Aristotle: A Comprehensive View on Nature and Society
In order to fully understand Aristotle’s views on a natural system, it is necessary to first explain some general principles of his philosophy. It is in his work the Categories that Aristotle presents the concept of substance, a concept that will serve as the foundation for much of his philosophical system.
Substance, for Aristotle, is not a universal, but rather, it is the particular; substance is not a “such,” but a “this.” Thus, substance is neither in nor is it said of a subject (as are qualities). Rather it is that which makes the subject numerically one; it is that which makes the subject the individual. Substance is “an individual man and [or] an individual horse.” Aristotle still classifies universals as substances, for they define what constitutes the substance, and without these universals, a substance would not be what is.
There are four characteristics of substances: a substance is a “this”, not a qualification or a ‘such’ (which stresses individuality); a substance has no contraries to it (there are no opposites of a substance); a substance does not admit more or less (there are not degrees of a substance); and a substance can admit contraries while remaining numerically one.
In the Physics, Aristotle addresses that which constitutes Natural Objects as substances. He states that all Natural Substances consist of both form and matter. Matter is that out of which the substance arises and form is that into which the matter develops. In building a table, the wood, nails, etc., are the matters, and the idea of a table, what the end result will be, is the form, according to Aristotle. Matter and form are inseparable from each other; there is no ‘form’ apart from concrete things. Aristotle explains that all substances contain within themselves the origin of their change and movement. He continues by stating that the change, which can occur, is due to four possible natural causes: formal cause, material cause, efficient cause, and final cause. Formal and material causes are self explanatory, in that it is the form or the matter of the substance that is responsible for the change within the substance. Efficient and final cause, however, will become clearer once we investigate Aristotle’s ideas of actuality and potentiality. We should begin the explanation of actuality and potentially ...
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... nature and our striving towards the “good,” by means of moderate actions is everyday life. Knowing this practical type of reason, we can now examine the theoretical type of reason, intellectual virtue. Happiness is an activity, it is not a passive state for Aristotle. It is our potential which allows us to be motivated by the concept of the “Unmoved Mover,” towards a state of perfection or perfect happiness. In order to achieve this state, a human, according to Aristotle, must partake in an activity which is both sought for intrinsic purposes and is in itself perfect. Intellectual virtue is this activity. It is a theoretical principle which each person knows “a priori;” it is the act of doing what is most natural for all humans to do, to reason. It is our nature according to Aristotle, to reason, and it follows that if we achieve the perfectness or excellence (arete) in our nature, we achieve perfect happiness. Specifically, for Aristotle, the best way to come close to achieving the perfect “good” is to act as a seeker of truth.
The philosopher is the way to go according to Aristotle; “Philosophical thoght is the way to consummate perfect happiness, but it doesn’t pay well.”
Humans, throughout recorded history, have searched for a proper way of living which would lead them to ultimate happiness; the Nicomachean Ethics, a compilation of lecture notes on the subject written by Greek philosopher Aristotle, is one of the most celebrated philosophical works dedicated to this study of the way. As he describes it, happiness can only be achieved by acting in conformity with virtues, virtues being established by a particular culture’s ideal person operating at their top capacity. In our current society the duplicity of standards in relation to virtue makes it difficult for anyone to attain. To discover true happiness, man must first discover himself.
... Traflamadorian philosophy he realizes that time travel to cope with his feelings is not a viable solution. The traflamadorians taught him that there is nothing he can to prevent change or alter the future in anyway because from the beginning the moment was is and always will be struvtured that way. Before he went to traflamadore Billy was time travaling quite frequently to try and cope with regrets and relive accomplishments to see if he could have done anything differently in any of the situations he found himself in. Billy seemed to kill himself over what he could and could not have done. After the experience on traflamadore Billy didn’t time travel as much and he seemed to be at peace with the world and his fate. So it is evident that the frequent use of time travel is Billy Pilgrim’s way of coping with the regrets, and reliving the accomplishments of his life.
Bessie life has been made into film in 2015 entitle “Bessie”. One of the number people Bessie inspired was Janis Joplin. Because of her great work “Janis credited Bessie for leading her to singing in the first place” (Suer, 2011). Bessie has used blues and jazz to express her feelings and life. Because Bessie used her music to give a strong message, many music artists was able to relate to her. Like Bessie, Aretha has had a great influence on singer, rappers, and bands. Since she sung gospel and R&B Aretha has had a worldwide influence on past and present artists. Aretha music has been simple and cover by different music artists. She has inspire artists such as Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Adele, and a lot of others singers. Many artist has often used her top hits to cover for shows, auditions, and as a guideline when there are recording. Just like Bessie, Aretha also has a movie about her life and career and the
In this paper, I offer a reconstruction of Aristotle’s argument from Physics Book 2, chapter 8, 199a9. Aristotle in this chapter tries to make an analogy between nature and action to establish that both, nature and action, have an end.
