Difference between revisions of "Aristotle" - New World Encyclopedia

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{{Infobox_Philosopher
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--[[User:Keisuke Noda|Keisuke Noda]] 14:55, 20 Sep 2005 (CDT)
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| me = {{polytonic|Ἀριστοτέλης}} ''Aristotélēs''
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| image_name = Aristoteles Louvre.jpg
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| color = #B0C4DE
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| region = Western philosophy
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| era = [[Ancient philosophy]]
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| name = [[Aristotle]]
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| birth = 384 B.C.E..E.
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| death = March 7 322 B.C.E.
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| school_tradition = Inspired the [[Peripatetic]] school and tradition of [[Aristotelianism]]
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| main_interests =[[Politics]], [[Metaphysics]], [[Science]], [[Logic]], [[Ethics]]
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| influences = [[Parmenides]], [[Socrates]], [[Plato]]
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| influenced = [[Alexander the Great]], [[Al-Farabi]], [[Avicenna]], [[Averroes]], [[Albertus Magnus]], [[Copernicus]], [[Galileo Galilei]], [[Ptolemy]], [[St. Thomas Aquinas]], and most of [[Islamic philosophy]], [[Christian philosophy]], [[Western philosophy]] and [[Science]] in general
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| notable_ideas = [[Golden mean (philosophy)|The Golden mean]], [[Reason]], [[Logic]], [[Biology]], Passion}}
  
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'''Aristotle''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: {{polytonic|Ἀριστοτέλης}} ''Aristotélēs'') (384 B.C.E. –  322 B.C.E.) was a [[Greeks|Greek]] [[philosophy|philosopher]], a student of [[Plato]] and teacher of [[Alexander the Great]]. He wrote on diverse subjects, including [[physics]], [[metaphysics]], [[Poetics (Aristotle)|poetry]] (including [[theater]]), [[logic]], [[rhetoric]], [[politics]], [[government]], [[ethics]], [[biology]] and [[zoology]].  Along with [[Socrates]] and Plato, he was among the most influential of the [[Greek philosophy|ancient Greek philosophers]], as they transformed [[Presocratic]] Greek philosophy into the foundations of [[Western philosophy]] as it is known today. Some researchers credit Plato and Aristotle with founding two of the most important schools of [[ancient philosophy]], while others consider [[Aristotelianism]] to be a development and concretization of Plato's insights.                                 
  
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17:22 19 September 2005 Kmweber
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==Life==
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Aristotle was born in [[Stageira]], [[Chalcidice]]. His parents were Phaestis, and Nicomachus, who became physician to [[Amyntas III of Macedon|King Amyntas of Macedon]].  Aristotle was trained and educated as a member of the [[aristocracy]].  At about the age of eighteen, he went to [[Athens]] to continue his education at [[Academy|Plato's Academy]].  Aristotle remained at the academy for nearly twenty years, not leaving until after Plato's death in 347 B.C.E.  He then traveled with [[Xenocrates]] to the court of [[Hermias of Atarneus]] in Asia Minor.  While in Asia, Aristotle traveled with [[Theophrastus]] to the island of [[Lesbos Island|Lesbos]], where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island.  Aristotle married Hermias' daughter (or niece) [[Pythias]].  She bore him a daughter, whom they named Pythias.  Soon after Hermias' death, Aristotle was invited by [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip of Macedon]] to become tutor to [[Alexander the Great]].
  
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[[Image:aristotle.jpg|right|framed|Aristotle (sculpture)]]
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After spending several years tutoring the young Alexander, Aristotle returned to Athens.  By 335 B.C.E., he established his own school there, known as the [[Lyceum]]. Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next twelve years.  While in Athens, his wife Pythias died, and Aristotle became involved with [[Herpyllis]] of [[Stageira]], who bore him a son whom he named after his father, [[Nicomachus]].
  
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'''Aristotle''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Αριστοτέλης
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It is during this period in Athens when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his works.  Aristotle wrote many dialogues, only fragments of which survived. The works that have survived are in [[treatise]] form and were not, for the most part, intended for widespread publication, as they are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include  ''[[Physics (Aristotle)|Physics]]'', ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]] (or [[Ontology]])'', ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'', ''[[De Anima]] (On the Soul)'' and ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]''. These works, although connected in many fundamental ways, vary significantly in both style and substance.
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Aristotelēs; [[384 B.C.E.]] – [[March 7]], [[322 B.C.E.]]) was an [[ancient Greek]] [[philosopher]]. Along with [[Plato]], he is often considered to be one of the two most influential philosophers in [[Western world|Western]] thought. He wrote many books about [[physics]], [[poetry]], [[zoology]], [[logic]], [[government]], and [[biology]].
 
  
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== Introduction ==
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Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle studied [[anatomy]], [[astronomy]], [[economics]], [[embryology]], [[geography]], [[geology]], [[meteorology]], [[physics]] and [[zoology]]. In philosophy, he wrote on [[aesthetics]], [[ethics]], [[government]], [[metaphysics]], [[politics]], [[psychology]], [[rhetoric]] and [[theology]]. He also studied [[education]], foreign customs, [[literature]] and [[poetry]]. His combined works constitute a virtual [[encyclopedia]] of Greek knowledge. It has been suggested that Aristotle was likely the last person to know everything there was to be known in his own time.<ref>{{cite book
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The three most influential [[Ancient philosophy|ancient Greek philosophers]] were Aristotle, [[Plato]] (a teacher of Aristotle) and [[Socrates]] (ca. [[470 B.C.E.]]-[[399 B.C.E.]]), whose thinking deeply influenced Plato. Among them they transformed [[Presocratic]] [[Greek philosophy]] into the foundations of [[Western philosophy]] as we know it. Socrates did not leave any writings, possibly as a result of the reasons articulated against writing philosophy attributed to him in Plato's dialogue ''[[Phaedrus (Plato)|Phaedrus]]''. His ideas are known to us only indirectly, through Plato and a few other writers. The writings of Plato and Aristotle form the core of [[Ancient philosophy]].
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  | last =Neill
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  | first =Alex
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  | coauthors =Aaron Ridley
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  | title =The Philosphy of Art: Readings Ancient and Modern
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  | publisher =McGraw Hill
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  | date =1995
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  | location =
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  | pages =488
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  | url =http://www.amazon.com/dp/0070461929/
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  | doi =
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  | id =  }}</ref>
  
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Their works, although connected in many fundamental ways, are very different in both style and substance. Plato mainly wrote philosophical [[dialogue]]s, that is, arguments in the form of conversations, usually with Socrates as a participant. Though the early dialogues are concerned mainly with methods of acquiring [[knowledge]] and most of the last ones with [[justice]] and practical [[ethics]], his most famous works expressed a synoptic view of ethics, [[metaphysics]], [[reason]], [[knowledge]] and human life.  The fundamental idea of [[Plato]] is that knowledge gained through the [[senses]] is always confused and impure; true knowledge being acquired by the contemplative [[soul]] that turns away from the world. To attain such true knowledge, the philosopher must make use of the "royal science" of [[dialectic]]. One of the necessary obstacles of dialectic is dialogue itself which guides the interlocutors away from the paths to truth. The soul alone can have knowledge of the [[Forms]], the real essences of things, of which the world we see is but an imperfect copy. Such knowledge has ethical as well as [[scientific]] importance. Plato can be called, with qualification, an [[idealism|idealist]] and a [[rationalism|rationalist]].
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Upon Alexander's death in 323 B.C.E., anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens once again flared. [[Eurymedon the hierophant]] denounced Aristotle for not holding the gods in honor. Aristotle fled the city to his mother's family estate in Chalcis, explaining, "I will not allow the Athenians to [[Trial of Socrates|sin twice against philosophy]]."<ref>{{cite book
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  | last =Jones
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  | first =W.T.
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  | authorlink =
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  | title =The Classical Mind: A History of Western Philosophy
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  | publisher =Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
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  | date =1980
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  | location =
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  | pages =216
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  | url =http://www.amazon.com/dp/0155383124/
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  | id =  }}, cf. ''Vita Marciana'' 41.</ref>  However, he died there of natural causes within the year. Aristotle left a [[Will (law)|will]], which has been preserved, in which he asked to be buried next to his wife.
  
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Aristotle, by contrast, placed much more value on knowledge gained from the senses and would correspondingly be better classed among modern [[empiricist]]s (see [[materialism]] and [[empiricism]]). He also achieved a "grounding" of dialectic in the [[Topics]] by allowing interlocutors to begin from commonly held beliefs ''[[Endoxa]]''; his goal being non-contradiction rather than [[Truth]]. He set the stage for what would eventually develop into the [[scientific method]] centuries later. Although he wrote dialogues early in his career, no more than fragments of these have survived. The works of Aristotle that still exist today are in [[treatise]] form and were, for the most part, unpublished texts. These were probably lecture notes or texts used by his students, and were almost certainly revised repeatedly over the course of years. As a result, these works tend to be eclectic, dense and difficult to read. Among the most important ones are ''Physics'', ''Metaphysics'', ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', ''Politics'', ''[[De Anima]] (On the Soul)'' and ''[[Poetics]]''.
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==Methodology==
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[[Image:Sanzio 01 Plato Aristotle.jpg|thumb|right|[[Plato]] (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of ''[[The School of Athens]]''<!-- this should link to an article about the famous artwork —>, a fresco by [[Raphael]]. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'' in his hand, whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in [[The Forms]].]]
  
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Aristotle is known for being one of the few figures in history who studied almost every subject possible at the time. In science, Aristotle studied [[anatomy]], [[astronomy]], [[embryology]], [[geography]], [[geology]], [[meteorology]], [[physics]],and [[zoology]]. In philosophy, Aristotle wrote on [[aesthetics]], [[economics]], [[ethics]], [[government]], [[metaphysics]], [[politics]], [[psychology]], [[rhetoric]] and [[theology]].  He also dealt with [[education]], foreign customs, [[literature]] and [[poetry]]. His combined works practically comprise an [[encyclopedia]] of Greek knowledge.
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{{details|Aristotle's theory of universals}}
  
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Aristotle defines his philosophy as "the science of the universal [[essence]] of that which is actual." Plato had defined it as the "science of the [[idea]]," with the word "idea" referring to the unconditional basis of [[phenomena]]. Both student and master regard philosophy as [[Universality (philosophy)|universal]]; Aristotle, however, found the universal in [[particular]] things, which he called 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 reasoning|inductive]] and [[Deductive reasoning|deductive]], while Plato's is essentially deductive from ''[[A priori and a posteriori (philosophy)|a priori]]'' principles.<ref>{{cite book
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  | last =Jori
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  | first =Alberto
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  | authorlink =
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  | coauthors =
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  | title =Aristotele
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  | publisher =Bruno Mondadori Editore
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  | date =2003
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  | location =Milano
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  | pages =
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  | url =
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  | id =  }}</ref>
  
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In Aristotle's terminology, "natural philosophy" is a branch of philosophy examining the phenomena of the natural world, and included fields that would be regarded today as [[physics]], [[biology]] and other [[natural science]]s. In modern times, the scope of ''philosophy'' has become limited to more generic or abstract inquiries, such as ethics and metaphysics, in which logic plays a major role. Today's philosophy tends to exclude empirical study of the natural world by means of the [[scientific method]]. In contrast, Aristotle's philosophical endeavors encompassed virtually all facets of intellectual inquiry.
  
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== Biography ==
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In the larger sense of the word, Aristotle makes philosophy coextensive with [[reasoning]], which he also would describe as "science." Note, however, that his use of the term ''science'' carries a different meaning than that covered by the term "[[scientific method]]." For Aristotle, "all science (''dianoia'') is either practical, poetical or theoretical." By
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===Early life and studies at the Academy===
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practical science, he means ethics and politics; by poetical science, he means the study of poetry and the other fine arts; by theoretical science, he means physics, [[mathematics]] and metaphysics.
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[[Image:Bust of Aristotle.jpg|thumb|A [[bust (sculpture)|bust]] of Aristotle is a nearly ubiquitous ornament in places of high culture in [[the West]].]]
 
