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Aristotle

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophers

                             Western philosophy
   Ancient philosophy
         Name:       Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs
        Birth:       384 BC
        Death:       March 7, 322 BC
   School/tradition: Gave rise to Aristotelianism and the Peripatetic
                     school
    Main interests:  Politics, Metaphysics, Science, Logic
    Notable ideas:   The Golden mean, Reason, Passion
      Influences:    Plato
      Influenced:    Almost all of western philosophy and science afterward

   Aristotle ( Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) ( 384 BC – March 7, 322 BC)
   was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of
   Alexander the Great. He wrote on diverse subjects, including physics,
   poetry, biology and zoology, logic, rhetoric, politics and government,
   and ethics. Along with Socrates and Plato, Aristotle was one of the
   most influential of ancient Greek philosophers. They transformed
   Presocratic Greek philosophy into the foundations of Western philosophy
   as we know it. Some consider Plato and Aristotle to have founded two of
   the most important schools of Ancient philosophy; others consider
   Aristotelianism as a development and concretization of Plato's
   insights.

   Although Aristotle wrote dialogues, only fragments of these have
   survived. The works that have survived are in treatise form and were,
   for the most part, unpublished texts. These are generally thought to be
   lecture notes or texts used by his students. Among the most important
   are Physics, Metaphysics (or Ontology), Nicomachean Ethics, Politics,
   De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics. These works, although connected in
   many fundamental ways, differ significantly in both style and
   substance.

   Aristotle was a polymath. He not only studied almost every subject
   possible at the time, but made significant contributions to most of
   them. In science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, economics,
   embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics, and zoology. In
   philosophy, Aristotle wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government,
   metaphysics, politics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also dealt
   with education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined
   works practically constitute an encyclopedia of Greek knowledge.

Biography

Early life and studies at the Academy

   A bust of Aristotle is a nearly ubiquitous ornament in places of high
   culture in the West[citation needed].
   Enlarge
   A bust of Aristotle is a nearly ubiquitous ornament in places of high
   culture in the West.

   Aristotle was born in Stagira, on the peninsula of Chalcidice in 384
   BC. His father, Nicomachus, was court physician to King Amyntas III of
   Macedon. It is believed that Aristotle's ancestors held this position
   under various kings of the Macedon. He did not go to school, instead he
   was taught by his father. His father's medical knowledge was perhaps
   the inspiration for Aristotle's later interest in natural phenomena.

   Little is known about his mother, Phaestis, who died early in
   Aristotle's life. His father Nicomachus died when Aristotle was ten,
   making him an orphan. Then he was placed under the guardianship of his
   uncle, Proxenus of Atarneus, who also took over his education. He gave
   Aristotle significant instruction in Greek, rhetoric, and poetry
   (O'Connor et al., 2004). Aristotle went to Athens at the age of 18, and
   attended Plato's school for young Greek aristocracy (the Academy).
   Aristotle quickly became Plato's favorite student.

   From the age of 18 to 37 Aristotle remained at the Academy. The
   relationship between Plato and Aristotle has formed the subject of
   various legends, many of which depict Aristotle unfavourably. No doubt
   there were divergences of opinion between Plato, who took his stand on
   sublime, idealistic principles, and Aristotle, who even at that time
   showed a preference for the investigation of the facts and laws of the
   physical world. It is also probable that Plato suggested that Aristotle
   needed restraining rather than encouragement, but not that there was an
   open breach of friendship. In fact, Aristotle's conduct after the death
   of Plato, his continued associations with Xenocrates and other
   Platonists, and his allusions in his writings to Plato's doctrines
   prove that while there were conflicts of opinions between Plato and
   Aristotle, there was no lack of cordial appreciation or mutual
   forbearance. Legends that reflect Aristotle unfavourably are allegedly
   traceable to the Epicureans, although some doubt remains of this
   charge. If such legends were circulated widely by patristic writers
   such as Justin Martyr and Gregory Nazianzen, the reason may rest in the
   exaggerated esteem which early Christian heretics had for Aristotle.

