Ancient Philosophers - Aristotle Flashcards
aristotle’s understanding of reality
Aristotle considered at the beginning of his Physics that we can only know something in as much detail as we can explain it.
quotation from Physics
potentiality vs actuality
marble/statue example
potency and act are distinct
quotation from Physics
“Knowledge is the object of our inquiry, and men do not think they know a thing till they have grasped the ‘why’ of it”.
- For Aristotle, the word he used for the ‘why’ of something was aition, which has been translated as ‘cause’, although explanation could also be used.
potentiality vs actuality
Aristotle draws a distinction between potentiality and actuality.
He applies this to the process of change (or motion).
Change is simply the process by which an object acquires a new form (very different from Plato’s idea of Form). The object has the potentiality to become something different, and change is the actualisation of the potential of one form of matter to become another form of matter.
marble/statue example
For example, the block of marble has the potential to become an actual statue.
The statue is latent within the block of marble – the block of marble has the capacity to become a statue.
potency and act are distinct
It is important to note that potency and act are distinct.
- The marble cannot be both a block and the statue at the same time.
- In another example a piece of wood cannot be both potentially on fire and actually on fire at the same time – so change is this movement between potential and actual.
what does Aristotle draw a distinction between
potentiality
actuality
of potentiality and actuality
potentially and actuality are distinct
an object has the potentiality to become something different
change is the actualisation of the potential of form of matter to become another form of matter
What’s the ancient Greek word for cause/explanation, used by Aristotle?
aition
aristotle’s four causes
As an object cannot be both simultaneously potential and actual, how does it move from one to the other? Aristotle says it needs an agent to move it, which he called the efficient cause.
material cause
explaining the ‘how’
beyond material/efficient causes
formal cause
formal cause - statue example
what are the four causes
efficient
material
formal
final
material cause
The agent must be in a state of actuality, not potentiality. It must exist to be a cause of change in an object.
- You need actual water to effect the change of an acorn into an oak tree.
From this, we can see how Aristotle got the first two of his causes – there must be matter, which undergoes the change from one form to another. In other words, if someone asks for an explanation of it, we can say what it is made of – e.g. the statue is made of marble. This would be then the material cause.
explaining the ‘how’
But as we have seen, this would not be a total explanation of the thing for Aristotle – he would want to know how the statue got its particular form.
This ‘how’ is what Aristotle called the efficient cause. In the case of the statue, the sculptor acted upon the stone with his chisel to make the potential statue in the marble an actual statue.
beyond material/efficient causes
Aristotle did not believe we could stop with just the material and efficient causes (the what and the how).
He believed that as the material has undergone a change of form from a potential thing to an actual thing, that part of its explanation was what the characteristics of it were.
formal cause
If we were to ask a person ‘what makes you the person you are?’ they would probably not list of the elements that compose them, such as carbon. They would probably talk about their upbringing or give a character trait, such as ‘I’m happy-go-lucky’.
So we need to add another cause to get a full explanation of a thing – we need to talk about its characteristics – eg. a chair is more than just some wood, it is an object with four legs and a space to sit. Aristotle called this the formal cause.
explanation of the final cause
This idea of a purposive cause is given by Aristotle because something’s aim or goal is also an important part of an explanation of the thing.
Aristotle gives the example of the final cause of walking, medicine, purging, surgical instruments etc. as all being for health.
For Aristotle, the aim of something can be seen as its greatest good. This is brought out in our use of language when we ask of an object ‘what is it good for?’.
formal cause - statue example
The formal cause would be its particular qualities of marble sculpted into the form of a body, head etc.
The formal cause of something is the ‘form’ of the thing – the pattern which makes it what it is.
- In the case of a building, it would be the blueprint.
This is not as easily understandable as the other causes and has been seen as slightly controversial.
But clearly, much debate surrounds the notion of a form and many agree that Aristotle’s notion is no less flawed than Plato’s.
emphasis on the telos
This emphasis on the telos (the goal of something) is a key part of Aristotle’s thought.
For Aristotle, change is the actualisation of something’s potential with respect to its potentiality. In other words, something can only become what it has in it to be.
- So a lump of wood can become a bed and a block of marble can become a statue. But a piece of iron cannot become a wombat, nor can a human become a bird.
achieving the telos
The potential of something may be latent until something else acts upon it.
But if that thing acts upon it in a directed manner and brings about its potential, then we can say the telos of something has been achieved.
modern science - efficient cause
modern science focuses on the efficient cause when explaining the physical world. In fact, the final cause is not considered
using teleological reasons
When we are talking about the human world, it makes sense to talk about why something happened in terms of a final cause. For example:
- Why did John stay in last night rather than go to Mary’s party? He wanted to avoid seeing Jane who he dislikes.
- Why did you make that cake for Peter? I wanted to cheer him up.
These are teleological reasons – they make sense in terms of what goal someone had in mind. We would not get a very good understanding of those actions if we left them out.
aristotle’s four causes
material - what something is made up
efficient - the agent that causes something to change form
formal - the ‘form’ of something (its properties)
final - the aim (telos) of something
what cause does modern science focus on when explaining the physical world?
efficient cause
what are the first three causes of a chair
formal - an object with four legs and a space to sit
efficient - carpenter
material - wood/metal/plastic
what’s the ancient Greek word for the ultimate aim of something
telos
