Aristotle
* 384 bc. in Stageira/ Macedonia
† 322 bc in Chalkis/ Euböa
was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote books on many subjects, including physics, poetry, zoology, logic, rhetoric, government, and biology, none of which survive in their entirety. Aristotle, along with Plato and Socrates, is generally considered one of the most influential of ancient Greek philosophers. They transformed Presocratic Greek philosophy into the foundations of Western philosophy as we know it. The writings of Plato and Aristotle founded two of the most important schools of Ancient philosophy.
Aristotle valued knowledge gained from the senses and in modern terms would
be classed among the modern empiricists (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
empirical scientific method some two millennia 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the most part, unpublished texts.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 (or
Ontology), Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics.
These works, although connected in many fundamental ways, are very different in
both style and substance.
Aristotle is known for being one of the few figures in history who studied
almost every subject possible at the time, probably being one of the first
polymaths. In science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, economics,
embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics, and zoology. In
philosophy, Aristotle wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics,
politics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also dealt with education,
foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works practically
constitute an encyclopedia of Greek knowledge.
Early life and studies at the Academy
Aristotle was born at Stageira, a colony of Andros on the Macedonian
peninsula of Chalcidice in 384 BCE. His father, Nicomachus, was court physician
to King Amyntas III of Macedon. It is believed that Aristotle's ancestors held
this position under various kings of the Macedons. As such, Aristotle's early
education would probably have consisted of instruction in medicine and biology
from his father. Little is known about his mother, Phaestis. 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, 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.
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
allegedly traceable to the Epicureans, although some doubt remains of this
charge. If such legends were circulated widely by patristic writers such as
Justin Martyr and Gregory Nazianzen, the reason lies in the exaggerated esteem
Aristotle was held in by the early Christian heretics, not in any well-grounded
historical tradition.
Aristotle as philosopher and tutor
After the death of Plato (347 BC), Aristotle was considered as the next head of
the Academy, a position that was eventually awarded to Plato's nephew. Aristotle
then went with Xenocrates to the court of Hermias, ruler of Atarneus in Asia
Minor, married his niece, Pythias, and with her had a daughter named Pythias
after her mother. In 344 BC, Hermias was murdered in a rebellion, and Aristotle
went with his family to Mytilene. It is also reported that he stopped on Lesbos
and briefly conducted biological research. Then, one or two years later, he was
summoned to Pella, the Macedonian capital, by King Philip II of Macedon to
become the tutor of Alexander the Great, who was then 13.
Plutarch wrote that Aristotle not only imparted to Alexander a knowledge of
ethics and politics, but also of the most profound secrets of philosophy. We
have much proof that Alexander profited by contact with the philosopher, and
that Aristotle made prudent and beneficial use of his influence over the young
prince (although Bertrand Russell disputes this). Due to this influence,
Alexander provided Aristotle with ample means for the acquisition of books and
the pursuit of his scientific investigation.
It is possible that Aristotle also participated in the education of Alexander's
boyhood friends, which may have included for example Hephaestion and Harpalus.
Aristotle maintained a long correspondence with Hephaestion, eventually
collected into a book, unfortunately now lost.
According to sources such as Plutarch and Diogenes, Philip had Aristotle's
hometown of Stageira burned during the 340s BC, 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.
Founder and master of the Lyceum
In about 335 BC, 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 dedicated to Apollo Lyceios, from which
his school has come to be known as the Lyceum. (It was also called the
Peripatetic School because Aristotle preferred to discuss problems of philosophy
with his pupils while walking around -- peripateo -- the shaded walks --
peripatoi -- around the gymnasium).
During the thirteen years (335 BC–322 BC) which he spent as teacher of the
Lyceum, Aristotle composed most of his writings. Imitating Plato, he wrote
Dialogues 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 succeeded in
bringing together the works of his predecessors in Greek philosophy, and how he
pursued, either personally or through others, his investigations in the realm of
natural phenomena. Pliny the Elder claimed that Alexander placed under
Aristotle's orders all the hunters, fishermen, and fowlers of the royal kingdom
and all the overseers of the royal forests, lakes, ponds and cattle-ranges, 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.
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 brought against
Aristotle. He left the city, saying, "I will not allow the Athenians to sin
twice against philosophy" (Vita Marciana 41). He took up residence at his
country house at Chalcis, in Euboea, and there he died the following year, 322
BC. His death was due to a disease, reportedly 'of the stomach', from which he
had long suffered. The story that his death was due to hemlock poisoning, as
well as the legend that he threw himself into the sea "because he could not
explain the tides", is without historical foundation.
