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Aristotle contributions
Aristotle's influence on
Aristotle contributions
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A distinguished historian of philosophy once referred to Aristotle as “the greatest mind produced by the Greeks”. Aristotle performed some of the greatest scientific advances in the fields of biology, psychology zoology and philosophy to name a few. Aristotle’s most notable work in the philosophy was his study on logic. He almost singlehandedly created a foundation for the study of logic that is still viable to this day. While logic is the science of correct reasoning, it is not strictly limited to debate and creating arguments. His study of logic is applied to many scientific fields, one of which includes rhetoric. Rhetoric is the art of using language, whether spoken or written, to persuade others. While Aristotle did not the first to use …show more content…
It is a collection of six works where Aristotle describes his theory on logic. Logic is the science of evaluating arguments and reasoning. Aristotle believed that logic was not a science, but rather necessary in studying different branches of knowledge. Through logic, we can judge the validity of the material that is being taught. In two of his treaties, Prior Analytics and On Interpretation, Aristotle explains the most important aspect of logic, a syllogism. A syllogism is a kind of argument that uses deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion. This conclusion is based on two or more propositions that are assumed to be true. Because we can assume that the aforementioned propositions are assumed to be true, we can say that our conclusion is also true. A famous syllogistic example is “All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal.” The first two assumptions are referred to as premises while the last is called the …show more content…
His work has been the stepping stones that developed subjects such as politics, art, physics, biology, psychology, ethics and logic to name a few. He created philosophical and scientific systems that have survived intellectual revolutions such as the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment and is still valid with little change to its material. His work on logic gave man a system of reasoning. Aristotelian logic has had a great influence on Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy. Catholic philosophers such as Thomas Aquainas used Aristotle’s work to transform medieval Catholic philosophy, theology and science. . Historical figures have used rhetoric to move audiences and shape our history to the way we are in today. Both Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler appealed to their respective nation’s pathos, ethos and logos to rally their nations into World War II. Since most of Aristotle’s work has been lost through the ages, one can wonder how different the world would have been if more of his work had been
Of Aristotle’s three modes of rhetoric, Audre Lorde’s essay is comprised largely by logos complemented by pathos and the least by ethos. Ethos is obvious when she describes herself in terms of social groups, giving credibility to herself to justify her assertions. In her words, Lorde is a “forty-nine-year-old Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two, including one boy, and a member of an interracial couple.” She explains at the beginning of her essay that she has been identified as an active member of these socially taboo groups and thus has the right to demand attention to her claims. Logos is seen throughout her essay, often following a bold statement. Her arguments not only consist of reasoning but also personal experiences and real-life occurrences, such as Lorde’s question of the lacking representation of poetry by Back women and the horrifying female circumcision supported by Jomo Kenyatta in Africa. Lorde’s use of logos is very effective because it gives the reader a relatable narrative to better understand her bold conclusions. The third mode of Aristotle’s rhetoric is pathos, which Lorde uses to a slightly lesser degree than logos but just as effectively. Examples of Lorde’s use of pathos are her descriptive language, metaphors and lists.
In what follows, I shall consider Aristotle's’ argument of the polis, or the city-state, as presented in his Politics I.2, and expound on the philosophical implications of this particular thesis; namely, a thesis which claims that the city-state exists by nature, and correspondingly, that a human being is ‘by nature a political animal’. Along the way, I shall present two objections leveled against each claim. The first pertains to the invalidity of the argument on ends; specifically, I shall protest that when a thing’s process of coming to be is completed, even if we regard this as an end, this does not necessarily confer that such an end is a natural end, for artificial processes too, like natural processes, share the potential to arrive at ends. The second pertains to the ‘part-whole’ argument, which in a sense takes from the argument of function. Here, I shall discuss that it is not quite clear whether the claim that human beings - as parts of the whole - are necessarily political animals, and so the view that the state is ‘prior by nature’ is uncertain. After that, I will present two Aristotelian responses against these objections; and judge whether or not these appear succeed. I conclude that he is correct in asserting that the city-state exists by nature, and correspondingly, that a human being is a political animal.
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Concepts makes watching movies a little more interesting. I started to look to see what concepts were used. I learned different ways and different perspective of things. Without these concepts I may have never noticed some things about Charlotte’s Web that I didn’t see the first time.