  
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Aristotle was born at [[Stageira]], a [[apoikia|colony]] of [[Andros]] on the [[Macedonia|Macedonian]] peninsula of [[Chalcidice]] in [[384 B.C.E.]]. 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 Macedonia. As such, Aristotle's early education would probably have consisted of instruction in [[medicine]] and [[biology]] from his father. About his mother, Phaestis, little is known. It is known that she died early in Aristotle's life. When Nicomachus also died, in Aristotle's tenth year, he was left an [[orphan]] and placed under the guardianship of his uncle, [[Proxenus of Atarneus]]. He taught Aristotle [[Greek language|Greek]], [[rhetoric]], and [[poetry]] (O'Connor ''et al.'', [[2004]]). Aristotle was probably influenced by his father's medical knowledge; when he went to [[Athens]] at the age of 18, he was likely already trained in the investigation of natural phenomena.
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If logic, or, as Aristotle calls it, [[analytic]], is regarded as a study preliminary to philosophy, the divisions of Aristotelian philosophy would consist of: (1) [[Logic]]; (2) Theoretical Philosophy, including [[Metaphysics]], [[Physics]], [[Mathematics]], (3) Practical Philosophy and (4) Poetical Philosophy.
  
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From the age of 18 to 37 Aristotle remained in Athens as a pupil of [[Plato]] and distinguished himself at the ''[[Academy]]''. The relations between Plato and Aristotle have 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 association with [[Xenocrates]] and other [[Platonists]], and his allusions in his writings to Plato's doctrines prove that while there were conflicts of opinion between Plato and Aristotle, there was no lack of cordial appreciation or mutual forbearance. Besides this, the legends that reflect Aristotle unfavourably are traceable to the [[Epicureans]], who were known as slanderers. If such legends were circulated widely by [[patristic]] writers such as [[Justin Martyr]] and [[Gregory Nazianzen]], the reason lies in the exaggerated esteem Aristotle was held in by the early [[Christianity|Christian]] [[heretic]]s, not in any well-grounded historical tradition.
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==Epistemology==
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===Logic===
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{{main|term logic}}
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{{details|Non-Aristotelian logic}}
  
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===Aristotle as philosopher and tutor===
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Aristotle's conception of logic was the dominant form of logic until 19th century advances in [[mathematical logic]]. [[Kant]] stated in the ''Critique of Pure Reason'' that Aristotle's theory of logic completely accounted for the core of deductive inference.
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After the death of Plato ([[347 B.C.E.]]), Aristotle was considered as the next head of the Academy, a post that was eventually awarded to Plato's nephew. Aristotle then went with Xenocrates to the court of [[Hermias]], ruler of [[Atarneus]] in [[Asia Minor]], and married his niece and adopted daughter, Pythia. In [[344 B.C.E.]], Hermias was murdered in a rebellion, <!--''(or a Persian attack?)''—> 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 13.
 
  
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[[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.
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==== History ====
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Aristotle "says that 'on the subject of reasoning' he 'had nothing else on an earlier date to speak of'".<ref>{{cite book
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  | last =Bocheński
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  | first =I. M.
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  | authorlink =
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  | title =Ancient Formal Logic
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  | publisher =North-Holland Publishing Company
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  | date =1951
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  | location =Amsterdam
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  | pages =
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  | id =  }}</ref> However, Plato reports that [[syntax]] was devised before him, by [[Prodikos of Keos]], who was concerned by the correct use of words. Logic seems to have emerged from [[dialectics]]; the earlier philosophers made frequent use of concepts like ''[[reductio ad absurdum]]'' in their discussions, but never truly understood the logical implications. Even Plato had difficulties with logic; although he had a reasonable conception of a [[deduction]] system, he was never could actually construct one, instead relying on his [[dialectic]], which confused science with methodology.<ref>Bocheński, 1951.</ref> Plato believed that deduction would simply follow from [[premise]]s, hence he focused on maintaining solid premises so that the [[conclusion]] would logically follow. Subsequently, Plato realized that a method for obtaining conclusions would be most beneficial. He never succeeded in devising such a method, but his best attempt was published in his book ''Sophist'', where he introduced his division method.<ref>{{cite book
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  | last =Rose
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  | first =Lynn E.
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  | authorlink =
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  | coauthors =
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  | title =Aristotle's Syllogistic
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  | publisher =Charles C Thomas Publisher
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  | date =1968
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  | location =Springfield
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  | pages =
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  | url =
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  | id =  }}</ref>
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====Analytics and the ''Organon''====
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{{main|Organon}}
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What we today call ''Aristotelian logic'', Aristotle himself would have labeled "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:
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#''Categories''
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#''On Interpretation''
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#''Prior Analytics''
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#''Posterior Analytics''
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#''Topics''
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#''On Sophistical Refutations''
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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 dialectics (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.''.<ref>Bocheński, 1951.</ref>
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====Modal logic====
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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.<ref>Rose, 1968.</ref>
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===Physical Science===
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[[Image:Francesco Hayez 001.jpg|thumb|right|Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez]]
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In the period between his two stays in Athens, between his times at the Academy and the Lyceum, Aristotle conducted most of the scientific thinking and research for which he is renowned today. 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, e.g., botany, zoology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology, geometry and several other sciences.
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Aristotle's writings on science are largely qualitative, as opposed to quantitative. Beginning in the sixteenth century, scientists began applying mathematics to the physical sciences, and Aristotle's work in this area was deemed hopelessly inadequate. His failings were largely due to the absence of concepts like mass, velocity, force and temperature. He had a conception of speed and temperature, but no quantitative understanding of them, which was partly due to the absence of basic experimental devices, like clocks and thermometers.
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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.
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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 such thinking without sufficient facts is ineffective, and that discerning the validity of one's hypothesis requires far more rigorous experimentation than that which Aristotle used to support his laws.
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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'', which was  widely accepted up until the 1500s. From the 3rd century to the 1500s, the dominant view held that the Earth was the center of the universe ([[geocentrism]]). This scientific concept, as proposed by Aristotle and Plato was later adopted as dogma by the Roman Catholic Church because it placed mankind at the center of the universe, and scientists who disagreed, such as [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], were considered heretics. This erroneous concept was eventually rejected.
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Aristotle's scientific shortcomings should not mislead one into forgetting his great advances in the many scientific fields. For instance, he founded logic as a formal science and created foundations to biology that were not superseded (in the West) for two millennia. Moreover, 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. In actuality, however, this observation transcends physics into metaphysics.
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==Metaphysics==
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Aristotle defines metaphysics as "the knowledge of [[immaterial]] being," or of "being in the highest degree of abstraction."  He refers to metaphysics as "first philosophy," as well as "the theologic science."
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===Causality===<!-- This section is linked from [[Retrocausality]]. See [[WP:MOS#Section management]] —>
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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), a relationship known as the part-whole causation.  An  example of a material cause would be the marble in a carved statue.
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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 (i.e., macrostructure) is the cause of its parts, a relationship known as the whole-part causation.  An example of a formal cause might be the planning sketches of the carved statue.
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[[Image:aristotle.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Aristotle]]
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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.  An example of an efficient cause might be the artist who carved the statue.
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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 behavior.  The final cause of the artist might be the statue itself. ([[teleology]])
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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 influence of cause upon effect). Moreover, Aristotle indicated that the same thing can be the cause of contrary effects; its presence and absence may result in different outcomes.
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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.
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All further investigations of causality will consist of imposing the favorite hierarchies on the order causes, such as final > efficient> material > formal ([[Thomas Aquinas]]), or of 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).
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===Chance and spontaneity===
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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.
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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".<ref>Aristotle, ''Physics'' 2.6</ref>
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===Substance, potentiality and actuality===
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Aristotle examines the concept of substance (''[[ousia]]'') in his ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|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 it 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 [[Genus-differentia definition|differentia]] (see also [[predicables]]). 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.<ref>Aristotle, ''Metaphysics'' VIII 1043a 10-30</ref>
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With regard to the change (''kinesis'') and its causes now, as he defines in his [[Physics (Aristotle)|Physics]] and [[On Generation and Corruption]] 319b-320a, he distinguishes the coming to be from
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1. growth and diminution, which is change in quantity
 +
2. locomotion, which is 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 and actuality (Aristotle)|potentiality]] (''dynamis'') and actuality (''entelecheia'') in association with the matter and the form.
 +
 
 +
Referring to potentiality, this is what a thing is capable of doing, or being acted upon, if it is not prevented by something else. For example, the 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''), which can be either innate or learned. 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).
 +
 
 +
Actuality 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.”<ref>Aristotle, ''Metaphysics'' IX 1050a 5-10</ref>
 +
 
 +
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 (i.e., '''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.<ref>Aristotle, ''Metaphysics'' VIII 1045a-b</ref>
 +
 
 +
===Universals and particulars===
 +
{{main|Aristotle's theory of universals}}
 +
 
 +
Aristotle's predecessor, Plato, argued that all things have a universal form, which could be either a property, or a relation to other things. When we look at an apple, for example, we see an apple, and we also analyze a form of an apple. In this distinction, there is a particular apple and a universal form of an apple. Moreover, we can place an apple next to a book, so that we can speak of both the book and apple as being next to each other.
  
−
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.
+
Plato argued that there are some universal forms that are not a part of particular things. For example, it is possible that there is no particular good in existence, but "good" is still a proper universal form. [[Bertrand Russell]] is a contemporary philosopher that agreed with Plato on the existence of "uninstantiated universals."
  
−
According to sources such as Plutarch and [[Diogenes]], Philip had Aristotle's hometown of Stageira burned during the [[340s B.C.E.]], and 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.
+
Aristotle disagreed with Plato on this point, arguing that all universals are "instantiated." Aristotle argued that there are no universals that are unattached to existing things. According to Aristotle, if a universal exists, either as a particular or a relation, then there must have been, must be currently, or must be in the future, something on which the universal can be predicated. Consequently, according to Aristotle, if it is not the case that some universal can be predicated to an object that exists at some period of time, then it does not exist.
  
−
===Founder and master of the Lyceum===
+
One way for contemporary philosophers to justify this position is by asserting the [[eleatic principle]].
−
In about [[335 B.C.E.]], Alexander departed for 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 (ancient Greece)|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 up and down — ''peripateo'' — the shaded walks — ''peripatoi'' — around the gymnasium).
 
  
−
During the thirteen years ([[335 B.C.E.]]&ndash;[[322 B.C.E.]]) which he spent as teacher of the Lyceum, Aristotle composed most of his writings. Imitating Plato, he wrote ''[[Dialogue]]s'' in which his doctrines were expounded in somewhat popular language. He also composed the several treatises (which will be mentioned below) on physics, metaphysics, and so forth, in which the exposition is more [[didactic]] and the language more technical than in the ''Dialogues''. These writings show to what good use he put the resources Alexander had provided for him. They show particularly how he 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|Pliny]] 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, and Aristotle's works on zoology make this statement more believable. Aristotle was fully informed about the doctrines of his predecessors, and [[Strabo]] asserted that he was the first to accumulate a great library.
+
In addition, Aristotle disagreed with Plato about the location of universals. As Plato spoke of the world of the forms, a location where all universal forms subsist, Aristotle maintained that universals exist within each thing on which each universal is predicated. So, according to Aristotle, the form of apple exists within each apple, rather than in the world of the forms.
  
−
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 at 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, with even less reason, brought against Aristotle. He left the city, saying (according to many ancient authorities) that he would not give the Athenians a chance to sin a third time against philosophy. He took up residence at his country house at [[Chalcis]], in [[Euboea]], and there he died the following year, [[322 B.C.E.]]. 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 [[tide]]s," is without historical foundation.
+
===The five elements===
 +
{{main|Classical element}}
 +
*[[Fire (classical element)|Fire]], which is hot and dry.
 +
*[[Earth (classical element)|Earth]], which is cold and dry.
 +
*[[Air (classical element)|Air]], which is hot and wet.
 +
*[[Water (classical element)|Water]], which is cold and wet.
 +
*[[Aether (classical element)|Aether]], which is the divine substance that makes up the heavenly spheres and heavenly bodies (stars and planets).
  
−
Very little is known about Aristotle's personal appearance except from hostile sources. The statues and busts of Aristotle, possibly from the first years of the Peripatetic School, represent him as sharp and keen of countenance, and somewhat below the average height. His character&mdash;as revealed by his writings, his will (which is undoubtedly genuine), fragments of his letters and the allusions of his unprejudiced contemporaries&mdash;was that of a high-minded, kind-hearted man, devoted to his family and his friends, kind to his slaves, fair to his enemies and rivals, grateful towards his benefactors. When [[Platonism]] ceased to dominate the world of [[Christianity|Christian]] speculation, and the works of Aristotle began to be studied without fear and prejudice, the personality of Aristotle appeared to the Christian writers of the [[13th century]], as it had to the unprejudiced pagan writers of his own day, as calm, majestic, untroubled by passion, and undimmed by any great moral defects, "the master of those who know".
+
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.
  
−
== Methodology ==
+
==Practical Philosophy==
−
Aristotle defines 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 reasoning|inductive]] and [[Deductive reasoning|deductive]], while Plato's is essentially deductive.
 