Aristotle's legacy also had a profound influence on Islamic thought and
philosophy during the Middle Ages. Muslim thinkers such as Avicenna, Farabi, and
Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi were a few of the major proponents of the Aristotelian
school of thought during the Golden Age of Islam.
Methodology
Aristotle defines his philosophy in terms of essence, saying that philosophy
is "the science of the universal essence of that which is actual". Plato had
defined it as the "science of the idea", meaning by idea what we should call the
unconditional basis of phenomena. Both pupil and master regard philosophy as
concerned with the universal; Aristotle, however, finds the universal in
particular things, and called it the essence of things, while Plato finds that
the universal exists apart from particular things, and is related to them as
their prototype or exemplar. For Aristotle, therefore, philosophic method
implies the ascent from the study of particular phenomena to the knowledge of
essences, while for Plato philosophic method means the descent from a knowledge
of universal ideas to a contemplation of particular imitations of those ideas.
In a certain sense, Aristotle's method is both inductive and deductive, while
Plato's is essentially deductive from a priori principles.
In Aristotle's terminology, the term natural philosophy corresponds to the
phenomena of the natural world, which include: motion, light, and the laws of
physics. Many centuries later these subjects would become the basis of modern
science, as studied through the scientific method. In modern times the term
philosophy has come to be more narrowly understood as metaphysics, distinct from
empirical study of the natural world via the physical sciences. In contrast, in
Aristotle's time and use philosophy was taken to encompass all facets of
intellectual inquiry.
In the larger sense of the word, 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.
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's epistemology
Logic
Aristotle's conception of logic, was the dominant form of logic up until the advances in mathematical logic in the 19th century. Kant himself thought that Aristotle had done everything possible in terms of logic.
History
Aristotle "says that 'on the subject of reasoning' he 'had nothing else on an
earlier date to speak about'" (Bocheński, 1951). However, Plato reports that
syntax was thought of before him, by Prodikos of Keos, who was concerned by the
right use of words. Logic seems to have emerged from dialectics; the earlier
philosophers used concepts like reductio ad absurdum as a rule when discussing,
but never understood its logical implications. Even Plato had difficulties with
logic. Although he had the idea of constructing a system for deduction, he was
never able to construct one. Instead, he relied on his dialectic, which was a
confusion between different sciences and methods (Bocheński, 1951). Plato
thought that deduction would simply follow from premises, so he focused on
having good premises so that the conclusion would follow. Later on, Plato
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
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 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 CE:
Categories
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. It
goes from the basics, the analysis of simple terms in the Categories, to the
study of more complex forms, namely, syllogisms (in the Analytics) and dialetics
(in the Topics and Sophistical Refutations). There is one volume of Aristotle's
concerning logic not found in the Organon, namely the fourth book of
Metaphysics. (Bocheński, 1951).
Modal logic
Aristotle is also the creator of syllogisms with modalities (modal logic). The
word modal refers to the word 'modes', explaining the fact that modal logic
deals with the modes of truth. Aristotle introduced the qualification of
'necessary' and 'possible' premises. He constructed a logic which helped in the
evaluation of truth but which was difficult to interpret. (Rose, 1968).
Science
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 History of Animals he
claimed that human males have more teeth than females. Had he only made some
observations, he would have discovered 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.
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. In contrast, today's
science assumes 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 discern if one's hypothesis corresponds to reality. This is known as the
scientific method.
Although Aristotle should be credited for an important step in the history of
scientific method by founding logic as a formal science, he posited a flawed
cosmology that we may discern in selections of the Metaphysics. His cosmology
would gain much acceptance up until the 1500s. From the 3rd century to the
1500s, the dominant view held that the Earth was the centre of the universe: at
this late date it is uncontroversial that the Earth is not even the centre of
our own solar system.
