find it exciting but it is too difficult to have wider appeal. Plato writes about the soul in a way that is
lofty and inspiring, and has appealed to poets and religious thinkers and many people not otherwise
interested in philosophy; but philosophers have found it less satisfying, and have often been frustrated
by the way Plato fails to distinguish importantly different ideas in his contrast of body and soul.
'Platonism' as a set of doctrines extracted from the dialogues had much wider appeal than Aristotle's
ideas. Plato's school was luckier also, though partly by historical accident. The Academy and the
Lyceum both became respected educational institutions. But whereas the Academy, under Plato's
successors Speusippus and Xenocrates, concentrated on mathematical metaphysics, and later, under
Crates, Crantor, and Polemo, on ethical instruction, the Lyceum had made a commitment to scientific
research, and it suffered both from a narrowing of interests and from war damage to its records,
equipment, and buildings, which were more exposed than the Academy's. The Academy continued, to be
rejuvenated as the New Academy; but Aristotle's school, as the active and developing philosophical
community he represented in spirit, soon petered out. His successor Theophrastus produced
distinguished work in many fields, and his successor Strato was well known for his scientific enquiries;
but after that the headship of the Lyceum passes to a string of unoriginal nonentities. Interest in
Aristotle's ideas survived, but more and more in the unhelpful form of finding in him a set of doctrines
to be mechanically applied. In this form 'Aristotelianism' was to have a long life, but of a kind most
inappropriate to Aristotle.