   It is not exactly clear when in his life, but according to Clearchus of
   Soli in his work "De Somno" (apud: Josephus, Contra Apionem, I,
   176-183:), Aristotle met a Jew in Asia Minor and regarded him very
   favorable, noting that there is something to learn from him. Clearchus
   of Soli quotes Aristoteles as: "'Well', said Aristotle, [...] 'the man
   was a Jew of Coele-Syria. These people are descended from the Indian
   philosophers. The philosophers, they say, are in India called Calani,
   in Syria by the territorial name of Jews; for the district which they
   inhabit is known as Judea. Their city has a remarkably odd name: they
   call it Hierusaleme. (180) Now this man, who entertained by a large
   circle of friends and was on his way from the interior to the coast,
   not only spoke Greek but had the soul of a Greek. (181) During my stay
   in Asia, he visited the same places as I did, and came to converse with
   me and some other scholars, to test our learning. But as one who had
   been intimate with many cultivated persons, it was rather he who
   imparted to us something of his own." Flavius Josephus writes: "...he
   [Aristoteles] went on to speak of the great and astonishing endurance
   and sobriety displayed by this Jew in his manner of life." (trans. H.
   St. J. Tackery, The Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge (Mass.)-London)

Aristotle as philosopher and tutor

   After the death of Plato (347 BC), Aristotle was considered for the
   position of head of the Academy, but this was eventually awarded to
   Plato's nephew. Aristotle then went with Xenocrates to the court of
   Hermias, ruler of Atarneus in Asia Minor. He married Pythias, the niece
   of Hermias, and they had a daughter. They called her Pythias after her
   mother. In 344 BC, Hermias was murdered in a rebellion, and Aristotle
   went with his family to Mytilene. It is also reported that he stopped
   on Lesbos and briefly conducted biological research. Then, one or two
   years later, he was summoned to Pella, the Macedonian capital, by King
   Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor of Alexander the Great, who
   was then 12.

   Plutarch wrote that Aristotle not only imparted to Alexander a
   knowledge of ethics and politics, but also of the most profound secrets
   of philosophy. We have much proof that Alexander profited by contact
   with the philosopher, and that Aristotle made prudent and beneficial
   use of his influence over the young prince (although Bertrand Russell
   disputes this). Due to this influence, Alexander provided Aristotle
   with ample means for the acquisition of books and the pursuit of his
   scientific investigation.

   It is possible that Aristotle also participated in the education of
   Alexander's boyhood friends, which may have included for example
   Hephaestion and Harpalus. Aristotle maintained a long correspondence
   with Hephaestion, eventually collected into a book, unfortunately now
   lost.

   According to sources such as Plutarch and Diogenes, Philip burned down
   Aristotle's hometown of Stageira during the 340s BC; Aristotle
   successfully requested that Alexander rebuild it. During his tutorship
   of Alexander, Aristotle was reportedly considered a second time for
   leadership of the Academy; his companion Xenocrates was selected
   instead.

Founder and master of the Lyceum

   In about 336 BC, Alexander departed on his Asiatic campaign, and
   Aristotle, who had served as an informal adviser (more or less) since
   Alexander ascended the Macedonian throne, returned to Athens and opened
   his own school of philosophy. He may, as Aulus Gellius says, have
   conducted a school of rhetoric during his former residence in Athens;
   but now, following Plato's example, he gave regular instruction in
   philosophy in a gymnasium dedicated to Apollo Lyceios, from which his
   school has come to be known as the Lyceum. (It was also called the
   Peripatetic School because Aristotle preferred to discuss problems of
   philosophy with his pupils while walking around -- peripateo -- the
   shaded walks -- peripatoi -- surrounding the gymnasium).