  
−
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 later become the basis of modern science, as studied through the [[scientific method]]. The term ''philosophy'' is distinct from metaphysics, which is what moderns term [[philosophy]].
+
===Ethics===
 +
{{main|Aristotelian ethics}}
  
−
In the larger sense of the word, he 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 which is covered by the scientific method.  "All science (''dianoia'') is either practical, poetical or theoretical." By practical science he understands ethics and politics; by poetical, he means the study of poetry and the other fine arts; while by theoretical philosophy he means physics, mathematics, and metaphysics.
+
Aristotle considered [[ethics]] to be a practical science, i.e., one mastered by doing rather than merely reasoning.  Further, Aristotle believed that ethical knowledge is not certain knowledge (like [[metaphysics]] and [[epistemology]]) but is general knowledge.  He wrote several treatises on ethics, including most notably, ''[[Nichomachean Ethics]]'', in which he outlines what is commonly called [[virtue ethics]].
  
−
The last, philosophy in the stricter 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 taught that virtue has to do with the proper function of a thing.  An eye is only a good eye in so much as it can see, because the proper function of an eye is sight.  Aristotle reasoned that man must have a function uncommon to anything else, and that this function must be an activity of the soul.  Aristotle identified as the best activity of the soul as [[eudaimonia]]: a happiness or joy that pervades the good life. Aristotle taught that to achieve the good life, one must live a balanced life and avoid excess.  This balance, he taught, varies among different persons and situations, and exists as a [[Golden mean (philosophy)|golden mean]] between two vices - one an excess and one a deficiency.
  
−
=== Aristotle's logic ===
+
===Politics===
−
''Main article: [[Aristotelian logic]]''
+
In addition to his works on ethics, which address the individual, Aristotle addressed the state in his work titled ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]''.  Aristole's conception of the state is very organic, and he is considered one of the first to conceive of the state in this manner.<ref>{{cite book
 +
  | last =Ebenstein
 +
  | first =Alan
 +
  | authorlink =
 +
  | coauthors =William Ebenstein
 +
  | title =Introduction to Political Thinkers
 +
  | publisher =Wadsworth Group
 +
  | date =2002
 +
  | location =
 +
  | pages =59
 +
  | url =
 +
  | doi =
 +
  | id =  }}</ref>  Aristotle considered the state to be a natural community.  Moreover, he considered the state to be prior to the [[family]] which in turn is prior to the individual.  He is also famous for his statement that "man is by nature a political animal." Aristotle conceived of politics as being more like an [[organism]], rather than a [[machine]].
  
−
==== History ====
+
== Biology and medicine ==
−
Aristotle "says that 'on the subject of reasoning' he 'had nothing else on an earlier date to speak about'" (Boche&#324;ski, [[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 (Boche&#324;ski, [[1951]]). Plato thought that deduction would simply follow from [[premise]]s, so he focused on having good premises so that the [[conclusion]] would follow. Later on, Plato realised 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''====
+
Aristotle believed that intellectual purposes, i.e., [[formal cause]]s, guided all natural processes. Such a [[teleological]] view gave Aristotle cause to justify his observed data as an expression of formal design. Noting that "no animal has, at the same time, both tusks and horns," and "a single-hooved animal with two horns I have never seen," Aristotle suggested that Nature, giving no animal both horns and tusks, was staving off vanity, and giving creatures faculties only to such a degree as they are necessary. Noting that ruminants had a multiple stomachs and weak teeth, he supposed the first was to compensate for the latter, with Nature trying to preserve type of balance.<ref> Mason, ''A History of the Sciences'' pp 43-44 </ref>
−
What we call today Aristotelian logic, Aristotle himself would have labelled analytics. The term logic he reserved to mean dialectics. Most of Aristotle's work is probably not authentic, since it was most likely edited by students and later lecturers. The logical works of Aristotle were compiled into six books at about the time of [[Christ]]:
 
  
−
#''Categories''
+
In a similar fashion, Aristotle believed that creatures were arranged in a graded scale of perfection rising from plants on up to man, the ''scala naturae'' or [[Great Chain of Being]].<ref>Mayr, ''The Growth of Biological Thought'', pp 201-202; see also: Lovejoy, ''The Great Chain of Being''</ref> . His system had eleven grades, arranged according "to the degree to which they are infected with potentiality," expressed in their form at birth. The highest animals laid warm and wet creatures alive, the lowest bore theirs cold, dry, and in thick eggs.
−
#''On Interpretation''
 
−
#''Prior Analytics''
 
−
#''Posterior Analytics''
 
−
#''Topics''
 
−
#''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. There is one volume of Aristotle's concerning logic not found in the ''Organon'', namely the fourth book of ''Metaphysics.'' (Boche&#324;ski, 1951).
+
Aristotle also held that the level of a creature's perfection was reflected in its form, but not foreordained by that form.  
  
−
====Modal logic====
+
He placed great importance on the type(s) of soul an organism possessed, asserting that plants possess a vegetative soul, responsible for reproduction and growth, animals a vegetative and a sensitive soul, responsible for mobility and sensation, and humans a vegetative, a sensitive, and a rational soul, capable of thought and reflection.<ref> Aristotle, ''De Anima'' II 3 </ref>
−
Aristotle is also the creator of [[syllogism]]s 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 very difficult to interpret. (Rose, 1968).
 
  
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====See also====
+
Aristotle, in contrast to earlier philosophers, but in accordance with the Egyptians, placed the rational soul in the heart, rather than the brain.<ref> Mason, ''A History of the Sciences'' pp 45 </ref> Notable is Aristotle's division of sensation and thought, which generally went against previous philosophers, with the exception of [[Alcmaeon]].<ref> Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy'' Vol. 1 pp. 348 </ref>
−
* [[Non-Aristotelian logic]]
 
  
−
=== Aristotelian science ===
+
Aristotle's successor at the [[Lyceum]], [[Theophrastus]], wrote a series of books on botany&mdash;the ''[[Historia Plantarum|History of Plants]]''&mdash;which survived as the most important contribution of antiquity to botany, even into the [[Middle Ages]]. Many of Theophrastus' names survive into modern times, such as ''carpos'' for fruit, and ''pericarpion'' for seed vessel.  
−
Aristotelian discussions about science had only been qualitative, not quantitative. By the modern definition of the term, Aristotelian philosophy was not science, as this [[worldview]] did not attempt to probe how the world actually worked through [[experiment]]. For example, in his book ''The history of animals'' he claimed that human males have more teeth than female. Had he only made some observations, he would have found out that this claim is false.
 
  
−
Rather, based on what one's senses told one, Aristotelian philosophy then depended upon the assumption that man's mind could elucidate all the laws of the universe, based on simple observation (without experimentation) through [[reason]] alone.
+
Rather than focus on formal causes, as Aristotle did, Theophrastus suggested a mechanistic scheme, drawing analogies between natural and artificial processes, and relying on Aristotle's concept of the [[efficient cause]]. Theophrastus also recognized the role of sex in the reproduction of some higher plants, though this last discovery was lost in later ages.<ref>Mayr, ''The Growth of Biological Thought'', pp 90-91; Mason, ''A History of the Sciences'', p 46 </ref>
  
−
One of the reasons for this was that 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.
+
==Last notes on the impact of Aristotle on Hellenistic medicine==
 +
[[Image:161Theophrastus 161 frontespizio.jpg|thumb|left|Frontispiece to a 1644 version of the expanded and illustrated edition of ''[[Historia Plantarum]]'' (ca. 1200), which was originally written around 200 B.C.E..]]
  
−
In contrast, today the term ''science'' refers to the position that thinking alone often leads people astray, and therefore one must compare one's ideas to the actual world through experimentation; only then can one see if one's ideas are based in reality.
+
Following Theophrastus, the Lyceum failed to produce any original work. Though interest in Aristotle's ideas survived, they were generally taken unquestioningly.<ref> Annas, ''Classical Greek Philosophy'' pp 252 </ref> It is not until the age of [[Alexandria]] under the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemies]] that advances in biology can be again found.          
  
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====Aristotle's Four Causes====
+
The first medical teacher at Alexandria [[Herophilos|Herophilus of Chalcedon]], corrected Aristotle, placing intelligence in the brain, and connected the nervous system to motion and sensation. Herophilus also distinguished between [[vein]]s and [[artery|arteries]], noting that the latter [[pulse]] while the former do not.<ref> Mason, ''A History of the Sciences'' pp 56 </ref> Though a few ancient [[atomism|atomists]] such as [[Lucretius]] challenged the [[teleology|teleological]] viewpoint of Aristotelian ideas about life, teleology (and after the rise of Christianity, [[natural theology]]) would remain central to biological thought essentially until the 18th and 19th centuries. In the words of [[Ernst Mayr]], "Nothing of any real consequence in biology after Lucretius and Galen until the Renaissance."<ref>Mayr, ''The Growth of Biological Thought'', pp 90-94; quotation from p 91</ref> Aristotle's ideas of natural history and medicine survived, but they were generally taken unquestioningly.<ref>Annas, ''Classical Greek Philosophy'', p 252 </ref>
−
Aristotle names four "[[cause]]s" of things, but the word cause ([[Greek language|Greek]]: {{polytonic|&#945;&#7984;&#964;&#7985;&#945;}}, ''aitia'') is not used in the modern sense of "cause and effect", under which causes are events or states of affairs. Rather, the four causes are like different ways of ''explaining'' something:
 
  
−
; The [[material cause]]: This is the material that makes up an object, for example, "the bronze and silver ... are causes of the statue and the bowl."
+
== Criticism ==
−
; The [[formal cause]]: This is the blueprint or the idea commonly held of what an object should be. Aristotle says, "The form is the account (and the ''[[genera]]'' of the account) of the [[essence]] (for instance, the cause of an octave is the ratio two to one, and in general number), and the parts that are in the account."
 
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; The [[efficient cause]]: This is the person who makes an object, or "unmoved movers" ([[deity|gods]]) who move nature. For example, "a father is a cause of his child; and in general the producer is a cause of the product and the initiator of the change is a cause." This is closest to the modern definition of "cause".
 
−
; The [[final cause]]: The final cause or ''[[telos (philosophy)|telos]]'' is the purpose or end that something is supposed to serve. This includes "all the intermediate steps that are for the end ... for example, slimming, purging, drugs, or instruments are for health; all of these are for the end, though they differ in that some are activities while others are instruments."
 
  
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An example of an artifact that has all four causes would be a table, which has material causes (wood and nails), a formal cause (the blueprint, or a generally agreed idea of what tables are), an efficient cause (the carpenter), and a final cause (using it to dine on).
+
{{criticism-section}}
  
−
Aristotle argues that natural objects such as an "individual man" have all four causes. The material cause of an individual man would be the flesh and bone that make up an individual man. The formal cause would be the blueprint of man, that which is used as a guide to create an individual man and to keep him in a certain state called man. The efficient cause of an individual man would be the father of that man, or in the case of all men an “unmoved mover” who breathed (''anima'': breath) into the [[soul]] (''anima'': soul) of man. The final cause of man would be as Aristotle stated, “Now we take the human’s function to be a certain kind of life, and take this life to be the soul’s activity and actions that express reason.  Hence the excellent man’s function is to do this finely and well. Each function is completed well when its completion expresses the proper [[virtue]]. Therefore the human good turns out to be the souls’ activity that expresses virtue.”
+
Aristotle has been criticized on several grounds. Since he was perhaps the philosopher most respected by European thinkers during and after the Renaissance, these thinkers often took Aristotle's erroneous positions as given, which held back science in this epoch.<ref>[[John Burnet (classicist)|Burent, John.]] 1928. ''Platonism'', Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 61, 103-104.</ref>
 +
* 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 Aristotle is considered by some feminist critics to have been a misogynist.<ref>{{cite book
 +
  | last =Harding
 +
  | first =Sandra
 +
  | authorlink =
 +
  | coauthors =Merrill B. Hintikka
 +
  | title =Discovering Reality,: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science
 +
  | publisher =Springer
 +
  | date =31-Dec-1999
 +
  | location =
 +
  | pages =372
 +
  | url =http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/9027714967/
 +
  | doi =
 +
  | id =  }}</ref>
 +
*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).<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus/#2.2| Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]</ref>
  
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=====See also=====
+
*His refutation of [[Democritus]]'s claim that the [[Milky Way]] was made up of a multitude of stars.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
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* [[Aristotelian view of God]]
 
  
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====The difference between natural objects and artifacts====
+
*His refutation of the claim that the [[stars]] visible in the night sky were just like the Earth's Sun; he calculated that they would have to be millions of times farther away from the Earth than the Sun, and thus these claims were dismissed for hundreds of years.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
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The difference between natural objects and an artifact is that natural objects have [[self movement]]. Aristotle defined the difference between a [[natural object]] and an [[artifact]] when he stated, “In contrast to these, a bed, a cloak, or any other artifact-insofar as it is described as such i.e., as a bed, a cloak, or whatever, and to the extent that it is a product of a craft-has no [[innate]] [[impulse]] to change; but insofar as it is coincidentally made of stone or earth or a mixture of these, it has an innate impulse to change and just to that extent. This is because a nature is a type of principle and cause of motion and stability within those things to which it primarily belongs in their own right and not coincidentally.” The natural objects are changed to artifacts through crafts but they have an innate impulse of self movement to convert through time to their natural state, and they will all turn into that state when all animals with reason are extinct from the earth.
 