Billy as an adult was being forced to go to war against his will which is another demonstration of free will’s futility and meaninglessness. He was drafted against his will, but even as a soldier, a grown man, he was a mischief because of it. An example of absurdity is the significance of time travel. For the duration of the book Billy Pilgrim is traveling. He declares himself as a wise man who knows what is always to come in the future, as a result that he and only him knows infact that time is simple just a circle that is in repetition of itself. Because Tralfamadore grasps the big idea and theory of time Billy is faithfully satisfactory with them. Also seeing the fact they can relate to one another on their beliefs. Tralfamadore are aliens toilet plungers as their heads with five sexes. The repetitive scenes of absurdity convey that society seems to always be engrossed in their regular everyday lives that people don’t see what the idea and theory of life really and truly is. “ Billy Pilgrim had stopped in the forest. He was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. His head was tilted back and his nostrils were flaring. He was like a poet in the Parthenon. This was when Billy first
Aristotle believes that the amount of happiness one experiences is in direct relation to the substance and importance of the daily activities that we perform. The question then is, how is a person supposed to know which activities to partake in? According to Aristotle, we should fill our lives with activities that require the exercise of our reason, or intelligence. Another belief of Aristotle’s is that a person wishing to attain true happiness must first learn how to use his unique gift of intellectual thought to it’s greatest extent. The philosopher is thought to have the most pleasant life because he seeks knowledge only for the sake of knowledge; not to further himself, but only to gain more knowledge.
Substances are those things that have properties; for example, tables and persons are substances that have properties such as being round or six feet tall. Events are particular substances having particular properties at particular time. Material substances, he writes, are those that occupy space; immaterial ones do not. Events and properties may be physical or mental.
Drawing from Ph.II.3 and Metaph.I.3 Aristotle’s accounts for four specific causes of things; Modification takes place bestowing to four dissimilar kinds of cause. These causes may also be elucidated as explanations; they describe diverse ways of why the change came to be. The four causes are material cause, which explains what something is made of; formal cause, which explains the form or pattern to which a thing corresponds; efficient cause, which is what we ordinarily mean by “cause,” the original source of the change; and final cause, which is the intended purpose of the change. For example, when making a car, the material cause is the materials the car is made of, the formal cause is the engineers design, the efficient cause is the development of building it, and the final cause is to provide a form of transportation to arriving and leaving one place to another. Natural objects, such as fl...
Aristotle's Theory of the Soul in the De Anima centres on the kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, distinguished by their different operations. He holds that the soul is the form, or essence of any living thing; that it is not a distinct substance from the body that it is in; that it is the possession of soul (of a specific kind) that makes an organism an organism at all, and thus that the notion of a body without a soul, or of a soul in the wrong kind of body, is simply unintelligible. Aristotle uses his familiar matter/form distinction to answer the question “What is soul?” he says that there are three sorts of substance which are matter, form and the compound of the matter and form. Aristotle is interested in compounds that are alive. These - plants and animals - are the things that have souls. Their souls are what make them living things. Aristotle also argues that the mind is immaterial, able to exist without the body, and immortal by “Saying that something has a soul just means that it is alive”
Descartes and Spinoza appear to hold different perceptions in regard to the existence of substance. However, both scholars have some comparable perceptions of the same in some aspects. They both refer to God as the primary substance. One thing that both Spinoza and Descartes seem to agree in general is the definition of substance. According to Spinoza, a substance is nothing but a thing that subsists in a manner that it does not depend on any other thing for its survival. In the introduction of his work, Ethics, Spinoza illustrates substance as 'what it is conceived through itself and in itself'. He elaborated this to mean that a substance does not require a sense of anything else to exist, which also seem to coincide with Aristotle's interpretations of how a substance exists, that it is independent of all other things. (1).
...is shown by his state of mind. We can observe that he uses biblical stories and religion in order to guide people as well as making a satire of the present world, which seems to be mainly based on science. Furthermore, Vonnegut chooses to make Billy appear as he did, in order for the reader to sympathize with him and really understand the impact war had on him, both during where we can see that he escapes through his ‘time traveling’ and after when he is physically hurt and also treated very poorly by his family who think he has a mental illness.
Cohen, S. Marc, lecture notes on “Aristotle on Substance, Matter and Form,” University of Washington, Philosophy. December 4, 2004 http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/zeta17.htm
The pursuit for happiness has been a quest for man throughout the ages. In his ethics, Aristotle argues that happiness is the only thing that the rational man desires for its own sake, thus, making it good and natural. Although he lists three types of life for man, enjoyment, statesman, and contemplative, it is the philosopher whom is happiest of all due to his understanding and appreciation of reason. Aristotle’s version of happiness is not perceived to include wealth, honor, or trivial
Each nurse has a different story of how they entered the profession, but a common thread that binds all nurses is the intrinsic desire to care for people when they are at their most vulnerable. It is not surprising that nurses routinely make personal sacrifices in order to care for their patients. Many will argue that a servant’s heart is an occupational requirement of those in the nursing profession. However, the noble sacrifices that nurses make in providing care for their patients may result in poor patient care long-term. When nurses put self-care low on their priority list, they are mentally and physically compromised. If a nurse habitually neglects his/her own health, always putting patient needs above his/her own needs, an eventual
Aristotle refuted Plato’s idea of the forms. He felt that the forms caused neither movement nor change, nor helped to understand what is real and what is knowable. Aristotle presents the concept of substance in his work “The Categories”. He states that substance is the fusion of matter and form. Matter is that out of which the substance arises and form is that into which the matter develops. In building a table, the wood, nails, etc., are the matter. The idea of a table is the form, and the construction is the fusion, and the end result is the substance.