   During the thirteen years (335 BC–322 BC) which he spent as head of the
   Lyceum, Aristotle composed most of his writings. Imitating Plato, he
   wrote Dialogues in which his doctrines were expounded in popular
   language. He also composed the surviving treatises, in which the
   exposition is more didactic and the language more technical than in the
   Dialogues. These writings succeeded in bringing together the works of
   his predecessors in Greek philosophy, and how he pursued, either
   personally or through others, his investigations in the realm of
   natural phenomena. Pliny the Elder claimed that Alexander placed under
   Aristotle's orders all the hunters, fishermen, and fowlers of the royal
   kingdom and all the overseers of the royal forests, lakes, ponds and
   cattle-ranges; Aristotle's zoological works make this claim believable.
   Aristotle was fully informed about the doctrines of his predecessors,
   and Strabo asserted that he was the first to accumulate a great
   library.

   During the last years of Aristotle's life the relations between him and
   Alexander became very strained, owing to the disgrace and punishment of
   Callisthenes, whom Aristotle had recommended to Alexander.
   Nevertheless, Aristotle continued to be regarded in Athens as a friend
   of Alexander and a representative of Macedonia. Consequently, when
   Alexander's death became known in Athens, and the outbreak occurred
   which led to the Lamian war, Aristotle shared in the general
   unpopularity of the Macedonians. The charge of impiety, which had been
   brought against Anaxagoras and Socrates, was now brought against
   Aristotle. He left the city, saying, "I will not allow the Athenians to
   sin twice against philosophy" (Vita Marciana 41). He took up residence
   at his country house at Chalcis, in Euboea, and there he died the
   following year (322 BC). His death was due to a disease, reportedly 'of
   the stomach', from which he had long suffered. The story that his death
   was due to hemlock poisoning, as well as the legend that he threw
   himself into the sea "because he could not explain the tides," are
   without historical foundation.

   Aristotle's legacy, besides its impact on Western thought, also had a
   profound influence on Islamic thought and philosophy during the Middle
   Ages. Muslim thinkers such as Avicenna, Al-Farabi, and Yaqub ibn Ishaq
   al-Kindi were a few of the major proponents of the Aristotelian school
   of thought during the Golden Age of Islam.

Methodology

   Aristotle defines his philosophy in terms of essence, saying that
   philosophy is "the science of the universal essence of that which is
   actual". Plato had defined it as the "science of the idea", meaning by
   idea what we should call the unconditional basis of phenomena. Both
   pupil and master regard philosophy as concerned with the universal;
   Aristotle, however, finds the universal in particular things, and
   called it the essence of things, while Plato finds that the universal
   exists apart from particular things, and is related to them as their
   prototype or exemplar. For Aristotle, therefore, philosophic method
   implies the ascent from the study of particular phenomena to the
   knowledge of essences, while for Plato philosophic method means the
   descent from a knowledge of universal ideas to a contemplation of
   particular imitations of those ideas. In a certain sense, Aristotle's
   method is both inductive and deductive, while Plato's is essentially
   deductive from a priori principles.

   In Aristotle's terminology, the term natural philosophy corresponds to
   the phenomena of the natural world, which include: motion, light, and
   the laws of physics. Many centuries later these subjects would become
   the basis of modern science, as studied through the scientific method.
   In modern times the term philosophy has come to be more narrowly
   understood as metaphysics, distinct from empirical study of the natural
   world via the physical sciences. In contrast, in Aristotle's time and
   use, philosophy was taken to encompass all facets of intellectual
   inquiry.

   In the larger sense of the word, Aristotle makes philosophy coextensive
   with reasoning, which he also called "science". Note, however, that his
   use of the term science carries a different meaning than that covered
   by the term scientific method. "All science (dianoia) is either
   practical, poetical or theoretical". By practical science he means
   ethics and politics; by poetical science, he means the study of poetry
   and the other fine arts; while by theoretical science he means physics,
   mathematics, and metaphysics.