  
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====Gravity====
+
*His theory of the [[natural slave]] was used by thinkers such as [[Juan Gines de Sepulveda]] to justify European domination of the Native Americans.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
−
''Main article: [[Aristotelian theory of gravity]]''
 
  
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=== Aristotle's ethics ===
+
==Legacy==
−
''Main article: [[Nicomachean Ethics]]''
 
  
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Although Aristotle wrote several works on ethics, the major one was the ''Nicomachean Ethics'', which is considered one of Aristotle's great 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.
+
It is the opinion of many that Aristotle's system of thought remains the most marvellous and influential one ever put together by any single mind. According to historian Will Durant, no other philosopher has contributed so much to the enlightenment of the world.<ref>{{cite book |last= Durant |first=Will |authorlink=Will Durant |coauthors= |title=[[The Story of Philosophy]] |year=1926 (2006) |publisher=Simon & Schuster, Inc. |location=[[United States]] |isbn=9780671739164 |pages= 92}}</ref> He single-handedly founded the sciences of [[Logic]], [[Biology]] and [[Psychology]].  
  
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In ''Nicomachean Ethics'', Aristotle focuses on the importance of continually [[behavior|behaving]] virtuously and developing [[virtue]] rather than committing specific good actions. This can be opposed to [[Immanuel Kant|Kantian]] ethics, in which the primary focus is on individual action. ''Nicomachean Ethics'' emphasizes the importance of context to ethical behaviour &mdash; what might be right in one situation might be wrong in another. Aristotle believed that [[happiness]] is the end of life and that as long as a person is striving for [[goodness]], good deeds will result from that struggle, making the person virtuous and therefore happy.
+
Aristotle is referred to as "The Philosopher" by [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] thinkers like [[Thomas Aquinas]]. See ''[[Summa Theologica]]'', Part I, Question 3, etc. These thinkers blended  [[Aristotelianism|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 medieval English poet [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]] describes his student as being happy by having
 +
{{quote|At his bedded hed<br/>
 +
Twenty books clothed in blake or red,<br/>
 +
Of Aristotle and his philosophie;|[[Chaucer]]}}
  
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== Aristotle's critics ==
+
The Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] says of Aristotle in [[The Divine Comedy|the first circles of hell]],
−
Aristotle has been criticised on several grounds.
+
{{quote|I saw the Master there of those who know,<br/>
 +
Amid the philosophic family,<br/>
 +
By all admired, and by all reverenced;<br/>
 +
There Plato too I saw, and Socrates,<br/>
 +
Who stood beside him closer than the rest.|[[Geoffrey Chaucer|Dante]]|''[[The Divine Comedy]]''}}
  
−
# At times, the objections that Aristotle raises against the arguments of his own teacher, [[Plato]], appear to rely on faulty interpretations of those arguments.
+
The German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] has been said to take nearly all of his political philosophy from Aristotle.<ref>Durant, p. 86</ref>
−
# 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 [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]].
 
−
# In the [[Middle Ages]], roughly from the [[12th century]] to the [[15th century]], the philosophy of Aristotle became firmly established [[dogma]]. Although Aristotle himself was far from dogmatic in his approach to philosophical inquiry, two aspects of his philosophy might have assisted its transformation into dogma. His works were wide-ranging and [[systematic]] so that they could give the impression that no significant matter had been left unsettled. He was also much less inclined to employ the [[sceptic]]al methods of his predecessors, Socrates and Plato.
 
−
# Some academics have suggested that Aristotle was unaware of much of the current science of his own time, and that he was a far lesser [[mathematician]] than many of his learned contemporaries.
 
  
−
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 Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues ([[Cicero]] described his literary style as "a river of gold"),<ref>{{cite web
 +
  | last =Cicero
 +
  | first =Marcus Tullius
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  | authorlink =
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  | coauthors =
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  | title ="flumen orationis aureum fundens Aristoteles"
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  | work =Academica
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  | publisher =
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  | date =106B.C.E.-43B.C.E.
 +
  | url =http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/gutenberg/1/4/9/7/14970/14970-h/14970-h.htm#BkII_119
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  | format =
 +
  | doi =
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  | accessdate =25-Jan-2007 }}</ref> the vast majority of his writings are now lost, while the literary character of those that remain is disputed. Aristotle's works were lost and rediscovered several times, and it is believed that about one fifth of his original works have survived.
  
−
The Western mind is "Aristotelian". By this we mean that it formats the external world into factual and "scien"-tific categories. (By "Scien"-tific we mean that something is knowable or known. Latin ''scientia'' = knowledge).
+
One story of the original manuscripts of his treatises is described by [[Strabo]] in his ''Geography'' and [[Plutarch]] in his ''[[Parallel Lives]]''.<ref>"Sulla."</ref>  The manuscripts were left from Aristotle to his successor [[Theophrastus]], who in turn willed them to [[Neleus of Scepsis]].  Neleus supposedly took the writings from [[Athens]] to [[Scepsis]], where his heirs let them languish in a cellar until the first century B.C.E., when [[Apellicon of Teos]] discovered and purchased the manuscripts, bringing them back to Athens.  According to the story, Apellicon tried to repair some of the damage that was done during the manuscripts' stay in the basement, introducing a number of errors into the text.  When [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]] occupied Athens in 86 B.C.E., he carried off the library of Appellicon to [[Rome]], where they were first published in 60 B.C.E..E. by the grammarian [[Tyrranion of Amisus]] and then by philosopher [[Andronicus of Rhodes]].
  
−
Under the premise of external categorization, the Aristotelian mind has come to equate "experience" with the unified chronical and spatial [[ontological]] structure that is the "external" universe — visible, audible and sensible by the handful of our common, well-identified senses.
+
[[Carnes Lord]] attributes the popular belief in this story to the fact that it provides "the most plausible explanation for the rapid eclipse of the Peripatetic school after the middle of the third century, and for the absence of widespread knowledge of the specialized treatises of Aristotle throughout the Hellenistic period, as well as for the sudden reappearance of a flourishing Aristotelianism during the first century B.C.E."<ref>Lord, Introduction, 11.</ref>  Lord voices a number of reservations concerning this story, however.  First, the condition of the texts is far too good for them to have suffered considerable damage followed by Apellicon's inexpert attempt at repair.  Second, there is "incontrovertible evidence," Lord says, that the treatises were in circulation during the time in which Strabo and Plutarch suggest they were confined the cellar in Scepsis.  Third, the definitive edition of Aristotle's texts seems to have been made in Athens some fifty years before Andronicus supposedly compiled his.  And fourth, ancient library catalogues predating Andronicus' intervention list an Aristotelean corpus quite similar to the one we currently possess.  Lord sees a number of post-Aristotelean interpolations in the ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'', for example, but is generally confident that the work has come down to us relatively intact.
  
−
By so equating the two, the Aristotelian mind is fully confident, or fully "positive" of the meanings of its utterances and the purposes of all actions. That is to say, it dismisses the possibility of dubious meanings as interpreted by subjects that are at variance in [[perspective]]s or [[phenomenology]], and it dismisses the importance of anything other than an [[objective]]ly defined "purpose" to an action.
+
After the Roman period, Aristotle's works were by and large lost to the West for a second time.  They were, however, preserved in the East by various [[Muslim]] scholars and philosophers, many of whom wrote extensive commentaries on his works.  Aristotle lay at the foundation of the ''falsafa'' movement in [[Islamic philosophy]], stimulating the thought of [[Al-Farabi]], [[Ibn Sina]], [[Ibn Rushd]] and others.
  
−
Therefore, the Aristotelian mind assumes that when subject A utters "I am [[Variable|X]]," he or she is referring to the same experience and is expressing the same purpose as subject B who also utters "I am [[Variable|X]]."
+
As the influence of the ''falsafa'' grew in the West, in part due to [[Gerard of Cremona]]'s translations and the spread of [[Averroism]], the demand for Aristotle's works grew.  [[William of Moerbeke]] translated a number of them into Latin.  When [[Thomas Aquinas]] wrote his [[theology]], working from Moerbeke's translations, the demand for Aristotle's writings grew and the [[Greek language|Greek]] manuscripts returned to the West, stimulating a revival of Aristotelianism in [[Europe]].
  
 
== Bibliography ==
 
== Bibliography ==
 +
 
''Note: [[Bekker numbers]] are often used to uniquely identify passages of Aristotle. They are identified below where available.''
 
''Note: [[Bekker numbers]] are often used to uniquely identify passages of Aristotle. They are identified below where available.''
  
 
=== Major works ===
 
=== Major works ===
−
The extant works of Aristotle are broken down according to the five categories in the ''[[Corpus Aristotelicum]]''. Not all of these works are considered genuine, but differ with respect to their connection to Aristotle, his associates and his views. Some, such as the ''Athenaion Politeia'' or the fragments of other ''politeia'' are regarded by most scholars as products of Aristotle's "school" and compiled under his direction or supervision. Other works, such ''On Colours'' may have been products of Aristotle's successors at the Lyceum, e.g., [[Theophrastus]] and [[Straton]]. Still others acquired Aristotle's name through similarities in doctrine or content, such as the ''De Plantis,'' possibly by [[Nicolaus of Damascus]]. A final category, omitted here, includes medieval [[palmistries]], [[astrological]] and [[magical]] texts whose connection to Aristotle is purely fanciful and self-promotional. Those that are seriously disputed are marked with an asterisk.
+
The extant works of Aristotle are broken down according to the five categories in the ''[[Corpus Aristotelicum]]''. The titles are given in accordance with the standard set by the Revised Oxford Translation.<ref>''The Complete Works of Aristotle'', edited by [[Jonathan Barnes]], 2 vols., Princeton University Press, 1984.</ref> Not all of these works are considered genuine, but differ with respect to their connection to Aristotle, his associates and his views. Some, such as the ''Athenaion Politeia'' or the fragments of other ''politeia'' are regarded by most scholars as products of Aristotle's "school" and compiled under his direction or supervision. Other works, such as ''On Colours'' may have been products of Aristotle's successors at the Lyceum, e.g., [[Theophrastus]] and [[Straton]]. Still others acquired Aristotle's name through similarities in doctrine or content, such as the ''De Plantis,'' possibly by [[Nicolaus of Damascus]]. A final category, omitted here, includes medieval [[palmistries]], [[astrological]] and [[magical]] texts whose connection to Aristotle is purely fanciful and self-promotional. Those that are seriously disputed are marked with an asterisk.
 +
 
 +
In several of the treatises, there are references to other works in the corpus.  Based on such references, some scholars have suggested a possible chronological order for a number of Aristotle's writings.  [[W.D. Ross]], for instance, suggested the following broad arrangement (which of course leaves out much):  ''Categories'', ''Topics'', ''Sophistici Elenchi'', ''Analytics'', ''Metaphysics Δ'', the physical works, the ''Ethics'', and the rest of the ''Metaphysics''.<ref>[[W. D. Ross]], ''Aristotle's Metaphysics'' (1953), vol. 1, p. lxxxii.</ref>  Many modern scholars, however, based simply on lack of evidence, are sceptical of such attempts to determine the chronological order of Aristotle's writings.<ref>E.g., [[Jonathan Barnes]], "Life and Work" in ''The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle'' (1995), pp. 18-22.</ref>
  
 
==== Logical writings ====
 
==== Logical writings ====
 
* [[Organon]] (collected works on logic):
 
* [[Organon]] (collected works on logic):
 
** (1a) [[Categories (Aristotle)|Categories]] (or ''Categoriae'')
 
** (1a) [[Categories (Aristotle)|Categories]] (or ''Categoriae'')
−
** (16a) [[On Interpretation]] (or ''De Interpretatione'')
+
** (16a) [[De Interpretatione]] (or ''On Interpretation'')
 
