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Aristotle's philosophy of nature
Aristotle philosophy of nature
Aristotle philosophy of nature
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Recommended: Aristotle's philosophy of nature
According to Aristotle, all natural things on this earth both animate and inanimate have a built in purpose. Added to that concept, he felt that nature as grand whole itself had a purpose or greater design as well. However, Aristotle that these category of things remained fixed and hence did not believe in evolution, he did speak of a grand hierarchy amongst all things on this planet. The scala naturae refers to the fact that nature is arranged in a hierarchy ranging from neutral matter to the unmoved mover, which is pure actuality and is the cause of everything in nature. Aristotle felt that the unmoved mover is what gives all objects their true purpose in life. In his works, the closer to the unmoved mover something is the purer and perfect
it is. He felt the humans were the closest to the unmoved mover than animals were and in fact, animals were at a various difference behind us. Although, Aristotle did not believe in evolution his hierarchy is the basis for the phylogenic tree. Making it possible to study lower animals to understand humans, which the basis of comparative psychology refers to the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior.
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.
Before beginning to understand how Aristotle is applicable, his viewpoint must be examined, such as his version of voluntary action. As he says in Book III of Nichomachean Ethics “…the terms ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ are used with reference to the moment of action…because the initiative in moving the parts of the body which act as instruments rests with the agent himself” (p.53). So, a voluntary action is one about which we have power. Such as, what to eat in the morning, brushing teeth or even life altering decisions about jobs and marriage. Most of our everyday actions are voluntary, since we do not often act outside our realm of power.
ABSTRACT: The ancient commentaries on Aristotle's Peri Hermeneias (De Interpretatione) give us important elements to understand more clearly some difficult passages of this treatise. In the case of the indefinite names and verbs (i.e. 'not-man', and 'does not recover', respectively), these commentaries reveal a doctrine which explains not only the nature of the indefinites, but also why Aristotle introduces these kinds of term in Peri Hermeneias. The coherence and explanatory capacity of this doctrine is entirely absent in modern exegesis of Peri Hermeneias. This fact has important implications: it can make us to think whether there will be another topics in which the ancient commentators are still indispensable to understand Aristotle. It can also make us to think to what extent a profounder reflection of the ancient commentators can modify our idea of Aristotle and the ancient world.
something made for a specific purpose) or from nature has a specific ergon, or function. For example, the function of a lamp is to provide light, and for a plant to live. So, a good lamp, would be one that provides light well. Something is considered good, then, by how well it performs its function. But who is to say that, like plants, living is not a human function as well? Aristotle addresses this issue. He claims that if humans are different from, say, plants, then they must also have a differing function from plants. If deities are purely rational beings and animals are driven by instinct and emotion, humans share both these things and land in between the two. This makes humans distinct from other beings. Aristotle recognizes these shared traits and names the human soul in two parts: the non-rational, and the rational, which performs a “special function” (N.E. 1.7 1097a35) unique from plants and animals. The rational side of the soul – one that expresses reason which distinguishes humans from animals – is deemed higher than the non-rational. So, the human function is to express reason. More importantly, humans must express reason well, which involves managing the non-rational side. Aristotle states that, “For in the continent and the incontinent person we praise their reason, i.e. the of the soul that has reason, because it exhorts them correctly and towards what is best;
Rather, Aristotle attempts to tackle some of the most fundamental questions of human experience, and at the crux of this inquiry is his argument for the existence of an unmoved mover. For Aristotle, all things are caused to move by other things, but the unreasonableness of this going on ad infinitum means that there must eventually be an ultimate mover who is himself unmoved. Not only does he put forth this argument successfully, but he also implies why it must hold true for anyone who believes in the ability to find truth through philosophy. Book XII of the Metaphysics opens with a clear statement of its goal in the first line of Chapter One: to explore substances as well as their causes and principles. With this idea in mind, Chapter One delineates the three different kinds of substances: eternal, sensible substances; perishable, sensible substances; and immovable substances.
Aristotle’s theory of natural law, discussed in Niocmachean Ethics, is mainly teleological because he focuses on the end of all our actions, and how they should lean to happiness. He believed that there were four causes to every object in the world including humans. These were the, material cause – out of what the object was composed of, the efficient cause – what is recognized as being part of the object, the formal cause – the purpose, end, goal or aim of the object. For example, the material cause of a spoon would be metal, the efficient cause would be its shape and structure, the formal cause would be a factory and the final cause would be to use for eating. For Aristotle, the final cause was the most important for humans because it focuses...
