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Great post. It's been a while since I delved into philosophy with any degree of serioiusness, so take this with the appropriate grain of salt.

Not to quibble, but for Aristotle,isn't reality what we see, feel and tastes? What is observable through our senses (which, as opposed to Plato) we can pretty much trust? Or am I wrong? My (admittedly limited) reading of Aristotle seemed to indicate that he was pretty content to make judgments on what we can observe, and pretty much rejected, at least in practice,the kind of speculation in which Plato engaged.

Not to say that either one was less valid. Both are great teachers for conservatives (and anyone else). Plato's Republic is the ultimate primer on the futility of trying to build a utopia (the eternal liberal project). I think Plato appeals to Christians because he seems to be longing (the term he uses, as I recall, is "eros," meaning not sexual desire - or as it now seems to be used, kinky sex - but desiring) for God. Socrates, in the Republic, is referred to as the "erotic man" in that sense. This longing or desiring, expressed in the Republic as a longing for truth, Christians would say, is a longing for God.
For Christians, Plato (or Socrates as portrayed by him)seems to be the ultimate virtuous pagan.

At least that's what I thought after reading Bloom's translation of the Republic with a bunch of friends.

As to Aristotle, try reading Politics and Ethics. They are not difficult. You'll find some shocking things - Man has a nature, he is rational (I'm sure losts of college humanaities and social science professors out there don't like that) and political by nature (the latter, I think, undercuts the social contract idea), the fundamental societal unit is the family, reality is as reality appears to be, virtue is necessary for good government, etc.

Not to quibble, but for Aristotle,isn't reality what we see, feel and tastes? What is observable through our senses (which, as opposed to Plato) we can pretty much trust?

Can we really trust what is observable by means of our senses? Our senses do not detect the quantum world, though the physicists tell us it is there, and have found ways to "observe" it -- via mathematics, not direct sensation. How much do our senses really report of the actual structure of the universe?

Aristotle spent something like 27 years as a student of Plato at the Academy. Then he left for Asia Minor, later to become tutor to one of the greatest hegemons of all time, Alexander, son of King Phillip II of Macedonia, who ended up being the "undertaker" of decadent Athens....

I don't think Aristotle so much rejected the Platonic speculation (he was as concerned with the metaleptic structure of the soul -- Plato's metaxy -- and its order according to the divine measure as Plato was). But there was a shift of focus or attention away from the Platonic Idea, which dealt with expressing what is common in an entire generic class of objects, to the particularity of objects themselves. (And thus was science born!)

I enjoyed your comments on The Republic. Many people today believe that it ought to be understood as a "prescription" for the "ideal state." That certainly wasn't Plato's intention at all. Perhaps I can flesh out some details in this regard a little later today. But must run to a meeting right now.

Thank you so much for writing, bigcat00.