   Metaphysics, philosophy in the strictest sense, he defines as "the
   knowledge of immaterial being", and calls it "first philosophy", "the
   theologic science" or of "being in the highest degree of abstraction".
   If logic, or, as Aristotle calls it, Analytic, be regarded as a study
   preliminary to philosophy, we have as divisions of Aristotelian
   philosophy (1) Logic; (2) Theoretical Philosophy, including
   Metaphysics, Physics, Mathematics, (3) Practical Philosophy; and (4)
   Poetical Philosophy.

Aristotle's epistemology

Logic

   Aristotle's conception of logic was the dominant form of logic up until
   the advances in mathematical logic in the 19th century. Kant states in
   the Critique of Pure Reason that Aristotle's theory of logic had
   arrived at a complete account of the core of deductive inference.

History

   Aristotle "says that 'on the subject of reasoning' he 'had nothing else
   on an earlier date to speak of'" (Bocheński, 1951). However, Plato
   reports that syntax was thought of before him, by Prodikos of Keos, who
   was concerned by the right use of words. Logic seems to have emerged
   from dialectics; the earlier philosophers used concepts like reductio
   ad absurdum as a rule when discussing, but never understood its logical
   implications. Even Plato had difficulties with logic. Although he had
   the idea of constructing a system for deduction, he was never able to
   construct one. Instead, he relied on his dialectic, which was a
   confusion between different sciences and methods (Bocheński, 1951).
   Plato thought that deduction would simply follow from premises, so he
   focused on having good premises so that the conclusion would follow.
   Later on, Plato realized that a method for obtaining the conclusion
   would be beneficial. Plato never obtained such a method, but his best
   attempt was published in his book Sophist, where he introduced his
   division method (Rose, 1968).

Analytics and the Organon

   What we today call Aristotelian logic, Aristotle himself would have
   labelled "analytics". The term "logic" he reserved to mean dialectics.
   Most of Aristotle's work is probably not in its original form, since it
   was most likely edited by students and later lecturers. The logical
   works of Aristotle were compiled into six books in about the early 1st
   century AD:
    1. Categories
    2. On Interpretation
    3. Prior Analytics
    4. Posterior Analytics
    5. Topics
    6. On Sophistical Refutations

   The order of the books (or the teachings from which they are composed)
   is not certain, but this list was derived from analysis of Aristotle's
   writings. It goes from the basics, the analysis of simple terms in the
   Categories, to the study of more complex forms, namely, syllogisms (in
   the Analytics) and dialetics (in the Topics and Sophistical
   Refutations). There is one volume of Aristotle's concerning logic not
   found in the Organon, namely the fourth book of Metaphysics.
   (Bocheński, 1951).

Modal logic

   Aristotle is also the creator of syllogisms with modalities ( modal
   logic). The word modal refers to the word 'modes', explaining the fact
   that modal logic deals with the modes of truth. Aristotle introduced
   the qualification of 'necessary' and 'possible' premises. He
   constructed a logic which helped in the evaluation of truth but which
   was difficult to interpret. (Rose, 1968).

Science

   Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez
   Enlarge
   Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez

   In the period between his two stints in Athens, between his times at
   the Academy and the Lyceum, Aristotle conducted most of the scientific
   thinking and research for which he is now most renowned. In fact, most
   of Aristotle's life was devoted to the study of the objects of natural
   science. Aristotle’s Metaphysics contains observations on the nature of
   numbers but he made no original contributions to Mathematics. He did,
   however, perform original research in the natural sciences, including:
   botany, zoology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology, geometry
   and several other sciences.

   Aristotle's writings on science are largely qualitative, not
   quantitative. Beginning in the sixteenth century, scientists began
   applying mathematics to the physical sciences, and Aristotle's work in
   this area was found to be hopelessly inadequate. His failings were
   largely down to lacking concepts like mass, velocity, force, and
   temperature. He had a notion of what speed and temperature was, but no
   quantitative understanding of them. This was partly due to not having
   basic experimental apparatus, like a clock or thermometer.