** (24a) [[Prior Analytics]] (or ''Analytica Priora'')
 
** (24a) [[Prior Analytics]] (or ''Analytica Priora'')
 
** (71a) [[Posterior Analytics]] (or ''Analytica Posteriora'')
 
** (71a) [[Posterior Analytics]] (or ''Analytica Posteriora'')
 
** (100b) [[Topics (Aristotle)|Topics]] (or ''Topica'')
 
** (100b) [[Topics (Aristotle)|Topics]] (or ''Topica'')
−
** (164a) [[On Sophistical Refutations]] (or ''De Sophisticis Elenchis'')
+
** (164a) [[Sophistical Refutations]] (or ''De Sophisticis Elenchis'')
  
 
==== Physical and scientific writings ====
 
==== Physical and scientific writings ====
Line 155: Line 345:
 
* (314a) [[On Generation and Corruption]] (or ''De Generatione et Corruptione'')
 
* (314a) [[On Generation and Corruption]] (or ''De Generatione et Corruptione'')
 
* (338a) [[Meteorology (Aristotle)|Meteorology]] (or ''Meteorologica'')
 
* (338a) [[Meteorology (Aristotle)|Meteorology]] (or ''Meteorologica'')
−
* (391a) [[On the Cosmos]] (or ''De Mundo'', or ''On the Universe'') *
+
* (391a) [[On the Universe]] (or ''De Mundo'', or ''On the Cosmos'') *
 
* (402a) [[On the Soul]] (or ''De Anima'')
 
* (402a) [[On the Soul]] (or ''De Anima'')
−
* (436a) [[Little Physical Treatises]] (or ''Parva Naturalia''):
+
* (436a) [[Parva Naturalia]] (or ''Little Physical Treatises''):
−
** [[On Sense and the Sensible]] (or ''De Sensu et Sensibilibus'')
+
** [[Sense and Sensibilia (Aristotle)|Sense and Sensibilia]] (or ''De Sensu et Sensibilibus'')
−
** [[On Memory and Reminiscence]] (or ''De Memoria et Reminiscentia'')
+
** [[On Memory]] (or ''De Memoria et Reminiscentia'')
−
** [[On Sleep and Sleeplessness]] (or ''De Somno et Vigilia'')
+
** [[On Sleep]] (or ''De Somno et Vigilia'')
−
** [[On Dreams]] (or ''De Insomniis'') *
+
** [[On Dreams]] (or ''De Insomniis'')
−
** [[On Prophesying by Dreams]] (or ''De Divinatione per Somnum'')
+
** [[On Divination in Sleep]] (or ''De Divinatione per Somnum'')
−
** [[On Longevity and Shortness of Life]] (or ''De Longitudine et Brevitate Vitae'')
+
** [[On Length and Shortness of Life]] (or ''De Longitudine et Brevitate Vitae'')
−
** [[On Youth and Old Age]] (On Life and Death) (or ''De Juventute et Senectute'', ''De Vita et Morte'')
+
** [[On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration]] (or ''De Juventute et Senectute'', ''De Vita et Morte'', ''De Respiratione'')
−
** [[On Breathing]] (or ''De Respiratione'')
 
 
* (481a) [[On Breath]] (or ''De Spiritu'') *
 
* (481a) [[On Breath]] (or ''De Spiritu'') *
 
* (486a) [[History of Animals]] (or ''Historia Animalium'', or ''On the History of Animals'', or ''Description of Animals'')
 
* (486a) [[History of Animals]] (or ''Historia Animalium'', or ''On the History of Animals'', or ''Description of Animals'')
−
* (639a) [[On the Parts of Animals]] (or ''De Partibus Animalium'')
+
* (639a) [[Parts of Animals]] (or ''De Partibus Animalium'')
−
* (698a) [[On the Gait of Animals]] (or ''De Motu Animalium'', or ''On the Movement of Animals'')
+
* (698a) [[Movement of Animals]] (or ''De Motu Animalium'')
−
* (704a) [[On the Progression of Animals]] (or ''De Incessu Animalium'')
+
* (704a) [[Progression of Animals]] (or ''De Incessu Animalium'')
−
* (715a) [[On the Generation of Animals]] (or ''De Generatione Animalium'')
+
* (715a) [[Generation of Animals]] (or ''De Generatione Animalium'')
−
* (791a) [[On Colours]] (or ''De Coloribus'') *
+
* (791a) [[On Colors]] (or ''De Coloribus'') *
−
* (800a) ''[[De audibilibus]]''
+
* (800a) [[On Things Heard]] (or ''De audibilibus'') *
−
* (805a) [[Physiognomics]] (or ''Physiognomonica'') *
+
* (805a) [[Physiognomics (Aristotle)|Physiognomics]] (or ''Physiognomonica'') *
 
* [[On Plants]] (or ''De Plantis'') *
 
* [[On Plants]] (or ''De Plantis'') *
−
* (830a) [[On Marvellous Things Heard]] (or ''Mirabilibus Auscultationibus'', or ''On Things Heard'') *
+
* (830a) [[On Marvellous Things Heard]] (or ''De mirabilibus auscultationibus'') *
−
* (847a) [[Mechanical Problems]] (or ''Mechanica'') *
+
* (847a) [[Mechanics (Aristotle)|Mechanics]] (or ''Mechanica'' or ''Mechanical Problems'') *
−
* (859a) [[Problems (Aristotle)|Problems]] (or ''Problemata'') *
+
* (859a) [[Problems (Aristotle)|Problems]] (or ''Problemata'')
 
* (968a) [[On Indivisible Lines]] (or ''De Lineis Insecabilibus'') *
 
* (968a) [[On Indivisible Lines]] (or ''De Lineis Insecabilibus'') *
−
* (973a) [[Situations and Names of Winds]] (or ''Ventorum Situs'') *
+
* (973a) [[The Situations and Names of Winds]] (or ''Ventorum Situs'') *
 +
* (974a) [[On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias]] (or ''MXG'') * The section On Xenophanes starts at 977a13, the section On Gorgias starts at 979a11.
  
 
==== Metaphysical writings ====
 
==== Metaphysical writings ====
 
* (980a) [[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]] (or ''Metaphysica'')
 
* (980a) [[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]] (or ''Metaphysica'')
  
−
==== Ethical writings ====
+
==== Ethical & Political writings ====
 
* (1094a) [[Nicomachean Ethics]] (or ''Ethica Nicomachea'', or ''The Ethics'')
 
* (1094a) [[Nicomachean Ethics]] (or ''Ethica Nicomachea'', or ''The Ethics'')
−
* (1181a) [[Great Ethics]] (or ''Magna Moralia'') *
+
* (1181a) [[Magna Moralia]] (or ''Great Ethics'') *
 
* (1214a) [[Eudemian Ethics]] (or ''Ethica Eudemia'')
 
* (1214a) [[Eudemian Ethics]] (or ''Ethica Eudemia'')
−
* (1249a) [[Virtues and Vices]] (or ''De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus'', ''Libellus de virtutibus'') *
+
* (1249a) [[On Virtues and Vices]] (or ''De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus'', ''Libellus de virtutibus'') *
 
* (1252a) [[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]] (or ''Politica'')
 
* (1252a) [[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]] (or ''Politica'')
 
* (1343a) [[Economics (Aristotle)|Economics]] (or ''Oeconomica'')
 
* (1343a) [[Economics (Aristotle)|Economics]] (or ''Oeconomica'')
Line 196: Line 386:
 
* (1354a) [[Rhetoric (Aristotle)|Rhetoric]] (or ''Ars Rhetorica'', or ''The Art of Rhetoric'' or ''Treatise on Rhetoric'')
 
* (1354a) [[Rhetoric (Aristotle)|Rhetoric]] (or ''Ars Rhetorica'', or ''The Art of Rhetoric'' or ''Treatise on Rhetoric'')
 
* [[Rhetoric to Alexander]] (or ''Rhetorica ad Alexandrum'') *
 
* [[Rhetoric to Alexander]] (or ''Rhetorica ad Alexandrum'') *
−
* (1447a) [[Poetics]] (or ''Ars Poetica'')
+
* (1447a) [[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]] (or ''Ars Poetica'')
 +
 
 +
==== A work outside the ''Corpus Aristotelicum'' ====
 +
* The [[Constitution of the Athenians]] (or ''Athenaion Politeia'', or ''The Athenian Constitution'')
  
−
==== Writings absent from ''Corpus Aristotelicum'' ====
+
=== Fragments ===
−
* The [[Constitution of the Athenians]] (or ''Athenaion Politeia'', or ''The Athenian Consitution'') *
+
==== Dialogues ====
−
* ''On [[Melissus of Samos|Melissus]]'', ''On [[Xenophanes]]'', and ''On [[Gorgias]]''. These are sometimes grouped together and called the "MXG" writings. They clearly are not written by Aristotle, and are believed to date from the [[fifth century]] AD. However, because they have frequently been attributed to him in the past, they are often included in compilations of his writings (for example, in the [[Loeb Classical Library]]).
+
* ''On Philosophy'' (or ''On the Good'')
 +
* ''Eudemus'' (or ''On the Soul'')
 +
* ''Protrepticus''
 +
* ''On Justice''
 +
* ''On Good Birth''
  
 
=== Specific editions===
 
=== Specific editions===
−
* [[Princeton University]] Press: ''The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation'' (2 Volume Set; Bollingen Series, Vol. LXXI, No. 2), edited by [[Jonathan Barnes]] ISBN 0-691-09950-2 (The most complete recent translation of Aristotle's extant works)
+
* [[Princeton University]] Press: ''The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation'' (2 Volume Set; Bollingen Series, Vol. LXXI, No. 2), edited by [[Jonathan Barnes]] ISBN 0-691-09950-2 (the most complete recent translation of Aristotle's extant works, including a selection from the extant fragments)
−
* [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]] Press: ''Clarendon Aristotle Series''.   [http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/series/ClarendonAristotleSeries/?view=usa Scholarly edition]
+
* [[Oxford University Press]]: ''Clarendon Aristotle Series''. [http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/series/ClarendonAristotleSeries/?view=usa Scholarly edition]
 
* [[Harvard University]] Press: ''[[Loeb Classical Library#Aristotle|Loeb Classical Library]]'' (hardbound; publishes in Greek, with English translations on facing pages)
 
* [[Harvard University]] Press: ''[[Loeb Classical Library#Aristotle|Loeb Classical Library]]'' (hardbound; publishes in Greek, with English translations on facing pages)
 +
* [[Oxford Classical Texts]] (hardbound; Greek only)
  
 
==Named after Aristotle==
 
==Named after Aristotle==
−
*[[Aristoteles (crater)|Aristoteles crater]] on the [[Moon]].
+
{| width="100%"
 +
|- valign=top
 +
|width="60%"|
 +
*[[Aristoteles (crater)|Aristoteles]], a crater on the [[Moon]].
 
