Aristotle

Question 1

What is Aristole’s background?

Answer 1

He was a firm believer in empirical evidence and was a student of Plato. He taught Alexander the Great.

Question 2

What did Aristotle believe?

Answer 2

Taught that there is only one world (the world of sense experience)
Knowledge begins with the examination of the world around us.
Knowledge is entirely based on sense experience.
Bases judgment on sense perception rather than pure reason.
He rejected Plato’s idea that there are two worlds.
Believed that whatever is outside the physical world is completely irrelevant to us.

Question 3

Aristotle’s empiricism vs Plato’s dualism

Answer 3

Aristotle disagreed with Plato’s theory of forms. He said “Plato is dear to me, but dearer is truth”

Question 4

How does Aristotle gain knowledge?

Answer 4

Aristotle believed that our senses drive a desire to gain knowledge.
Aristotle uses the senses and empirical evidence in the world around him to make conclusions.

Question 5

What method does Aristotle use for identification?

Answer 5

Per genus et per differentia: through type and difference; this is the identification method that Aristotle uses.

Eg. suppose I look at a goldfish, the first thing I would use to define the creature is my sight to decide what type of animal it is- in this instance a fish (this would be the genus). Then I would compare it to other types of fish and differentiate it. Categorisation.

Question 6

How Aristotle believed we gain knowledge compared to Plato.

Answer 6

Plato believed that we gain knowledge through recollection and introspection whereas Aristotle believed that we gain knowledge through being taught and shown skills. He did not think that knowledge was innate within us and that education was simply being drawn out of the knowledge already there. He believed learning is observing and repeating what we have seen.

Question 7

What Aristotle was concerned with?

Answer 7

Aristotle was concerned with the nature of things and how they came into existence. He noted several factors that contribute to this- the materials used, the design by which they were made, and the purpose intended.

Question 8

What is Aristotle’s form

Answer 8

The form is the substance’s structure and characteristics perceived through our senses.

Question 9

what is prime matter?

Answer 9

refers to anything that lacks a distinctive form. It has matter but no form.

Question 10

What is the material cause?

Answer 10

Material Cause is the substance from which a thing is made or created.
All matter has the potential to change.

Question 12

what is the formal cause?

Answer 12

The formal cause is the characteristic of an object and is immanent (of this world).

Question 13

what is the formal cause?

Answer 13

The formal cause is the characteristic of an object and is immanent (of this world).

Question 14

what is the final cause?

Answer 14

he doctrine of the final cause, the purpose, the end. The final cause is the end of all motion within things.

Aristotle’s teleology: belief in telos, ‘aim’ or ‘purpose’.

: Aristotle understood that the purpose for which something exists to be the cause.
The purpose is essentially the fulfilment of something’s purpose (telos).
Aristotle believed that everything in nature has a purpose or end goal.
A ‘good’ human fulfils their purpose.

Question 15

The Prime Mover?

Answer 15

ARistotle believed the universe to have a purpose. He agreed with Heraclitus in saying that the world is in a state of perpetual flux; for there to be movement there must be a mover ( a cause of movement) therefore the final cause of the universe must be the prime mover.

Question 16

prime mover summarised

Answer 16

Time cannot come into being or pass away.
Time is the number of motions in respect of before or after.
Must be a mover to cause continuous motion
The mover is not just capable of being the cause for motion, it is and always will be the mover.
Therefore it is actuality.
The prime mover is immaterial
The actions of the prime mover are purely spiritual and intellectual.

The prime mover is what Aristotle views to be God, however, it is still different from the concept of God within Abrahamic religions.

God within Abrahamic religions is both transcendent and immanent, perfect, eternal and everlasting. The prime mover is not immanent, as the prime mover is a pure actuality which means that it is incapable of change. The prime mover is the cause of all motion and works as the final cause of everything; the purpose (telos) of all subsequent motion. The prime mover cannot be the efficient cause as it would then be affected by the movement and change and then not be actuality.

The prime mover causes movement by attraction.
“Action and reaction are equal and opposite.”

The prime mover must have the necessary existence due to the concept of pure actuality. It cannot depend on anything to bring about its existence and therefore cannot be removed from existence as this would mean that it has the potential to be affected by outside forces and cannot be pure actuality.

Question 17

similarities between Plato’s form of the good to Aristotle’s Prime Mover.

Answer 17

1) both are seen as explanations for why things are the way they are

2) Both are concerned with change

3)both look for certainty in an uncertain world.

4)neither the prime mover nor the form of the good is responsible for the world’s creation and neither sustains it.

Question 18

differences between Plato’s form of the good to Aristotle’s Prime Mover.

Answer 18

1) Plato was concerned with discomfort and uncertainty that change whereas Aristotle was concerned with why the change occurs.

Question 19

evaluating the prime mover

Answer 19

Aristotle’s Prime mover is what Aristotle believed to be God, this creates a problem because the prime mover is seen not to interact with the universe (has to do this for it to be considered pure actuality) and be wholly transcendent because if this is true what would be the point of prayer?

If the prime mover is God and doesn’t interact with the world then how does one explain miracles and unexplainable religious encounters? Also if Aristotle’s theories are based on empirical evidence then how is the existence of the prime mover proved f not by empirical evidence?

Question 20

weaknesses of Aristotle’s theory

Answer 20

1)The fallacy of composition: where a rhetorician groups unrelated items as being related to general attributes. Eg. all parts of the body may have a purpose, but that doesn’t mean the body has a purpose as a whole.

2)Purposes are what people place upon themselves and are not innate which means that one purpose cannot be installed for the whole of humankind.

3)Efficient cause: the notion of the efficient cause is too vague and lacks explanation meaning it cannot be informative.

4)What is the purpose of the universe? We could be here by a completely random chance.

5)One prime mover: there could be more than one prime mover just as there is more than one type of motion.

6)Religion: Aristotle believed the prime mover to be God but this clashes with the Abrahamic belief that God is immanent as the prime mover is completely transcendent/doesn’t affect its creation.

Question 21

strengths of Aristotle’s theory

Answer 21

1)Aristotle’s empirical view of the world is accessible to everyone.

2)Everything seems to have a purpose to fulfil.

3)Aristotle’s theory of motion aligned with new scientific discoveries.