   His writings provide an account of many scientific observations, but
   there are some curious errors. For example, in his History of Animals
   he claimed that human males have more teeth than females. In a similar
   vein, Galileo showed by simple experiments that Aristotle's theory that
   the heavier object falls faster than a lighter object is incorrect.

   Some have alleged that Aristotle regularly started from theory and
   twisted facts to fit it. For instance he observed living things on
   earth, in the oceans, and in the air. From this he concluded there must
   be fire beings living on the moon. This is obviously absurd. In his
   defence, there are very few passages like this. In many passages
   Aristotle suggest that facts must be collected before an axiomatized
   deductive science can be built. But Aristotle never had all the facts,
   and thought he had facts when he had only falsehoods.

   In places, Aristotle goes too far in deriving 'laws of the universe'
   from simple observation and over-stretched reason. Today's scientific
   method assumes that thinking without sufficient facts often leads
   people astray, and one must be much stricter than Aristotle was in
   comparing one's ideas to the actual world through experimentation; only
   then can one discern if one's hypothesis corresponds to reality.

   Aristotle also had some scientific blind spots, the largest being his
   inability to see the application of mathematics to physics. Aristotle
   held that physics was about changing objects with a reality of their
   own, whereas mathematics was about unchanging objects without a reality
   of their own. In this philosophy, he could not imagine that there was a
   relationship between them. He also posited a flawed cosmology that we
   may discern in selections of the Metaphysics. His cosmology would gain
   much acceptance up until the 1500s. From the 3rd century to the 1500s,
   the dominant view held that the Earth was the centre of the universe;
   of course, we now know that the Earth is not even the centre of our own
   solar system.

   Aristotle's scientific shortcomings should not mislead you into
   forgetting the immense advances that he made in the many fields of
   science. For instance, he founded logic as a formal science and created
   foundations to biology that were not superseded for two millennia.
   Also, he introduced the fundamental notion that nature is composed of
   things that change and that studying such changes can provide useful
   knowledge. This made the study of physics, and all other sciences,
   respectable. This observation, though, goes beyond physics and is
   really the subject matter of metaphysics.

Aristotle's metaphysics

Causality

   The Material Cause is that from which a thing comes into existence as
   from its parts, constituents, substratum or materials. This reduces the
   explanation of causes to the parts (factors, elements, constituents,
   ingredients) forming the whole (system, structure, compound, complex,
   composite, or combination) (the part-whole causation).

   The Formal Cause tells us what a thing is, that any thing is determined
   by the definition, form, pattern, essence, whole, synthesis, or
   archetype. It embraces the account of causes in terms of fundamental
   principles or general laws, as the whole (macrostructure) is the cause
   of its parts (the whole-part causation).

   The Efficient Cause is that from which the change or the ending of the
   change first starts. It identifies 'what makes of what is made and what
   causes change of what is changed' and so suggests all sorts of agents,
   nonliving or living, acting as the sources of change or movement or
   rest. Representing the current understanding of causality as the
   relation of cause and effect, this covers the modern definitions of
   "cause" as either the agent or agency or particular events or states of
   affairs.

   The Final Cause is that for the sake of which a thing exists or is
   done, including both purposeful and instrumental actions and
   activities. The final cause or telos is the purpose or end that
   something is supposed to serve, or it is that from which and that to
   which the change is. This also covers modern ideas of mental causation
   involving such psychological causes as volition, need, motivation, or
   motives, rational, irrational, ethical, all that gives purpose to
   behaviour.

   Additionally, things can be causes of one another, causing each other
   reciprocally, as hard work causes fitness and vice versa, although not
   in the same way or function, the one is as the beginning of change, the
   other as the goal. [Thus Aristotle first suggested a reciprocal or
   circular causality as a relation of mutual dependence or action or
   influence of cause and effect.] Also, Aristotle indicated that the same
   thing can be the cause of contrary effects, its presence and absence
   may result in different outcomes.