*The [[Aristotle University of Thessaloniki]]
 
*The [[Aristotle University of Thessaloniki]]
−
*Aristotle's Cockney legacy - The name of Aristotle, like that of [[J. Arthur Rank]], became a common expression in [[Cockney rhyming slang]].
+
*[[Aristotelous Square]]
 +
*Aristotle Lane in Oxford, England
 +
|width="40%" |
 +
{{academia
 +
| teachers = [[Plato]]
 +
| students = [[Alexander the Great]] <br/>
 +
[[Aristoxenus]] <br/>
 +
[[Dicaearchus]] <br/>
 +
[[Demetrius of Phalerum]] <br/>
 +
[[Eudemos of Rhodes]] <br/>
 +
[[Harpalus]] <br/>
 +
[[Hephaestion]] <br/>
 +
[[Meno]] <br/>
 +
[[Mnason of Phocis]] <br/>
 +
[[Nicomachus]] <br/>
 +
[[Theophrastus]]
 +
}}
 +
|}
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
* Boche&#324;ski, I. M.: Ancient Formal Logic. North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1951.
+
{{reflist|2}}
−
* Rose, Lynn E.: Aristotle's Syllogistic. Charles C Thomas Publisher, Springfield, 1968.
+
 
 +
==Further reading==
 +
The secondary literature on Aristotle is vast. The following references are only a small selection.
 +
*Ackrill J. L. 2001. Essays on Plato and Aristotle, Oxford University Press, USA
 +
*{{cite book| last = Adler | first = Mortimer J. | authorlink = Mortimer Adler | title=[[Aristotle for Everybody]]  | publisher=Macmillan | location = New York  | year=1978}} A popular exposition for the general reader.
 +
*Bakalis Nikolaos. 2005. Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing ISBN 1-4120-4843-5
 +
*Barnes J.  1995. The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, Cambridge University Press
 +
*{{cite book | last = Bocheński | first = I. M. | authorlink = I. M. Bocheński | title=Ancient Formal Logic | publisher=North-Holland Publishing Company | location = Amsterdam  | year=1951}}
 +
*Bolotin, David (1998).  ''An Approach to Aristotle’s Physics: With Particular Attention to the Role of His Manner of Writing.'' Albany: SUNY Press. A contribution to our understanding of how to read Aristotle's scientific works.
 +
*Burnyeat, M. F. et al. 1979. Notes on Book Zeta of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Oxford: Sub-faculty of Philosophy
 +
*Chappell, V. 1973. Aristotle's Conception of Matter, Journal of Philosophy 70: 679-696
 +
*Code, Alan. 1995. Potentiality in Aristotle's Science and Metaphysics, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 76
 +
*Frede, Michael. 1987. Essays in Ancient Philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
 +
*Gill, Mary Louise. 1989. Aristotle on Substance: The Paradox of Unity. Princeton: Princeton University Press
 +
* {{cite book | last = Guthrie | first = W. K. C. | title=A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol. 6 | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]  | year=1981}}
 +
*Halper, Edward C. (2007) ''One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 1: Books Alpha — Delta'', Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-21-6
 +
*Halper, Edward C. (2005) ''One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 2: The Central Books'', Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-05-6
 +
*Irwin, T. H. 1988. Aristotle's First Principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press
 +
* [[Alberto Jori|Jori, Alberto]]. 2003. ''Aristotele'', Milano: Bruno Mondadori Editore (Prize 2003 of the "International Academy of the History of Science") ISBN 88-424-9737-1
 +
*Knight, Kelvin. 2007. ''Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre'', Polity Press.
 +
*Lewis, Frank A. 1991. ''Substance and Predication in Aristotle''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 +
*[[G. E. R. Lloyd|Lloyd, G. E. R.]] 1968. ''Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought''. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., ISBN 0-521-09456-9.
 +
*Lord, Carnes.  1984.  Introduction to ''The Politics'', by Aristotle.  Chicago:  Chicago University Press.
 +
*Loux, Michael J. 1991. Primary Ousia: An Essay on Aristotle's Metaphysics Ζ and Η. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
 +
*Owen, G. E. L. 1965c. The Platonism of Aristotle, Proceedings of the British Academy 50 125-150. Reprinted in J. Barnes, M. Schofield, and R. R. K. Sorabji (eds.), Articles on Aristotle, Vol 1. Science. London: Duckworth (1975). 14-34
 +
*Pangle, Lorraine Smith (2003). ''Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aristotle's conception of the deepest human relationship viewed in the light of the history of philosophic thought on friendship.
 +
*Reeve, C. D. C. 2000. Substantial Knowledge: Aristotle's Metaphysics. Indianapolis: Hackett.
 +
* {{cite book | last = Rose | first = Lynn E. | authorlink = Lynn E. Rose | title=Aristotle's Syllogistic | publisher=Charles C Thomas Publisher | location = Springfield  | year=1968}}
 +
* {{cite book | last = Ross | first = Sir David | authorlink = Sir David Ross | title=Aristotle | publisher=Routledge | edition = 6<sup>th</sup> ed. | location = London | year=1995}} An classic overview by one of Aristotle's most prominent English translators, in print since 1923.
 +
*Scaltsas, T. 1994. Substances and Universals in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
 +
*Strauss, Leo. "On Aristotle's ''Politics''" (1964), in ''The City and Man'', Chicago; Rand McNally.
 +
* {{cite book | last = Taylor | first = Henry Osborn | authorlink = Henry Osborn Taylor | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20060211201625/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/index.html | title = Greek Biology and Medicine | year = 1922 | chapter = Chapter 3: Aristotle's Biology | chapterurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060327222953/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/0051.html}}
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* {{cite book | last = Veatch | first = Henry B. | authorlink = Henry Babcock Veatch | title=Aristotle: A Contemporary Appreciation  | publisher=Indiana U. Press | location = Bloomington | year=1974}} For the general reader.
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*Woods, M. J. 1991b. “Universals and Particular Forms in Aristotle's Metaphysics.”  Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy supplement. 41-56
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==See also==
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*[[Aristotelianism]]
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*[[Aristotelian view of God]]
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*[[Aristotelian theory of gravity]]
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*[[Philia]]
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*[[Phronesis]]
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*[[Potentiality and actuality (Aristotle)]]
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*[[Aristotelian ethics]]
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*[[Hylomorphism]]
  
 
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*{{gutenberg author | id=Aristotle | name=Aristotle}}
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*[http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/References/Aristotle.html References for Aristotle]
 
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*[http://www.fh-augsburg.de/%7Eharsch/graeca/Chronologia/S_ante04/Aristoteles/ari_intr.html Some of Aristotles works: Analytica Priora & Posteriora, Poetics (All in Greek). ]
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*[http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Aristotle Works by Aristotle] from [[Project Gutenberg]]
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*[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]:
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-biology/ Biology]" &mdash; by James Lennox.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-causality/ Causality]" &mdash; by Andrea Falcon.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-ethics/ Ethics]" &mdash; by Richard Kraut.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-logic/ Logic]" &mdash; by Robin Smith.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-mathematics/ Mathematics]" &mdash; by Henry Mendell.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-metaphysics/ Metaphysics]" &mdash; by S. Marc Cohen.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-natphil/ Philosophy of Nature]" &mdash; Istvan Bodnar.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-politics/ Political Theory]" &mdash; by Fred Miller.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-psychology/ Psychology]" &mdash; by Christopher Shields.
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**"[http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/ Rhetoric]" &mdash; by Cristof Rapp.
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*[http://www.ellopos.net/blog/?p=44 Aristotle OnLine Resources & Anthology of his works]
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*[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]: "[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01713a.htm Aristotle]" &mdash; by William Turner.
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*"[http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/a/aristotl.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Aristotle]."
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*[http://www.epistemelinks.com/Main/Philosophers.aspx?PhilCode=Aris Aristotle section at EpistemeLinks]
 
*[http://Aristotle.thefreelibrary.com/ A brief biography and e-texts presented one chapter at a time]
 
*[http://Aristotle.thefreelibrary.com/ A brief biography and e-texts presented one chapter at a time]
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*[http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/a/aristotl.htm The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Aristotle.], 2004.
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*[http://www.moralquotes.com/index.php/a?cat=218 Quotes by Aristotle]
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*[http://www.virtuescience.com/nicomachean-ethics.html Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.]
 
 
*[http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0505172 Aristotle and Indian logic]
 
*[http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0505172 Aristotle and Indian logic]
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*O'Connor, J. John & Robertson, Edmund F., [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Aristotle.html Aristotle], 2004.
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*[http://www.rightsideoftheroad.com/?p=429 March 7, 322 B.C.E. - The Death of Aristotle]
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*Taylor, Henry Osborn. [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/index.html ''Greek Biology and Medicine''] (1922) — Chapter 3 is devoted to  [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/medicine/0051.html "Aristotle's Biology"].
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*[http://www.greektexts.com/library/Aristotle/index.html Large collection of Aristotle's texts, presented page by page]
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*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01713a.htm Source of most of the Biography and Methodology sections, as well as more overview]
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Revision as of 23:52, 30 July 2007

Western philosophy
Ancient philosophy
Aristoteles Louvre.jpg
Name: Aristotle
Birth: 384 B.C.E.
Death: March 7 322 B.C.E.
School/tradition: Inspired the Peripatetic school and tradition of Aristotelianism
Main interests
Politics, Metaphysics, Science, Logic, Ethics
Notable ideas
The Golden mean, Reason, Logic, Biology, Passion
Influences Influenced
Parmenides, Socrates, Plato Alexander the Great, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes, Albertus Magnus, Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Ptolemy, St. Thomas Aquinas, and most of Islamic philosophy, Christian philosophy, Western philosophy and Science in general

Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 B.C.E. – 322 B.C.E.) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on diverse subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry (including theater), logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology. Along with Socrates and Plato, he was among the most influential of the ancient Greek philosophers, as they transformed Presocratic Greek philosophy into the foundations of Western philosophy as it is known today. Some researchers credit Plato and Aristotle with founding two of the most important schools of ancient philosophy, while others consider Aristotelianism to be a development and concretization of Plato's insights.

Life

Aristotle was born in Stageira, Chalcidice. His parents were Phaestis, and Nicomachus, who became physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was trained and educated as a member of the aristocracy. At about the age of eighteen, he went to Athens to continue his education at Plato's Academy. Aristotle remained at the academy for nearly twenty years, not leaving until after Plato's death in 347 B.C.E. He then traveled with Xenocrates to the court of Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor. While in Asia, Aristotle traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Hermias' daughter (or niece) Pythias. She bore him a daughter, whom they named Pythias. Soon after Hermias' death, Aristotle was invited by Philip of Macedon to become tutor to Alexander the Great.

After spending several years tutoring the young Alexander, Aristotle returned to Athens. By 335 B.C.E., he established his own school there, known as the Lyceum. Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next twelve years. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died, and Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stageira, who bore him a son whom he named after his father, Nicomachus.

It is during this period in Athens when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his works. Aristotle wrote many dialogues, only fragments of which survived. The works that have survived are in treatise form and were not, for the most part, intended for widespread publication, as they are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include Physics, Metaphysics (or Ontology), Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics. These works, although connected in many fundamental ways, vary significantly in both style and substance.

Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, economics, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek knowledge. It has been suggested that Aristotle was likely the last person to know everything there was to be known in his own time.[1]

Upon Alexander's death in 323 B.C.E., anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens once again flared. Eurymedon the hierophant denounced Aristotle for not holding the gods in honor. Aristotle fled the city to his mother's family estate in Chalcis, explaining, "I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy."[2] However, he died there of natural causes within the year. Aristotle left a will, which has been preserved, in which he asked to be buried next to his wife.

Methodology

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, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand, whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms.


Aristotle defines his philosophy as "the science of the universal essence of that which is actual." Plato had defined it as the "science of the idea," with the word "idea" referring to the unconditional basis of phenomena. Both student and master regard philosophy as universal; Aristotle, however, found the universal in particular things, which he called 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.[3]

In Aristotle's terminology, "natural philosophy" is a branch of philosophy examining the phenomena of the natural world, and included fields that would be regarded today as physics, biology and other natural sciences. In modern times, the scope of philosophy has become limited to more generic or abstract inquiries, such as ethics and metaphysics, in which logic plays a major role. Today's philosophy tends to exclude empirical study of the natural world by means of the scientific method. In contrast, Aristotle's philosophical endeavors encompassed virtually all facets of intellectual inquiry.

In the larger sense of the word, Aristotle makes philosophy coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as "science." Note, however, that his use of the term science carries a different meaning than that covered by the term "scientific method." For Aristotle, "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; by theoretical science, he means physics, mathematics and metaphysics.

If logic, or, as Aristotle calls it, analytic, is regarded as a study preliminary to philosophy, the divisions of Aristotelian philosophy would consist of: (1) Logic; (2) Theoretical Philosophy, including Metaphysics, Physics, Mathematics, (3) Practical Philosophy and (4) Poetical Philosophy.

Epistemology

Logic

Aristotle's conception of logic was the dominant form of logic until 19th century advances in mathematical logic. Kant stated in the Critique of Pure Reason that Aristotle's theory of logic completely accounted for 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'".[4] However, Plato reports that syntax was devised before him, by Prodikos of Keos, who was concerned by the correct use of words. Logic seems to have emerged from dialectics; the earlier philosophers made frequent use of concepts like reductio ad absurdum in their discussions, but never truly understood the logical implications. Even Plato had difficulties with logic; although he had a reasonable conception of a deduction system, he was never could actually construct one, instead relying on his dialectic, which confused science with methodology.[5] Plato believed that deduction would simply follow from premises, hence he focused on maintaining solid premises so that the conclusion would logically follow. Subsequently, Plato realized that a method for obtaining conclusions would be most beneficial. He never succeeded in devising such a method, but his best attempt was published in his book Sophist, where he introduced his division method.[6]

Analytics and the Organon

What we today call Aristotelian logic, Aristotle himself would have labeled "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 dialectics (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..[7]

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.[8]

Physical Science

Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez

In the period between his two stays in Athens, between his times at the Academy and the Lyceum, Aristotle conducted most of the scientific thinking and research for which he is renowned today. 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, e.g., botany, zoology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology, geometry and several other sciences.

