Lecture 3: Aristotle Flashcards
Timaeus
Natural Philosophy, origin of world and contents
- > but also goes into Athens vs Atlantis
- > how to live a good life, build good society
- > harmony through society, law
- > creation of the word by Demiurge
Pythagoreans
Seek harmony in their school; ALL IS NUMBER
- > like a math cult, secret knowledge, no beans
- > numbers perfect unlike reality
- > principle of math = principle of nature
- > good ratios = good harmony
“God made the world the way number measure”
4 = MAGIC NUMBER
->1+2+3+4 = 10, 10 is a perfect number
First mathematical proof of c^2=… by rearrangement
->not just certain whole numbers
Socrates, Origin of the world?
World built by a god (Diurge)
- > not some all powerful omnipotent god
- > one among other eternal elements (e.g. the forms)
- > doesn’t create from nothing
In the beginning, world was formless
- > void unformed matter
- > God attempted to build using forms as blueprints
- > matter fights, isn’t good enough to take the forms
- > first forms triangles, square, pentagon… then builds
5 Perfect Shapes:
- > Tetrahedron = fire (b/c pointy like fire)
- > Cube = Earth, stable
- > Icosahedron = Water, like a ball
- > Dodecahedron = Aether
- > Octahedron = Air
Everything based in trainges -> convertable!
- > disassemble and recombine
- > to make more complex forms
- > THIS IS WHAT THE DIURGE DOES TO CREATE THE WORLD
Plato’s Academy
The first real school
- > of philosophy, not guilds or religion
- > learn HOW TO STUDY the world
- > near Hecademus, a field area
- > patron god Athena
Entranceway: Let no one ignorant of math enter
->can’t learn anything without math
TRUTH VS WHAT IS IN FRONT OF US
THREE VALUES:
- > Knowledge of Universal > Particulars
- > Knowledge of Definite Structure > Vague structures
- > True Knowledge is as things IDEALLY are
E.g. Universal graviation
- > true for any two bodies
- > ideal situation you’d never see
Aristotle: History and contribution?
“THE Philosopher”, “The Father of Science”
- > studied under Plato, but more into N. Phil
- > focused more on teaching vs talking
- > Presocratics had the right idea, but lacked method
- > Father of Science b/c realised it was about figuring it all out together
Methodologist
- > wanted to share method
- > wrote treatise on Minerology, etc
Aristotle: Origin of the world?
HYLE, “prime matter”
- > unknowable, never exists without taking form
- > no voids, because matter fills everything
- > only becomes by imprinting of form
- > wax and seal
First: imprint to EWFW
- > then these are recombined into e.g. metal
- >then those ercombine e.g. house
FOR AN OBJECT TO BE SOMETHING, FOR US TO HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF IT, IT MUST HAVE MATTER + FORM
HYLOMORPHISM: matter + form
a) Parmenides: Things come from nothing!
- >hyle is eternal
b) Heraclitus: All changing
- >forms imprint and reimprint constantly
Explain why things happen a la Aristotle
To understand, you must understand all the causes.
E.g. a house:
1) Formal: qualities impressed on it = roof on top…
2) Material: matter taking on forms = bricks, mortar…
3) Efficient: Effort putting form -> matter = workers
4) Final: Purpose, why does it exist = provide shelter
Final cause = Natural Motion
- Real purpose only exists in natural world
- > artificial objects don’t actualize own motion
- > You can interfere with natural motion!
- > e.g. holding dirt, not letting it return to earth
Everything is alive.
- > life needs no explanation
- > arrow falls? physical world to be explained by natural world
- > wheras for us physics is matter in motion, the ultimate explanation for all other science. Natural world must be explained by the physical.