   Aristotle marked two modes of causation: proper (prior) causation and
   accidental (chance) causation. All causes, proper and incidental, can
   be spoken as potential or as actual, particular or generic. The same
   language refers to the effects of causes, so that generic effects
   assigned to generic causes, particular effects to particular causes,
   operating causes to actual effects. Essentially, causality does not
   suggest a temporal relation between the cause and the effect.

   All further investigations of causality will be consisting in imposing
   the favorite hierarchies on the order causes, like as final >
   efficient> material > formal (Thomas Aquinas), or in restricting all
   causality to the material and efficient causes or to the efficient
   causality (deterministic or chance) or just to regular sequences and
   correlations of natural phenomena (the natural sciences describing how
   things happen instead of explaining the whys and wherefores).

Chance and spontaneity

   Spontaneity and chance are causes of effects. Chance as an incidental
   cause lies in the realm of accidental things. It is "from what is
   spontaneous" (but note that what is spontaneous does not come from
   chance). For a better understanding of Aristotle's conception of
   "chance" it might be better to think of "coincidence": Something takes
   place by chance if a person sets out with the intent of having one
   thing take place, but with the result of another thing (not intended)
   taking place. For example: A person seeks donations. That person may
   find another person willing to donate a substantial sum. However, if
   the person seeking the donations met the person donating, not for the
   purpose of collecting donations, but for some other purpose, Aristotle
   would call the collecting of the donation by that particular donator a
   result of chance. It must be unusual that something happens by chance.
   In other words, if something happens all or most of the time, we cannot
   say that it is by chance.

   However, chance can only apply to human beings, it is in the sphere of
   moral actions. According to Aristotle, chance must involve choice (and
   thus deliberation), and only humans are capable of deliberation and
   choice. "What is not capable of action cannot do anything by chance"
   (Physics, 2.6).

Substance, potentiality and actuality

   Aristotle examines the concept of substance (ousia) in his Metaphysics,
   Book VII and he concludes that a particular substance is a combination
   of both matter and form. As he proceeds to the book VIII, he concludes
   that the matter of the substance is the substratum or the stuff of
   which is composed e.g. the matter of the house are the bricks, stones,
   timbers etc., or whatever constitutes the potential house. While the
   form of the substance, is the actual house, namely ‘covering for bodies
   and chattels’ or any other differentia. The formula that gives the
   components is the account of the matter, and the formula that gives the
   differentia is the account of the form (Metaphysics VIII, 1043a 10-30).

   With regard to the change (kinesis) and its causes now, as he defines
   in his Physics and On Generation and Corruption 319b-320a, he
   distinguishes the coming to be from 1. growth and diminution, which is
   change in quantity 2. locomotion, which change in space and 3.
   alteration, which is change in quality. The coming to be is a change
   where nothing persists of which the resultant is property. In that
   particular change he introduces the concept of potentiality (dynamis)
   and actuality (entelecheia) in association with the matter and the
   form.

   Referring to potentiality, is what a thing is capable of doing, or
   being acted upon, if it is not prevented from something else. For
   example, a seed of a plant in the soil is potentially (dynamei) plant,
   and if is not prevented by something, it will become a plant.
   Potentially beings can either 'act' (poiein) or 'be acted upon'
   (paschein), as well as can be either innate or come by practice or
   learning. For example, the eyes possess the potentiality of sight
   (innate - being acted upon), while the capability of playing the flute
   can be possessed by learning (exercise - acting).

   Referring now to actuality, this is the fulfillment of the end of the
   potentiality. Because the end (telos) is the principle of every change,
   and for the sake of the end exists potentiality, therefore actuality is
   the end. Referring then to our previous example, we could say that
   actuality is when the seed of the plant becomes a plant.