Aristotle's metaphysics
Causality
In Metaphysics and Posterior Analytics, Aristotle argued that all causes of
things are beginnings; that we have scientific knowledge when we know the cause;
that to know a thing's existence is to know the reason for its existence. He was
the first who set the guidelines for all the subsequent causal theories by
specifying the number, nature, principles, elements, varieties, and order of
causes as well as the modes of causation. Aristotle's account of the causes of
things is the most comprehensive theory up to now. According to Aristotle's
theory, all the causes may fall into several groups, the total number of which
amounts to the ways the question 'why' may be answered; namely by reference to
the matter or the substratum; the essence, the pattern, the form, or the
structure; the primary moving change or the agent and its action; the goal, the
plan, the end, or the good. As a consequence, the major kinds of causes come
under the following divisions:
The Material Cause is that from which a thing comes into existence as from its
parts, constituents, substratum or materials. This reduces the explanation of
causes to the parts (factors, elements, constituents, ingredients) forming the
whole (system, structure, compound, complex, composite, or combination) (the
part-whole causation).
The Formal Cause tells us what a thing is, that any thing is determined by the
definition, form, pattern, essence, whole, synthesis, or archetype. It embraces
the account of causes in terms of fundamental principles or general laws, as the
whole (macrostructure) is the cause of its parts (the whole-part causation).
The Efficient Cause is that from which the change or the ending of the change
first starts. It identifies 'what makes of what is made and what causes change
of what is changed' and so suggests all sorts of agents, nonliving or living,
acting as the sources of change or movement or rest. Representing the current
understanding of causality as the relation of cause and effect, this covers the
modern definitions of "cause" as either the agent or agency or particular events
or states of affairs.
The Final Cause is that for the sake of which a thing exists or is done,
including both purposeful and instrumental actions and activities. The final
cause or telos is the purpose or end that something is supposed to serve, or it
is that from which and that to which the change is. This also covers modern
ideas of mental causation involving such psychological causes as volition, need,
motivation, or motives, rational, irrational, ethical, all that gives purpose to
behavior.
Additionally, things can be causes of one another, causing each other
reciprocally, as hard work causes fitness and vice versa, although not in the
same way or function, the one is as the beginning of change, the other as the
goal. [Thus Aristotle first suggested a reciprocal or circular causality as a
relation of mutual dependence or action or influence of cause and effect.] Also,
Aristotle indicated that the same thing can be the cause of contrary effects,
its presence and absence may result in different outcomes.
Aristotle marked two modes of causation: proper (prior) causation and accidental
(chance) causation. All causes, proper and incidental, can be spoken as
potential or as actual, particular or generic. The same language refers to the
effects of causes, so that generic effects assigned to generic causes,
particular effects to particular causes, operating causes to actual effects.
Essentiallly, causality does not suggest a temporal relation between the cause
and the effect
All further investigations of causality will be consisting in imposing the
favorite hierarchies on the order causes, like as final > efficient> material >
formal (Thomas Aquinas), or in restricting all causality to the material and
efficient causes or to the efficient causality (deterministic or chance) or just
to regular sequences and correlations of natural phenomena (the natural sciences
describing how things happen instead of explaining the whys and wherefores).
Chance and spontaneity
Spontaneity and chance are causes of effects. Chance as an incidental cause lies
in the realm of accidental things. It is "from what is spontaneous" (but note
that what is spontaneous does not come from chance). For a better understanding
of Aristotle's conception of "chance" it might be better to think of
"coincidence": Something takes place by chance if a person sets out with the
intent of having one thing take place, but with the result of another thing (not
intended) taking place. For example: A person seeks donations. That person may
find another person willing to donate a substantial sum. However, if the person
seeking the donations met the person donating, not for the purpose of collecting
donations, but for some other purpose, Aristotle would call the collecting of
the donation by that particular donator a result of chance. It must be unusual
that something happens by chance. In other words, if something happens all or
most of the time, we cannot say that it is by chance.
However, chance can only apply to human beings, it is in the sphere of moral
actions. According to Aristotle, chance must involve choice (and thus
deliberation), and only humans are capable of deliberation and choice. "What is
not capable of action cannot do anything by chance" (Physics, 2.6).
The five elements
Fire, which is hot and dry.
Earth, which is cold and dry.
Air, which is hot and wet.
Water, which is cold and wet.
Aether, which is the divine substance that makes up the heavenly spheres and
heavenly bodies (stars and planets).
Each of the four earthly elements has its natural place; the earth at the centre
of the universe, then water, then air, then fire. When they are out of their
natural place they have natural motion, requiring no external cause, which is
towards that place; so bodies sink in water, air bubbles up, rain falls, flame
rises in air. The heavenly element has perpetual circular motion.
Aristotle's ethics
Although Aristotle wrote several works on ethics, the major one was the
Nicomachean Ethics, which is considered one of Aristotle's greatest works; it
discusses virtues. The ten books which comprise it are based on notes from his
lectures at the Lyceum and were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's
son, Nicomachus.
