classical Greece. from The Academy, the West's premier institute of higher education. In short, Plato is one of history's great thinkers and his contributions to philosophy, ethics and politics are many and varied. One of the main philosophical ideas of Plato is based on the idea that the world around us is not the most real world, but only the image of the real world. The material world around you can change, and so can your perception of it. The material becomes immaterial and is therefore weaker and less defined than abstract ideas. The most real world is therefore defined by conceptual but substantial forms. The material world imitates forms. To help understand the idea of ​​shapes, he wrote the “Allegory of the Cave.” The story goes that from birth, people were immobilized and forced to stare at a wall in a cave where the shadows of passers-by could be seen and echoes could be heard, but not the original people or sounds. Couldn't people, once removed from the cave, believe that the only real things are shadows and echoes? This is an analogy to how the Platonic idea of ​​the world of forms works. Shadows are the material world while physical people represent forms. Aristotle is a perfect example of a mathematician, perhaps second only to "Renaissance man" Leonardo de Vin...... middle of paper ...... Trying to decide who is more important is a futile exercise. Works citedIEP. “Aristotle.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP, October 21, 205. Web. December 1, 2011. Brickhouse, Thomas and Nicholas Smith. "Plato." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP, May 9, 2009. Web. December 1, 2011. Kraut, Richard. “Plato (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, August 16, 2011. Web. December 1, 2011. Neill, Alex and Aaron Ridley. The philosophy of art: ancient and modern readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Print. Shields, Christopher. “Aristotle”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, July 27, 2011. Web. December 1. 2011. .