Rhetoric is the use of words, through speech or writings, for the sake of persuasion and argument. The name Aristotle is known around the world. He is one of the most famous philosophers throughout history. Aristotle introduced to us the concept of the Rhetorical Triangle and three Rhetorical Appeals in order to apply structure to persuasion and argument. The Rhetorical Triangle, consists of the audience, the author, and the text, or message. Each Rhetorical Appeal corresponds to a point of the triangle. Logos, which is Greek for words, follows logic and applies to the text. The Greek word for character is ethos, it refers to credibility applies to the authority of the author to speak on the given subject.
Since his lifetime, the ideas of Aristotle have been carried on through the centuries and have remained a fixture in modern day theory. His interest in the logical, rational side of discourse remains with us today in many forms. For this reason, it can be said with little argument that "Aristotle is rhetoric." After his death, Aristotle's words were perpetuated at the Perpatetic school by his loyal followers. Unfortunately many of his ideas disappeared in Western philosophy between 500 and 1000 A.D., but were preserved by Arabic and Syrian scholars who reintroduced Aristotle to the Western world.
Plato and Aristotle are two rhetoricians than had a great impact on the history of rhetoric. Although they were similar in many ways, their use and definition of rhetoric were different. Plato had the more classical approach where he used rhetoric as a means of education to pass down his beliefs and practice of rhetoric to his students. He believed that it should be used to educate the masses, provoking thought, and thereby preserving that knowledge. Plato thought that rhetoric should be used to convey truth, truths already known to the audience, revealed through that dialectic critical thought. Plato also operated on absolute truths, things that are right or wrong, black or white. Aristotle was more modern in that he used rhetoric as a tool of persuasion in the polis. He thought that the main purpose of rhetoric was to persuade, provoking emotions for his audience as a tool of persuasion. Aristotle’s rhetoric was more science based, using enthymemes and syllogism to foster logical thinking. He believed that rhetoric was a means of discovering truth. His rhetoric was highly deliberative since he used it mainly for persuasion. I will discuss their differences in more depth in the following essay.
unable to think on the level of Aristotle's logic. He quite simply used roman history
Aristotle, a student of Plato, is known for his contributions in many fields of philosophy, ethics being one of the most prominent. He produced the first methodical and collected ethical system to be produced by an ancient Greek philosopher, found in his book the Nicomachean Ethics. This, along with the less-read Eudemian Ethics, are his ethical accounts that we have today.
Shields, Christopher. "Aristotle." Stanford University. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 25 Sept. 2008. Web. 3 May 2014. .
Aristotle. On Rhetoric. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present. 2nd ed. Ed. Trans. Patricia Bizzell & Bruce Herzberg. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2001. Book I, Chapter V. Print.
One major aspect of Plato’s argument against rhetoric is that it cannot be a skill as it has no specific dealings. In Gorgias, Socrates argues against definitions that are subject to individual thoughts and experiences and instead is seeking a universal definition. For example, when Gorgias argues that oratory is concerned with “the greatest of human concerns” (Plato 451d), Socrates retorts that the greatest of human concerns is defined differently by different individuals. Socrates uses the example that a doctor would argue that health is the greatest human concern, a trainer would argue that physical strength is the greatest human concern, and a financial expert would argue that wealth is the greatest human concern (Plato 452a-c). This same argument could again be applied to Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric.
Aristotle’s method of reasoning involved syllogisms, which are pairs of propositions that when combined gave a further explanation or connection between the pair, leading to a valid conclusion. His logic was based on “inclusion and exclusion relations” as seen in the following example provided by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
Aristotle laid out his theories involving ethics in the Nicomachean Ethics, mapping out his thoughts about virtues and guiding readers through moral dilemmas. The reader can gather a multitude of different ideas and points of view surrounding virtues and moral duties from the Nicomachean Ethics. Some of these ideas include the definition of virtue according to Aristotle, the ways that one can obtain virtue, and the relationship between vices and virtue. Aristotle views virtue as a mean.
Aristotle made contributions to logic, physics, biology, medicine, and agriculture. He redesigned most, if not all, areas of knowledge he studied. Later in life he became the “Father of logic” and was the first to develop a formalized way of reasoning. Aristotle was a greek philosopher who founded formal logic, pioneered zoology, founded his own school, and classified the various branches of philosophy.
Aristotle is one of the most important western philosophers in history that has influenced our society in many aspects. Many of Aristotle’s teachings have affected our world for many years and still continue to have such a big impact. Some of the subjects Aristotle has influenced include: logic, physics, government and poetry. Aristotle’s study of poetry mainly focused on the elements to a good tragedy. Some of his elements have been used in Greek tragedies and modern movies. The Greek play, Medea, and the modern movie, No Country for Old Men, use elements from Aristotle philosophy, while using similar and different techniques but both achieving an effective tragedy.