   “ For that for the sake of which a thing is, is its principle, and the
   becoming is for the sake of the end; and the actuality is the end, and
   it is for the sake of this that the potentiality is acquired. For
   animals do not see in order that they may have sight, but they have
   sight that they may see.” (Aristotle, Metaphysics IX 1050a 5-10).

   In conclusion, the matter of the house is its potentiality and the form
   is its actuality. The Formal Cause (aitia) then of that change from
   potential to actual house, is the reason (logos) of the house builder
   and the Final Cause is the end, namely the house itself. Then Aristotle
   proceeds and concludes that the actuality is prior to potentiality in
   formula, in time and in substantiality.

   With this definition of the particular substance (matter and form)
   Aristotle tries to solve the problem of the unity of the beings; e.g.,
   what is that makes the man one? Since, according to Plato there are two
   Ideas: animal and biped, how then is man a unity? However, according to
   Aristotle, the potential being (matter) and the actual one (form) are
   one and the same thing. (Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII 1045a-b).

The five elements

     * Fire, which is hot and dry.
     * Earth, which is cold and dry.
     * Air, which is hot and wet.
     * Water, which is cold and wet.
     * Aether, which is the divine substance that makes up the heavenly
       spheres and heavenly bodies (stars and planets).

   Each of the four earthly elements has its natural place; the earth at
   the centre of the universe, then water, then air, then fire. When they
   are out of their natural place they have natural motion, requiring no
   external cause, which is towards that place; so bodies sink in water,
   air bubbles up, rain falls, flame rises in air. The heavenly element
   has perpetual circular motion.

Aristotle's ethics

   Although Aristotle wrote several works on ethics, the major one was the
   Nicomachean Ethics, which is considered one of Aristotle's greatest
   works; it discusses virtues. The ten books which comprise it are based
   on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum and were either edited by or
   dedicated to Aristotle's son, Nicomachus.

   Aristotle believed that ethical knowledge is not precise knowledge,
   like logic and mathmatics, but general knowledge like knowledge of
   nutrition and exercise. Also, as it is a practical discipline rather
   than a theoretical one; he thought that in order to become "good", one
   could not simply study what virtue is; one must actually be virtuous.
   Analogously, in order to become good at a sport like football, one does
   not simply study but also practices. Aristotle first establishes what
   was virtuous. He began by determining that everything was done with
   some goal in mind and that goal is 'good.' The ultimate goal he called
   the Highest Good.

   Aristotle contended that happiness could not be found only in pleasure
   or only in fame and honour. He finally finds happiness "by ascertaining
   the specific function of man". But what is this function that will
   bring happiness? To determine this, Aristotle analyzed the soul and
   found it to have three parts: the Nutritive Soul (plants, animals and
   humans), the Perceptive Soul (animals and humans) and the Rational Soul
   (humans only). Thus, a human's function is to do what makes it human,
   to be good at what sets it apart from everything else: the ability to
   reason or Nous. A person that does this is the happiest because they
   are fulfilling their purpose or nature as found in the rational soul.
   Depending on how well they did this, Aristotle said people belonged to
   one of four categories: the Virtuous, the Continent, the Incontinent
   and the Vicious.

   Aristotle believed that every ethical virtue is an intermediate
   condition between excess and deficiency. This does not mean Aristotle
   believed in moral relativism, however. He set certain emotions (e.g.,
   hate, envy, jealousy, spite, etc.) and certain actions (e.g., adultery,
   theft, murder, etc.) as always wrong, regardless of the situation or
   the circumstances.

   In the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle often focused on finding the mean
   between two extremes of any particular subject; whether it be justice,
   courage, wealth and so forth. For example, courage is a mean between
   two feelings (fear and confidence) and an action (the courageous act).
   Too much fear or too little confidence leads to cowardice, and too
   little fear or too much confidence can lead to rash, foolish choices.
   Aristotle says that finding this middle ground is essential to reaching
   eudemonia, the ultimate form of godlike consciousness. This middle
   ground is often referred to as The Golden Mean.