Science has now proven that there are indeed other animals capable of reason, such as apes and dolphins. The extent to which these beings can reason, however, has yet to be seen. In conclusion, it remains that, even after being around for over 2000 years, Aristotle’s philosophy on human nature remains one of the most accurate questions to the eternal question of “what is human nature?” It may not, in the end, prove to be the correct answer to the question, in fact, it may very well be possible that there is no definite answer possible. But until scholars and students in programs such as ours can find a suitable replacement, his analysis will remain superior to all others.
Aristotle’s influence on the Renaissance was immense, and between 1500 and 1650, 6,653 commentaries on his works were produced (Blum, 2010). Aristotle postulated that the requisites for an entity to be natural were that they possessed motion in the sense that they changed in place (e.g. earth falls, fire rises), they grew and decreased (e.g. a seedling turns into a tree), and they underwent alteration (e.g. a caterpillar turns into a butterfly) (Aristotle & Barnes, 1987). This motion, expressed through any of the aforementioned types, was essential to an object’s being. Generally speaking, the origin of this motion can be attributed to the divine spark, existent in every natural being, that instills them with their sense of purpose and self. Since the divine spark connected all natural beings, all natural beings were inherently related. Aristotle’s conclusion from this was that all natural beings, thus interconnected, all possess a dignity that human beings are morally obligated to
Aristotle believes that before the concept of time there were three kinds of substances, two of them being physical and one being the unmovable. The three substances can be described as one being the “sensible eternal”, the second being the “sensible perishable” and the third substance being the immovable. To further this theory the sensible perishable can be seen as matter, the sensible eternal as potential, and the immovable can be seen as that which is Metaphysical and belongs to another science. According to Aristotle, the immovable is God. It is the immovable that sets the sensible perishable into motion and therefore turns the potential into the actual.
John Scotus Eriugena was one of the first metaphysical philosopher of the middle ages and his philosophical intention was to understand and categorize all of reality. First, Eriugena divided nature into two classifications: “Things that are” and “Things that are not”. His inspiration came from non-other than the “platonic supposition that there is a hierarchy of being.” (Page 121) The “Things that
Courageous and admirable with noble qualities defines a heroine. In Aristotle’s Poetics he describes a tragic hero as a character who is larger than life and through fate and a flaw they destroy themselves. Additionally, Aristotle states excessive pride is the hubris of a tragic hero. The hero is very self-involved; they are blind to their surroundings and commit a tragic action. A tragedy describes a story that evokes sadness and awe, something larger than life. Furthermore, a tragedy of a play results in the destruction of a hero, evoking catharsis and feelings of pity and fear among the audience. Aristotle states, "It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation." (18) For a tragedy to arouse fear, the audience believes similar fate might happen to them and the sight of the suffering of others arouses pity. A tragedy's plot includes peripeteia, anagnorisis, hamartia and catharsis. Using Aristotle’s criteria, both characters in Oedipus The King and The Medea share similar qualities that define a tragic hero such as being of noble birth, having excessive pride, and making poor choices. They both gain recognition through their downfall and the audience feels pity and fear.
Aristotle’s thoughts on ethics conclude that all humans must have a purpose in life in order to be happy. I believe that some of the basics of his ideas still hold true today. This essay points out some of those ideas.
All western philosophers lend their intellectual origin to Aristotle. Being an intellectual maverick, Aristotle pioneered many fields ranging from logic to biology to politics. And in working with natural philosophy, Aristotle defined four separate type of causes: material, formal, efficient, and final cause. Interestingly, causation in this case refers to how things came to be (in other words, the causes explain how the objects exist.) Thus, in this context, causation is not limited to an event; it can also be applied to both physical and metaphysical objects in this context. This essay shall discuss the definition of these causes along with their relation to the concept of hylomorphism, the duality of
There is one thing which all existing things have in common. It is the something particular to each natural body which, imparts to it an independent existence, is cause of its existence, and it determines individuality. For example, when you talk of being healthy, there must be something which is the subject of health. Movement requires something which can be moved. Life is the function of something which is able to have life. Life, motion, or quality cannot exist apart from this something which, Aristotle calls this ousia, or primary being.
Aristotle, a name well known even now like the gods of ancient Greece such as Zeus and Poseidon, his name is well known because of the questions he asked and the way he viewed the world that would make those of a simple mind scratch their heads. People whom do not question anything think he is insane and by right he may have been a little mad, but we as humans are all a little off kilt. As this you can look at the views of Aristotle and if you are not one of a simple mind and can look at it in a critical thinking way, you can analyze his views to see if you agree or disagree that in fact he thinks that all things in this world are physical, and that everything has a purpose. Aristotle is correct in the case that all things are physical, because are matter, he also does not bring religion into his statement, yet does not discredit an artisan; he also states that all things do in fact have a purpose, and are something believable.