Aristotle's writings on science are largely qualitative, as opposed to quantitative. Beginning in the sixteenth century, scientists began applying mathematics to the physical sciences, and Aristotle's work in this area was deemed hopelessly inadequate. His failings were largely due to the absence of concepts like mass, velocity, force and temperature. He had a conception of speed and temperature, but no quantitative understanding of them, which was partly due to the absence of basic experimental devices, like clocks and thermometers.

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.

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 such thinking without sufficient facts is ineffective, and that discerning the validity of one's hypothesis requires far more rigorous experimentation than that which Aristotle used to support his laws.

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, which was widely accepted up until the 1500s. From the 3rd century to the 1500s, the dominant view held that the Earth was the center of the universe (geocentrism). This scientific concept, as proposed by Aristotle and Plato was later adopted as dogma by the Roman Catholic Church because it placed mankind at the center of the universe, and scientists who disagreed, such as Galileo, were considered heretics. This erroneous concept was eventually rejected.

Aristotle's scientific shortcomings should not mislead one into forgetting his great advances in the many scientific fields. For instance, he founded logic as a formal science and created foundations to biology that were not superseded (in the West) for two millennia. Moreover, 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. In actuality, however, this observation transcends physics into metaphysics.

Metaphysics

Aristotle defines metaphysics as "the knowledge of immaterial being," or of "being in the highest degree of abstraction." He refers to metaphysics as "first philosophy," as well as "the theologic science."

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), a relationship known as the part-whole causation. An example of a material cause would be the marble in a carved statue.

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 (i.e., macrostructure) is the cause of its parts, a relationship known as the whole-part causation. An example of a formal cause might be the planning sketches of the carved statue.

Aristotle

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. An example of an efficient cause might be the artist who carved the statue.

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 behavior. The final cause of the artist might be the statue itself. (teleology)

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 influence of cause upon effect). Moreover, 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 consist of imposing the favorite hierarchies on the order causes, such as final > efficient> material > formal (Thomas Aquinas), or of 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".[9]

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 it 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 (see also predicables). 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.[10]

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 is 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, this is what a thing is capable of doing, or being acted upon, if it is not prevented by something else. For example, the 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), which can be either innate or learned. 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).

Actuality 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.”[11]

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 (i.e., 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.[12]

Universals and particulars

Aristotle's predecessor, Plato, argued that all things have a universal form, which could be either a property, or a relation to other things. When we look at an apple, for example, we see an apple, and we also analyze a form of an apple. In this distinction, there is a particular apple and a universal form of an apple. Moreover, we can place an apple next to a book, so that we can speak of both the book and apple as being next to each other.

Plato argued that there are some universal forms that are not a part of particular things. For example, it is possible that there is no particular good in existence, but "good" is still a proper universal form. Bertrand Russell is a contemporary philosopher that agreed with Plato on the existence of "uninstantiated universals."

Aristotle disagreed with Plato on this point, arguing that all universals are "instantiated." Aristotle argued that there are no universals that are unattached to existing things. According to Aristotle, if a universal exists, either as a particular or a relation, then there must have been, must be currently, or must be in the future, something on which the universal can be predicated. Consequently, according to Aristotle, if it is not the case that some universal can be predicated to an object that exists at some period of time, then it does not exist.

One way for contemporary philosophers to justify this position is by asserting the eleatic principle.

In addition, Aristotle disagreed with Plato about the location of universals. As Plato spoke of the world of the forms, a location where all universal forms subsist, Aristotle maintained that universals exist within each thing on which each universal is predicated. So, according to Aristotle, the form of apple exists within each apple, rather than in the world of the forms.

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.

Practical Philosophy

Ethics

Aristotle considered ethics to be a practical science, i.e., one mastered by doing rather than merely reasoning. Further, Aristotle believed that ethical knowledge is not certain knowledge (like metaphysics and epistemology) but is general knowledge. He wrote several treatises on ethics, including most notably, Nichomachean Ethics, in which he outlines what is commonly called virtue ethics.

Aristotle taught that virtue has to do with the proper function of a thing. An eye is only a good eye in so much as it can see, because the proper function of an eye is sight. Aristotle reasoned that man must have a function uncommon to anything else, and that this function must be an activity of the soul. Aristotle identified as the best activity of the soul as eudaimonia: a happiness or joy that pervades the good life. Aristotle taught that to achieve the good life, one must live a balanced life and avoid excess. This balance, he taught, varies among different persons and situations, and exists as a golden mean between two vices - one an excess and one a deficiency.

Politics

In addition to his works on ethics, which address the individual, Aristotle addressed the state in his work titled Politics. Aristole's conception of the state is very organic, and he is considered one of the first to conceive of the state in this manner.[13] Aristotle considered the state to be a natural community. Moreover, he considered the state to be prior to the family which in turn is prior to the individual. He is also famous for his statement that "man is by nature a political animal." Aristotle conceived of politics as being more like an organism, rather than a machine.

Biology and medicine

Aristotle believed that intellectual purposes, i.e., formal causes, guided all natural processes. Such a teleological view gave Aristotle cause to justify his observed data as an expression of formal design. Noting that "no animal has, at the same time, both tusks and horns," and "a single-hooved animal with two horns I have never seen," Aristotle suggested that Nature, giving no animal both horns and tusks, was staving off vanity, and giving creatures faculties only to such a degree as they are necessary. Noting that ruminants had a multiple stomachs and weak teeth, he supposed the first was to compensate for the latter, with Nature trying to preserve type of balance.[14]

In a similar fashion, Aristotle believed that creatures were arranged in a graded scale of perfection rising from plants on up to man, the scala naturae or Great Chain of Being.[15] . His system had eleven grades, arranged according "to the degree to which they are infected with potentiality," expressed in their form at birth. The highest animals laid warm and wet creatures alive, the lowest bore theirs cold, dry, and in thick eggs.

Aristotle also held that the level of a creature's perfection was reflected in its form, but not foreordained by that form.

He placed great importance on the type(s) of soul an organism possessed, asserting that plants possess a vegetative soul, responsible for reproduction and growth, animals a vegetative and a sensitive soul, responsible for mobility and sensation, and humans a vegetative, a sensitive, and a rational soul, capable of thought and reflection.[16]

Aristotle, in contrast to earlier philosophers, but in accordance with the Egyptians, placed the rational soul in the heart, rather than the brain.[17] Notable is Aristotle's division of sensation and thought, which generally went against previous philosophers, with the exception of Alcmaeon.[18]

Aristotle's successor at the Lyceum, Theophrastus, wrote a series of books on botany—the History of Plants—which survived as the most important contribution of antiquity to botany, even into the Middle Ages. Many of Theophrastus' names survive into modern times, such as carpos for fruit, and pericarpion for seed vessel.

Rather than focus on formal causes, as Aristotle did, Theophrastus suggested a mechanistic scheme, drawing analogies between natural and artificial processes, and relying on Aristotle's concept of the efficient cause. Theophrastus also recognized the role of sex in the reproduction of some higher plants, though this last discovery was lost in later ages.[19]

Last notes on the impact of Aristotle on Hellenistic medicine

File:161Theophrastus 161 frontespizio.jpg
Frontispiece to a 1644 version of the expanded and illustrated edition of Historia Plantarum (ca. 1200), which was originally written around 200 B.C.E.

Following Theophrastus, the Lyceum failed to produce any original work. Though interest in Aristotle's ideas survived, they were generally taken unquestioningly.[20] It is not until the age of Alexandria under the Ptolemies that advances in biology can be again found.

The first medical teacher at Alexandria Herophilus of Chalcedon, corrected Aristotle, placing intelligence in the brain, and connected the nervous system to motion and sensation. Herophilus also distinguished between veins and arteries, noting that the latter pulse while the former do not.[21] Though a few ancient atomists such as Lucretius challenged the teleological viewpoint of Aristotelian ideas about life, teleology (and after the rise of Christianity, natural theology) would remain central to biological thought essentially until the 18th and 19th centuries. In the words of Ernst Mayr, "Nothing of any real consequence in biology after Lucretius and Galen until the Renaissance."[22] Aristotle's ideas of natural history and medicine survived, but they were generally taken unquestioningly.[23]

Criticism

Template:Criticism-section

Aristotle has been criticized on several grounds. Since he was perhaps the philosopher most respected by European thinkers during and after the Renaissance, these thinkers often took Aristotle's erroneous positions as given, which held back science in this epoch.[24]

  • 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 Aristotle is considered by some feminist critics to have been a misogynist.[25]
  • 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).[26]
  • His refutation of the claim that the stars visible in the night sky were just like the Earth's Sun; he calculated that they would have to be millions of times farther away from the Earth than the Sun, and thus these claims were dismissed for hundreds of years.[citation needed]
  • His theory of the natural slave was used by thinkers such as Juan Gines de Sepulveda to justify European domination of the Native Americans.[citation needed]

Legacy

It is the opinion of many that Aristotle's system of thought remains the most marvellous and influential one ever put together by any single mind. According to historian Will Durant, no other philosopher has contributed so much to the enlightenment of the world.[27] He single-handedly founded the sciences of Logic, Biology and Psychology.

Aristotle is referred to as "The Philosopher" by Scholastic thinkers like Thomas Aquinas. See Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 3, etc. 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 medieval English poet Chaucer describes his student as being happy by having

At his bedded hed

Twenty books clothed in blake or red,

Of Aristotle and his philosophie;

The Italian poet Dante says of Aristotle in the first circles of hell,

I saw the Master there of those who know,

Amid the philosophic family,
By all admired, and by all reverenced;
There Plato too I saw, and Socrates,

Who stood beside him closer than the rest.

Dante, The Divine Comedy

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has been said to take nearly all of his political philosophy from Aristotle.[28]

The loss of his works

Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues (Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold"),[29] the vast majority of his writings are now lost, while the literary character of those that remain is disputed. Aristotle's works were lost and rediscovered several times, and it is believed that about one fifth of his original works have survived.

One story of the original manuscripts of his treatises is described by Strabo in his Geography and Plutarch in his Parallel Lives.[30] The manuscripts were left from Aristotle to his successor Theophrastus, who in turn willed them to Neleus of Scepsis. Neleus supposedly took the writings from Athens to Scepsis, where his heirs let them languish in a cellar until the first century B.C.E., when Apellicon of Teos discovered and purchased the manuscripts, bringing them back to Athens. According to the story, Apellicon tried to repair some of the damage that was done during the manuscripts' stay in the basement, introducing a number of errors into the text. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla occupied Athens in 86 B.C.E., he carried off the library of Appellicon to Rome, where they were first published in 60 B.C.E. by the grammarian Tyrranion of Amisus and then by philosopher Andronicus of Rhodes.

Carnes Lord attributes the popular belief in this story to the fact that it provides "the most plausible explanation for the rapid eclipse of the Peripatetic school after the middle of the third century, and for the absence of widespread knowledge of the specialized treatises of Aristotle throughout the Hellenistic period, as well as for the sudden reappearance of a flourishing Aristotelianism during the first century B.C.E."[31] Lord voices a number of reservations concerning this story, however. First, the condition of the texts is far too good for them to have suffered considerable damage followed by Apellicon's inexpert attempt at repair. Second, there is "incontrovertible evidence," Lord says, that the treatises were in circulation during the time in which Strabo and Plutarch suggest they were confined the cellar in Scepsis. Third, the definitive edition of Aristotle's texts seems to have been made in Athens some fifty years before Andronicus supposedly compiled his. And fourth, ancient library catalogues predating Andronicus' intervention list an Aristotelean corpus quite similar to the one we currently possess. Lord sees a number of post-Aristotelean interpolations in the Politics, for example, but is generally confident that the work has come down to us relatively intact.

After the Roman period, Aristotle's works were by and large lost to the West for a second time. They were, however, preserved in the East by various Muslim scholars and philosophers, many of whom wrote extensive commentaries on his works. Aristotle lay at the foundation of the falsafa movement in Islamic philosophy, stimulating the thought of Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd and others.

As the influence of the falsafa grew in the West, in part due to Gerard of Cremona's translations and the spread of Averroism, the demand for Aristotle's works grew. William of Moerbeke translated a number of them into Latin. When Thomas Aquinas wrote his theology, working from Moerbeke's translations, the demand for Aristotle's writings grew and the Greek manuscripts returned to the West, stimulating a revival of Aristotelianism in Europe.

Bibliography

Note: Bekker numbers are often used to uniquely identify passages of Aristotle. They are identified below where available.