   Aristotle also wrote about his thoughts on the concept of justice in
   the Nicomachean Ethics. In these chapters, Aristotle defined justice in
   two parts, general justice and particular justice. General justice is
   Aristotle’s form of universal justice that can only exist in a perfect
   society. Particular justice is where punishment is given out for a
   particular crime or act of injustice. This is where Aristotle says an
   educated judge is needed to apply just decisions regarding any
   particular case. This is where we get the concept of the scales of
   justice, the blindfolded judge symbolizing blind justice, balancing the
   scales, weighing all the evidence and deliberating each particular case
   individually. Homonymy is an important theme in Aristotle’s justice
   because one form of justice can apply to one, while another would be
   best suited for a different person/case. Aristotle says that developing
   good habits can make a good human being and that practicing the use of
   The golden mean when applicable to virtues will allow a human being to
   live a healthy, happy life.

Aristotle's critics

   Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a
   fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his
   belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience,
   whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The
   Forms.
   Enlarge
   Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a
   fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his
   belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience,
   whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The
   Forms.

   Aristotle has been criticized on several grounds.
     * His analysis of procreation is frequently criticized on the grounds
       that it presupposes an active, ensouling masculine element bringing
       life to an inert, passive, lumpen female element; it is on these
       grounds that some feminist critics refer to Aristotle as a
       misogynist.
     * At times, the objections that Aristotle raises against the
       arguments of his own teacher, Plato, appear to rely on faulty
       interpretations of those arguments.
     * Although Aristotle advised, against Plato, that knowledge of the
       world could only be obtained through experience, he frequently
       failed to take his own advice. Aristotle conducted projects of
       careful empirical investigation, but often drifted into abstract
       logical reasoning, with the result that his work was littered with
       conclusions that were not supported by empirical evidence: for
       example, his assertion that objects of different mass fall at
       different speeds under gravity, which was later refuted by John
       Philoponus (credit is often given to Galileo, even though
       Philoponus lived centuries earlier).
     * Some academics have suggested that Aristotle was unaware of much of
       the current science of his own time.

   Aristotle was called not a great philosopher, but "The Philosopher" by
   Scholastic thinkers. These thinkers blended Aristotelian philosophy
   with Christianity, bringing the thought of Ancient Greece into the
   Middle Ages. It required a repudiation of some Aristotelian principles
   for the sciences and the arts to free themselves for the discovery of
   modern scientific laws and empirical methods.

The loss of his works

   Though we know that Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises ( Cicero
   described his literary style as "a river of gold"), the originals have
   been lost in time. All that we have now are the literary notes of his
   pupils, which are often difficult to read (the Nicomachean Ethics is a
   good example). It is now believed that we have about one fifth of his
   original works.

   Aristotle underestimated the importance of his written work for
   humanity. He thus never published his books, only his dialogues. The
   story of the original manuscripts of his treatises is described by
   Strabo in his Geography and Plutarch in his " Parallel Lives, Sulla":
   The manuscripts were left from Aristotle to Theophrastus, from
   Theophrastus to Neleus of Scepsis, from Neleus to his heirs. Their
   descendants sold them to Apellicon of Teos. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla
   occupied Athens in 86 BC, he carried off the library of Appellicon to
   Rome, where they were first published in 60 BC from the grammarian
   Tyrranion of Amisus and then by philosopher Andronicus of Rhodes.

Named after Aristotle

     * Aristoteles, a crater on the Moon.
     * The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
     * Aristotelous Square
     * Aristotle Lane in Oxford, England
     * Aristotle Bar and Grill in Springfield, Illinois

                            Academic Genealogy
                    Notable teachers  Notable students
                    Plato            Alexander the Great
                                     Harpalus
                                     Hephaestion
                                     Nicomachus
                                     Theophrastus

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