Aristotle Flashcards
Aristotle lived from
384 BC - 322 BC
What is Aristotle’s epistemology
Use your senses to look at the things around you
What are the 4 causes of being
- causa materialis
- causa formalis
- causa efficiens
- causa finalis
What is the causa materialis
the material cause, matter, what something is made of
What is the causa formalis
the formal cause, form, that owing to which something becomes a certain something
What is the causa efficiens
the efficient cause, that owing to which things come into existence
What is the causa finalis
the final cause, telos, that for the sake of which something exists
What is potency
the potential a substance has: a nut has the potential to become a tree, potential to fulfill its telos
What is act
the actualization of the potency: being the actual tree
What is teleology
explanation of phenomena by their purpose
What is Aristotle’s critique on Plato
- how can the essences be apart from the actual thing (participation)
- Plato is creating another world to explain this world, but he can’t explain change
- how do we get the knowledge of the things surrounding us if we turn away from them
- what about colours and relations, we can’t see only a colour or only tallness
What are (primary) substances
concrete, individual things with essential and coincidental qualities
What is the essential quality of a primary substance
essence, eidos
what is the coincidental quality of primary substance
can be left out
What is Aristotle’s ethics
everybody can be happy as long as they use reason in the right way
what does virtue is in the mean mean
use reason to not go into excess or defect
According to Aristotle you have to find balance between
rationality and emotion
What is Aristotle’s opinion on the good
there is no Form of the good, good always refers to something
what is eudaimonia
flourishing, well-being
what are the 3 parts of the soul according to Aristotle
- human part / rational part
- sensitive part
- vegetative part
what is the rational soul
the highest part of the soul, reason
what is the sensitive soul
sense perception, locomotion
what is the vegetative soul?
the lowest part of the soul, growth and nutrition, animals and plants
what is the supreme Good
happiness is the supreme good, it is an end in itself
What is the human telos
developing yourself qua human being, by using reason