Major works

The extant works of Aristotle are broken down according to the five categories in the Corpus Aristotelicum. The titles are given in accordance with the standard set by the Revised Oxford Translation.[32] Not all of these works are considered genuine, but differ with respect to their connection to Aristotle, his associates and his views. Some, such as the Athenaion Politeia or the fragments of other politeia are regarded by most scholars as products of Aristotle's "school" and compiled under his direction or supervision. Other works, such as On Colours may have been products of Aristotle's successors at the Lyceum, e.g., Theophrastus and Straton. Still others acquired Aristotle's name through similarities in doctrine or content, such as the De Plantis, possibly by Nicolaus of Damascus. A final category, omitted here, includes medieval palmistries, astrological and magical texts whose connection to Aristotle is purely fanciful and self-promotional. Those that are seriously disputed are marked with an asterisk.

In several of the treatises, there are references to other works in the corpus. Based on such references, some scholars have suggested a possible chronological order for a number of Aristotle's writings. W.D. Ross, for instance, suggested the following broad arrangement (which of course leaves out much): Categories, Topics, Sophistici Elenchi, Analytics, Metaphysics Δ, the physical works, the Ethics, and the rest of the Metaphysics.[33] Many modern scholars, however, based simply on lack of evidence, are sceptical of such attempts to determine the chronological order of Aristotle's writings.[34]

Logical writings

  • Organon (collected works on logic):
    • (1a) Categories (or Categoriae)
    • (16a) De Interpretatione (or On Interpretation)
    • (24a) Prior Analytics (or Analytica Priora)
    • (71a) Posterior Analytics (or Analytica Posteriora)
    • (100b) Topics (or Topica)
    • (164a) Sophistical Refutations (or De Sophisticis Elenchis)

Physical and scientific writings

  • (184a) Physics (or Physica)
  • (268a) On the Heavens (or De Caelo)
  • (314a) On Generation and Corruption (or De Generatione et Corruptione)
  • (338a) Meteorology (or Meteorologica)
  • (391a) On the Universe (or De Mundo, or On the Cosmos) *
  • (402a) On the Soul (or De Anima)
  • (436a) Parva Naturalia (or Little Physical Treatises):
    • Sense and Sensibilia (or De Sensu et Sensibilibus)
    • On Memory (or De Memoria et Reminiscentia)
    • On Sleep (or De Somno et Vigilia)
    • On Dreams (or De Insomniis)
    • On Divination in Sleep (or De Divinatione per Somnum)
    • On Length and Shortness of Life (or De Longitudine et Brevitate Vitae)
    • On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration (or De Juventute et Senectute, De Vita et Morte, De Respiratione)
  • (481a) On Breath (or De Spiritu) *
  • (486a) History of Animals (or Historia Animalium, or On the History of Animals, or Description of Animals)
  • (639a) Parts of Animals (or De Partibus Animalium)
  • (698a) Movement of Animals (or De Motu Animalium)
  • (704a) Progression of Animals (or De Incessu Animalium)
  • (715a) Generation of Animals (or De Generatione Animalium)
  • (791a) On Colors (or De Coloribus) *
  • (800a) On Things Heard (or De audibilibus) *
  • (805a) Physiognomics (or Physiognomonica) *
  • On Plants (or De Plantis) *
  • (830a) On Marvellous Things Heard (or De mirabilibus auscultationibus) *
  • (847a) Mechanics (or Mechanica or Mechanical Problems) *
  • (859a) Problems (or Problemata)
  • (968a) On Indivisible Lines (or De Lineis Insecabilibus) *
  • (973a) The Situations and Names of Winds (or Ventorum Situs) *
  • (974a) On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias (or MXG) * The section On Xenophanes starts at 977a13, the section On Gorgias starts at 979a11.

Metaphysical writings

  • (980a) Metaphysics (or Metaphysica)

Ethical & Political writings

  • (1094a) Nicomachean Ethics (or Ethica Nicomachea, or The Ethics)
  • (1181a) Magna Moralia (or Great Ethics) *
  • (1214a) Eudemian Ethics (or Ethica Eudemia)
  • (1249a) On Virtues and Vices (or De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus, Libellus de virtutibus) *
  • (1252a) Politics (or Politica)
  • (1343a) Economics (or Oeconomica)

Aesthetic writings

  • (1354a) Rhetoric (or Ars Rhetorica, or The Art of Rhetoric or Treatise on Rhetoric)
  • Rhetoric to Alexander (or Rhetorica ad Alexandrum) *
  • (1447a) Poetics (or Ars Poetica)

A work outside the Corpus Aristotelicum

  • The Constitution of the Athenians (or Athenaion Politeia, or The Athenian Constitution)

Fragments

Dialogues

  • On Philosophy (or On the Good)
  • Eudemus (or On the Soul)
  • Protrepticus
  • On Justice
  • On Good Birth

Specific editions

  • Princeton University Press: The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation (2 Volume Set; Bollingen Series, Vol. LXXI, No. 2), edited by Jonathan Barnes ISBN 0-691-09950-2 (the most complete recent translation of Aristotle's extant works, including a selection from the extant fragments)
  • Oxford University Press: Clarendon Aristotle Series. Scholarly edition
  • Harvard University Press: Loeb Classical Library (hardbound; publishes in Greek, with English translations on facing pages)
  • Oxford Classical Texts (hardbound; Greek only)

Named after Aristotle

  • Aristoteles, a crater on the Moon.
  • The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  • Aristotelous Square
  • Aristotle Lane in Oxford, England
Academic Genealogy
Notable teachers Notable students
Plato Alexander the Great

Aristoxenus
Dicaearchus
Demetrius of Phalerum
Eudemos of Rhodes
Harpalus
Hephaestion
Meno
Mnason of Phocis
Nicomachus
Theophrastus

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  1. ↑ Neill, Alex and Aaron Ridley (1995). The Philosphy of Art: Readings Ancient and Modern. McGraw Hill, 488. 
  2. ↑ Jones, W.T. (1980). The Classical Mind: A History of Western Philosophy. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 216. , cf. Vita Marciana 41.
  3. ↑ Jori, Alberto (2003). Aristotele. Milano: Bruno Mondadori Editore. 
  4. ↑ Bocheński, I. M. (1951). Ancient Formal Logic. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. 
  5. ↑ Bocheński, 1951.
  6. ↑ Rose, Lynn E. (1968). Aristotle's Syllogistic. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher. 
  7. ↑ Bocheński, 1951.
  8. ↑ Rose, 1968.
  9. ↑ Aristotle, Physics 2.6
  10. ↑ Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII 1043a 10-30
  11. ↑ Aristotle, Metaphysics IX 1050a 5-10
  12. ↑ Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII 1045a-b
  13. ↑ Ebenstein, Alan and William Ebenstein (2002). Introduction to Political Thinkers. Wadsworth Group, 59. 
  14. ↑ Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 43-44
  15. ↑ Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 201-202; see also: Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being
  16. ↑ Aristotle, De Anima II 3
  17. ↑ Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 45
  18. ↑ Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy Vol. 1 pp. 348
  19. ↑ Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 90-91; Mason, A History of the Sciences, p 46
  20. ↑ Annas, Classical Greek Philosophy pp 252
  21. ↑ Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 56
  22. ↑ Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 90-94; quotation from p 91
  23. ↑ Annas, Classical Greek Philosophy, p 252
  24. ↑ Burent, John. 1928. Platonism, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 61, 103-104.
  25. ↑ Harding, Sandra and Merrill B. Hintikka (31-Dec-1999). Discovering Reality,: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science. Springer, 372. 
  26. ↑ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  27. ↑ Durant, Will (1926 (2006)). The Story of Philosophy. United States: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 92. ISBN 9780671739164. 
  28. ↑ Durant, p. 86
  29. ↑ Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106B.C.E.-43B.C.E.). "flumen orationis aureum fundens Aristoteles". Academica. Retrieved 25-Jan-2007.
  30. ↑ "Sulla."
  31. ↑ Lord, Introduction, 11.
  32. ↑ The Complete Works of Aristotle, edited by Jonathan Barnes, 2 vols., Princeton University Press, 1984.
  33. ↑ W. D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 1, p. lxxxii.
  34. ↑ E.g., Jonathan Barnes, "Life and Work" in The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (1995), pp. 18-22.

Further reading

The secondary literature on Aristotle is vast. The following references are only a small selection.

  • Ackrill J. L. 2001. Essays on Plato and Aristotle, Oxford University Press, USA
  • Adler, Mortimer J. (1978). Aristotle for Everybody. New York: Macmillan.  A popular exposition for the general reader.
  • Bakalis Nikolaos. 2005. Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing ISBN 1-4120-4843-5
  • Barnes J. 1995. The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, Cambridge University Press
  • Bocheński, I. M. (1951). Ancient Formal Logic. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. 
  • Bolotin, David (1998). An Approach to Aristotle’s Physics: With Particular Attention to the Role of His Manner of Writing. Albany: SUNY Press. A contribution to our understanding of how to read Aristotle's scientific works.
  • Burnyeat, M. F. et al. 1979. Notes on Book Zeta of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Oxford: Sub-faculty of Philosophy
  • Chappell, V. 1973. Aristotle's Conception of Matter, Journal of Philosophy 70: 679-696
  • Code, Alan. 1995. Potentiality in Aristotle's Science and Metaphysics, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 76
  • Frede, Michael. 1987. Essays in Ancient Philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
  • Gill, Mary Louise. 1989. Aristotle on Substance: The Paradox of Unity. Princeton: Princeton University Press
  • Guthrie, W. K. C. (1981). A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol. 6. Cambridge University Press. 
  • Halper, Edward C. (2007) One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 1: Books Alpha — Delta, Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-21-6
  • Halper, Edward C. (2005) One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 2: The Central Books, Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-05-6
  • Irwin, T. H. 1988. Aristotle's First Principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • Jori, Alberto. 2003. Aristotele, Milano: Bruno Mondadori Editore (Prize 2003 of the "International Academy of the History of Science") ISBN 88-424-9737-1
  • Knight, Kelvin. 2007. Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre, Polity Press.
  • Lewis, Frank A. 1991. Substance and Predication in Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Lloyd, G. E. R. 1968. Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., ISBN 0-521-09456-9.
  • Lord, Carnes. 1984. Introduction to The Politics, by Aristotle. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
  • Loux, Michael J. 1991. Primary Ousia: An Essay on Aristotle's Metaphysics Ζ and Η. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
  • Owen, G. E. L. 1965c. The Platonism of Aristotle, Proceedings of the British Academy 50 125-150. Reprinted in J. Barnes, M. Schofield, and R. R. K. Sorabji (eds.), Articles on Aristotle, Vol 1. Science. London: Duckworth (1975). 14-34
  • Pangle, Lorraine Smith (2003). Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aristotle's conception of the deepest human relationship viewed in the light of the history of philosophic thought on friendship.
  • Reeve, C. D. C. 2000. Substantial Knowledge: Aristotle's Metaphysics. Indianapolis: Hackett.
  • Rose, Lynn E. (1968). Aristotle's Syllogistic. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher. 
  • Ross, Sir David (1995). Aristotle, 6th ed., London: Routledge.  An classic overview by one of Aristotle's most prominent English translators, in print since 1923.
  • Scaltsas, T. 1994. Substances and Universals in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
  • Strauss, Leo. "On Aristotle's Politics" (1964), in The City and Man, Chicago; Rand McNally.
  • Taylor, Henry Osborn (1922). "Chapter 3: Aristotle's Biology", Greek Biology and Medicine. 
  • Veatch, Henry B. (1974). Aristotle: A Contemporary Appreciation. Bloomington: Indiana U. Press.  For the general reader.
  • Woods, M. J. 1991b. “Universals and Particular Forms in Aristotle's Metaphysics.” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy supplement. 41-56

See also

  • Aristotelianism
  • Aristotelian view of God
  • Aristotelian theory of gravity
  • Philia
  • Phronesis
  • Potentiality and actuality (Aristotle)
  • Aristotelian ethics
  • Hylomorphism

External links

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  • This article incorporates material from Aristotle on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the GFDL.
Persondata
NAME Aristotle
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἀριστοτέλης (Greek)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 384 B.C.E.
PLACE OF BIRTH Stageira
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 322 B.C.E.
PLACE OF DEATH Chalcis

az:Aristotel ba:Аристотель be:Арыстоцель be-x-old:Арыстоцель br:Aristoteles fy:Aristoteles gd:Aristotle jv:Aristoteles lad:Aristoteles cdo:Ā-lī-sê̤ṳ-dŏ̤-dáik nds-nl:Aristoteles new:एरिस्टोटल nov:Aristotéles sq:Aristoteli sh:Aristotel kab:Aristot tg:Арасту ur:ارسطو

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