Editing Gemistos Plethon (section)

===''De Differentiis''===
In ''De Differentiis'' Plethon compares Aristotle's and Plato's conceptions of God, arguing that Plato credits God with more exalted powers as "creator of every kind of intelligible and separate substance, and hence of our entire universe", while Aristotle has God as only the motive force of the universe; Plato's God is also the end and final cause of existence, while Aristotle's God is only the end of movement and change.<ref name="DeBolt"/> Plethon derides Aristotle for discussing unimportant matters such as shellfish and embryos while failing to credit God with creating the universe,<ref name="DeBolt"/> for believing the heavens are composed of a fifth element, and for his view that contemplation was the greatest pleasure; the latter aligned him with [[Epicurus]], Plethon argued, and he attributed this same pleasure-seeking to monks, whom he accused of laziness.<ref name="Merry"/> Later, in response to [[Gennadius Scholarius|Gennadius]]' ''Defence of Aristotle'', Plethon argued in his ''Reply'' that Plato's God was more consistent with Christian doctrine than Aristotle's, and this, according to Darien DeBolt, was probably in part an attempt to escape suspicion of [[heterodoxy]].<ref name="DeBolt"/>