Free Essays on Aristotle

, substances are distinct and are composed of different common qualities. However, form is what determines the substance’s essence. Derived from these terms, Aristotle also introduced his theory of cause and effect, which if relevant to his theory of potentiality and actuality. He taught that an organism changes form until it reaches a state of actuality. The form is known from the beginning and this beginning state has potentiality. In addition, form strives to become it’s own reality or actualize it’s potentiality and the only way this can be done is by motion through the forms. The cause for things can only be described when actuality is reached. The ideas of actuality and potentiality bring to the light the notion of the Unmoved Mover, or God. This was a supreme form, which possessed actuality and hence, was without motion. Furthermore, the Unmoved Mover is immaterial because matter is in a state of potentiality and the Unmoved Mover only contains actuality. The Unmoved Mover is important to Aristotle’s theories because it is a logical explanation for the cause of the universe; it is the universal form.... Free Essays on Aristotle Free Essays on Aristotle Aristotle places great emphasis on the moral virtue of temperance in relation to the nature of states of character. In his examination to achieve true temperance Aristotle asserts, â€Å"The general account being of this nature, the account of particular cases is yet more lacking in exactness; for they don not follow under any art or precept, but the agents themselves must in each case consider what is appropriate to the occasion† (-1104a9). He believes that we achieve our own good will, but attaining the good isn’t an exact science, it isn’t precise like math or physics. However, he still attempts to arrive to a definition of true temperance. In defining true temperance Aristotle speaks about human function. He says the enjoyment of pleasure is reasonable and the abstention of pleasure as unreasonable. He says true virtue lies between Self-indulgence and abstention. Therefore, temperance represents the mean lying between excess and abstention. He doesn’t concern himself with a uniform rule, but with something all humans have in common allowing us to act accordingly. In book two of the ethics Aristotle concerns himself with three objects of choice: the noble, the useful, and the pleasant, as well as three objects of avoidance: the base, the harmful, and the painful. These objects motivate one to act or avoid any action. Most people avoid the painful and choose the pleasure, which Aristotle believes is in accordance with virtue. However, continuing to choose pleasure over pain leads to self-indulgence. Therefore, how must one attain the mean? Aristotle declares, â€Å"[to achieve virtue and temperance] that the intermediate state in all things is to be praised, but that we must incline sometimes toward the excess, sometimes toward the deficiency; for so shall we most easily hit the mean and what is right† (1109b28). I agree with Aristotle’s statement affirming that in order to reach the mean, humans must at times pu... Free Essays on Aristotle Aristotle’s ideas were derived from Plato’s view of the world and it’s relation to absolute Forms. In contrast to Plato’s beliefs, Aristotle felt that the basis of true reality can be determined by what exists in the physical world, not by an incomprehensive world of Ideas. To explain his theory, Aristotle constructed different categories to explain existence. He taught that each object in the physical world consists of a substance, which is it’s main reality and without substance an object can not exist. Furthermore, quality is solely an ingredient of each individual substance. In other words, substances are distinct and are composed of different common qualities. However, form is what determines the substance’s essence. Derived from these terms, Aristotle also introduced his theory of cause and effect, which if relevant to his theory of potentiality and actuality. He taught that an organism changes form until it reaches a state of actuality. The form is known from the beginning and this beginning state has potentiality. In addition, form strives to become it’s own reality or actualize it’s potentiality and the only way this can be done is by motion through the forms. The cause for things can only be described when actuality is reached. The ideas of actuality and potentiality bring to the light the notion of the Unmoved Mover, or God. This was a supreme form, which possessed actuality and hence, was without motion. Furthermore, the Unmoved Mover is immaterial because matter is in a state of potentiality and the Unmoved Mover only contains actuality. The Unmoved Mover is important to Aristotle’s theories because it is a logical explanation for the cause of the universe; it is the universal form.... Free Essays on Aristotle How does Aristotle’s list of virtues and vices differ from our modern conceptions of vice and virtue? Aristotle’s claim that virtue can be learned only through constant practice implies that there are no set rules we can learn and then obey. Instead, virtue consists of learning through experience what is the mean path, relative to ourselves, between the vices we may be liable to stumble into. For Aristotle, virtue is an all-or-nothing affair. We cannot pick and choose our virtues: we cannot decide that we will be courageous and temperate but choose not to be magnificent. Nor can we call people properly virtuous if they fail to exhibit all of the virtues. Though Aristotle lists a number of virtues, he sees them all as coming from the same source. A virtuous person is someone who is naturally disposed to exhibit all the virtues, and a naturally virtuous disposition exhibits all the virtues equally. Our word ethics descends from the Greek word ethos, which means more properly â€Å"character.