Aristotle 1
Aristotle's Background and Work
- Aristotle was a pupil of Plato and became the teacher of Alexander the Great.
- He was born in 384BC in Stagira, Northern Greece and died in 322 BC.
- He authored works on a wide variety of subjects including logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and the natural sciences.
Aristotle's Metaphysics
- Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that explores fundamental questions, including the nature of reality and the relationship between mind and matter.
- Aristotle's metaphysics focuses on the concepts of substance, potentiality, and actuality.
- A substance according to Aristotle, is something that exists on its own and doesn’t depend on anything else for its existence. It can be a being (living organisms), a quality (redness, hardness) or a quantity (fourness, bigness).
- The concept of potentiality and actuality defines change in the world. A thing changes when its potentiality becomes its actuality.
The Four Causes
- Aristotle proposed the theory of The Four Causes which comprised of the Material Cause, the Formal Cause, the Efficient Cause, and the Final Cause.
- The Material Cause refers to what something is made from. For example, a table is made from wood.
- The Formal Cause is what gives a thing its form or shape. It is the essence or the 'what-it-is' of a thing.
- The Efficient Cause is what brings something into being or initiates change. In the example of the table, this would be the carpenter.
- The Final Cause is the purpose or function of a thing. In the example of the table, this could be to provide a surface on which items can be placed.
Concept of God
- Aristotle's God is not a personal God, but an impersonal divine being.
- God is the Prime Mover, which sets everything else in motion but is itself unmoved.
- God is a perfect, eternal, and changeless being. He is actuality without potentiality.
- For Aristotle, God does not know about the world or have any personal relationship with it.
Aristotle's Ethics
- Aristotle explores the idea of 'goods' in life: intrinsic goods which are desired for their own sake, such as happiness or pleasure, and instrumental goods which are desired for the sake of something else.
- Aristotle proposed the idea of Eudaimonia, often translated as 'flourishing' or 'the good life', which he considered the ultimate goal in life.
- He proposed the concept of 'The Golden Mean', advocating for a balanced life - avoiding extremes and aiming for the midway point between excess and deficiency.
- Aristotle's ethics were not focused on following rules, but rather on developing a good character and becoming a virtuous person.