Aristotle believed that ethical knowledge is not certain knowledge, like
metaphysics and epistemology, but general knowledge. Also, as it is a practical
discipline rather than a theoretical one; he thought that in order to become
"good", one could not simply study what virtue is; one must actually do virtuous
deeds. In order to do this, Aristotle had first to establish what was virtuous.
He began by determining that everything was done with some goal in mind and that
goal is 'good.' The ultimate goal he called the Highest Good.
Aristotle contended that happiness could not be found only in pleasure or only
in fame and honor. He finally finds happiness "by ascertaining the specific
function of man". But what is this function that will bring happiness? To
determine this, Aristotle analyzed the soul and found it to have three parts:
the Nutritive Soul (plants, animals and humans), the Perceptive Soul (animals
and humans) and the Rational Soul (humans only). Thus, a human's function is to
do what makes it human, to be good at what sets it apart from everything else:
the ability to reason or Nous. A person that does this is the happiest because
they are fulfilling their purpose or nature as found in the rational soul.
Depending on how well they did this, Aristotle said people belonged to one of
four categories: the Virtuous, the Continent, the Incontinent and the Vicious.
Aristotle believed that every ethical virtue is an intermediate condition
between excess and deficiency. This does not mean Aristotle believed in moral
relativism, however. He set certain emotions (e.g., hate, envy, jealousy, spite,
etc.) and certain actions (e.g., adultery, theft, murder, etc.) as always wrong,
regardless of the situation or the circumstances.
In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle focuses on the importance of continually behaving virtuously and developing virtue rather than committing specific good actions. This can be contrasted with Kantian ethics, in which the primary focus is on the intent of the actor, or Utilitarianism where the consequences of the act are given moral value. Nicomachean Ethics emphasizes the importance of context to ethical behaviour – what might be right in one situation might be wrong in another. Aristotle believed that eudaimonia 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's critics
Aristotle has been criticised on several grounds.
His analysis of procreation is frequently criticised on the grounds that it
presupposes an active, ensouling masculine element bringing life to an inert,
passive, lumpen female element; it is on these grounds that some feminist
critics refer to Aristotle as a misogynist.
At times, the objections that Aristotle raises against the arguments of his own
teacher, Plato, appear to rely on faulty interpretations of those arguments.
Although Aristotle advised, against Plato, that knowledge of the world could
only be obtained through experience, he frequently failed to take his own
advice. Aristotle conducted projects of careful empirical investigation, but
often drifted into abstract logical reasoning, with the result that his work was
littered with conclusions that were not supported by empirical evidence: for
example, his assertion that objects of different mass fall at different speeds
under gravity, which was later refuted by John Philoponus (credit is often given
to Galileo, even though Philoponus lived centuries earlier).
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 skeptical 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.
Aristotle was called not a great philosopher, but "The Philosopher" by
Scholastic thinkers. These thinkers blended Aristotelian philosophy with
Christianity, bringing the thought of Ancient Greece into the Middle Ages. It
required a repudiation of some Aristotelian principles for the sciences and the
arts to free themselves for the discovery of modern scientific laws and
empirical methods.
The loss of his works
Though we know that Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises (Cicero described his
literary style as "a river of gold"), the originals have been lost in time. All
that we have now are the literary notes of his pupils, which are often difficult
to read (the Nicomachean Ethics is a good example). It is now believed that we
have about one fifth of his original works.
Aristotle underestimated the importance of his written work for humanity. He
thus never published his books, only his dialogues. The story of the original
manuscripts of his treatises is described by Strabo in his Geography and
Plutarch in his "Parallel Lives, Sulla": The manuscripts were left from
Aristotle to Theophrastus, from Theophrastus to Neleus of Scepsis, from Neleus
to his heirs. Their descendants sold them to Apellicon of Teos. When Lucius
Cornelius Sulla occupied Athens in 86 BC, he carried off the library of
Appellicon to Rome, where they were first published in 60 BC from the grammarian
Tyrranion of Amisus and then by philosopher Andronicus of Rhodes.
Aristotle as Fictional Character
Alexander's Teacher appears as a character in the historical novel Fire from
Heaven by Mary Renault. Renault blames the more extravagant claims in
Aristotle's zoological works on the trickster Harpalus. Alexander learns much
from Aristotle, but refuses his xenophobia.