† Aristotle’s concern in the Ethics, then, is what constitutes a good character. All the virtues spring from a unified character, so no good person can exhibit some virtues without exhibiting them all. One of the most famous aspects of the Ethics is Aristotle’s doctrine that virtue exists as a mean state between the vicious extremes of excess and deficiency. For example, the virtuous mean of courage stands between the vices of rashness and cowardice, which represent excess and deficiency respectively. So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, by that which a prudent man would use to determine it. This quotation from Book II, Chapter 6, gives us a clear expression of Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean: virtue is a mean disposition between the vicious extremes of excess and deficiency. In calling virtue a â€Å"purposive† disposition, Aristotle means that... Free Essays on Aristotle With the possible exception of Plato, Aristotle is the most influential philosopher in the history of logical thought. Logic into this century was basically Aristotelian logic. Aristotle dominated the study of the natural sciences until modern times. Aristotle, in some aspect, was the founder of biology; Charles Darwin considered him as the most important contributor to the subject. Aristotle’s Poetic, the first work of literary notice, had a string influence on the theory and practice of modern drama. Aristotle’s great influence is due to the fact that he seemed to offer a system, which although lacked in certain respects, was as a whole matchless in its extent. Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stagira in northern Greece. His father, Nicomachus, was a physician with close connections to the Macedonian court. In 367, Aristotle went to Athens to join Plato’s Academy, first as a student then, a teacher. Plato had gathered around him a group of outstanding men who shared no common belief but who were united by the exact effort to organize human knowledge on a firm theoretical basis and expand it in all directions. This effort identified Aristotle’s own work. It was also part of the Academy’s program to train young men for a political career and to provide advice to rulers. After Plato’s death, Aristotle joined the court of Hermias of Atarneus in 347, and later went to the court of Philip II of Macedonian, where he became the tutor of Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle returned to Athens to found his own school, the Lyceum. The Lyceum under Aristotle pursued a wider range of subjects than the Academy ever had. The detail study of nature became very popular among the students. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323, anti-Macedonian feeling in Athens rose, and Aristotle retried to Chalcis, where he died the following year. The natural sciences are concerned with natural objects that are characterized by the... Free Essays on Aristotle Aristotle was a philosopher who lived from 384 B.C. to 322 B.C. He spent twenty years studying and working at Plato’s Academy. Plato was an influential philosopher and scholar that made a tremendous impact on Aristotle. Many of Plato’s ideologies were presented in Aristotle’s works. Aristotle demonstrated his political views in The Politics and The Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle stated, â€Å"Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good, but if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other.† Aristotle discussed the distinction between democracy and oligarchy, and which government he desired the most. He also explored the duties and obligations of citizens to their government and vice versa. Aristotle discussed the notions of â€Å"just† and â€Å"unjust† and how laws affected them. According to Aristotle, there were three true forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and constitutional republic. The perverted forms of these were tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. The difference between the last two was not that democracy was a government of the many, and oligarchy of the few; instead, democracy was the state of the poor, and oligarchy of the rich. Aristotle preferred a monarchy, but believed that democracy was the best type of government. He favored democracy because it appeared to be safer and less susceptible to revolution. He also favored democracy because it secured the predominance of a large middle class, which was the chief basis of permanence in any state. Democracy brought society together by making people active in their government. A government was nothing without their citizens, and citizens were nothing without their government. Therefore, there were duties and obligations due to the state from it citizens, and there were ...