ARISTOTLE (384 to 322 BC)

CONTENTS

An Overview of His Ideas

Aristotle's Departure from His Teacher Plato

Aristotle's Cosmology and Theology

Aristotle's Ethics

Links to Aristotle's Writings--and More Information

Aristotle went in a direction opposite that of his teacher, Plato. While Plato focused his attentions on the mysterious world of the perfect Forms, Aristotle focused his attentions on the messier visible world immediately around him. Aristotle was greatly fascinated by this empirical or physical world. He was looking for Plato's Forms contained within this visible world.

But Aristotle eventually surmised that these Forms were merely abstractions in our mind which we use to categorize the immense information that comes to us about the surrounding world. The Forms, though useful to human logic, were themselves only mental constructs. They had no separate existence like gods or defining spirits (as Plato had asserted).

However, when it came to discussion of things beyond this earthly realm--the heavenly realm of the the sun, moon and stars--Ariostotle evidenced a religious awe. Though the earth might be marked with physical imperfections, these heavenly bodies were the essence of the divine, for they were perfect--perfect in their circular shape and circular movement.  Thus for Aristotle the perfect-imperfect dualism in life occured not between things seen and unseen (as it had for Plato), but between the imperfect things seen on earth and the perfect things seen in the heavens.

Thus even in his religion, Aristotle remained focused on the visible universe around him.

A. Aristotle's "Categories"

Like his teacher, Plato, Aristotle distinguished between Universals and Particulars. But unlike Plato, Aristotle believed that only Particulars have actual existence. Only the Particulars (in the heavens and on earth) are truly real.

To Aristotle, the Universals or Ideas and Forms of his teacher Plato exist not of their own (as distinct entities in heaven!) but rather are contained within a group of particular things nominally common to each other: "Categories."

"Red," for instance, is a category. Red exists within particular things and gives those things part of their defining quality--as for instance in red roosters. But "red" has no meaningful existence in itself apart from its place within particulars. There is no such thing within existence (even in the heavens) we can identify as a "Red."

B. Aristotle's Empiricism

Also unlike his teacher, Aristotle was very focused on the things of the earth, its "Particulars." He had what we would call a very strong empirical mindset--which delighted in discovering new shapes and forms in the world around him. He busily observed at every opportunity all physical reality around him. His goal was to develop categorical knowledge of all the world (grouping all reality into different scientific categories)--then employ inductive reasoning from such categorical observations to develop universal observations about life

Indeed, Aristotle followed his own pupil, Alexander (the Great), on his trail of conquest--in order to gather biological and geological specimens--samples of things that he had never seen before back in Greece (or his native Thrace).

Aristotle was a great organizer of the world's particulars, setting up categories and rules for orderly thinking--not only in biology and geology, but also in logic, ethics, and politics.

A. The Nature of God

To Aristotle, God was the "Supreme Form" or "Idea" that his teacher Plato was so focused on. This God or Supreme Form was not some person wandering about on the top of Mount Olympus (the view of the Greek commoner)--but rather was "pure intellect" (Greek: Nous)--perfectly and "fully realized potential."

God himself was uncreated, eternal and unchangeable: that is, "perfect" in his being (the opposite of those things that were created, mortal and changeable--and thus "imperfect")--again, just as his teacher Plato had taught.

B. Creation and Its Guiding Sense of Purpose

God put creation into motion through desiring or thinking things into being and then drawing all things toward himself as an object of "existential desire."

In other words, it is the instinctive or natural desire of all things to be drawn--in their doings, in their sense of purpose, in their sense of self-worth--to God. In particular they instinctively are drawn to the divine design for their particular lives that God himself holds for them within his own divine thoughts.

Thus the "sensible" world (the world we see directly around us)--though imperfect in form--is moving toward God (pure form) by its attraction for or love of God. This world thus is ever-perfecting according to its particular nature--as God himself intended for it.

The human intellect (nous) is mysteriously connected with the divine intellect (Nous). This is what gives man his powers of inspiration, insight, imagination--his abilities to understand or to grasp the realities (actualities/potentialities) around him.

Man's noblest impulse is to be drawn to God--to be joined: human nous to the divine Nous.

C. Cosmology

The Cosmos (universe) is eternal in its being--and thus uncreated (though the earth we live on is "created" and thus not eternal). Time itself is uncreated--it has always existed.

Likewise, the heavens above (the sky, stars, sun and moon) are distinctly of a different nature from the things of earth [a view held by Plato, and most other philosophers of the time]. Things on the earth are subject to decay--as elements decay (fire, air, water, earth). But things above the earth are perfect (even in their shape) and of a higher order (ether)--divine (like gods).

The planets rank close to the heavens in nature, being perfect in nature and motion. Each planet is governed by a divine mover of its own along its perfect heavenly course.

The heavenlies are moved in their perfect courses by the Will of the Unmoved Mover. The Unmoved Mover or Divine First Cause is, however, not the same as God. The Unmoved Mover is a creation of God (thus a lesser order than pure God) which also seeks God!

The earth is the center of the universe.  Here on earth heavier matter has fallen and intermixed to form the common elements of our world. But this mixture includes not only the "things" of our world but also their "doings." The heavens regulate the intermix and thus the events of the earth.

Within the universe there are three kinds of substance: 1) that which is sensible and perishible (plants and animals), 2) that which is sensible but not perishible (heavenly bodies), and 3) that which is neither sensible nor perishable (the rational soul in man and in God)--and is thus "eternal."

D. Death and the After-Life.

Does the soul survive death?  Aristotle thought probably not.  But Aristotle also sometimes distinguished soul and mind--implying that the mind might be immortal--though not necessarily personally immortal--but only immortal in the sense of sharing immortal thoughts with God.  Thus while the individual person might perish, the thoughts of that person would finally achieve union with God at death--and thus in a sense achieve immortality.

To Aristotle all things had each a unique "Form" which gave it its distinct existence as a particular entity. Further, its Form also defined for something its unique and all-important purpose in existence.

Thus a Human Form (or soul) gave human potential its existence as a particular person: that what forms such a person as an individual.

Yet it also formed the particular instincts of this person to move forward toward some sense of personal "potential," or not-yet-realized existence. To Aristotle, all life was a process of moving toward one's potential--a life-giving struggle to realize one's full potential.

Thus the value of something and its ethical obligation to behave in a particular way was "relative" (as we would see it today). Something's or someone's "moral obligation" related to its particular purpose in existence. To Aristotle, there were no universal moral prescriptions!

The "goodness"or morality of someone or something could be measured only in terms of its progress toward its particular potential (its virtue). To apply the standards used in measuring the performance of a horse to that of a man made no sense.

But it also made no sense to Aristotle to apply the standards of "moral" performance of a soldier to the performance of a peasant farmer. They each possessed quite different "potential" in life and thus required being measured by quite different moral standards.

  Like his teacher (Plato), Aristotle was a prolific writer. Some of his writings that we have today are:

The Athenian Constitution (MIT)
Eud emian Ethics (Perseus)
Categories (MIT)
History of Animals (MIT)
Metaphysics (MIT)
Meteorology (MIT)
Nicomachean Ethics (MIT)
On the Heavens (MIT)
On the Soul (MIT)
Physics (MIT)
Poetics (MIT)
Politics (MIT)
Posterior Analytics (MIT)
Prior Analytics (MIT)
Prophesying by Dreams (MIT)
Rhetoric (MIT)
Topics (MIT)
Virtues and Vices (MIT)

Links to more information on Aristotle:

Aristotle (Perseus Encyclopedia)
Aristotle (Glass Bead)

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