Contributor to Every Fields of the Human Knowledge
Aristotle is the greatest philosophers, and one of the greatest polymaths in the human history. He researched on all of knowledge from today’s natural science to social science and humanities, for example biology, natural history, physics, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, logic, rhetoric, psychology and politics. And his noteworthy achievement is the inquires on the system of knowledge, being, activity and logic.
Aristotle collected and organized theories of Greek philosophy till Socrates and Plato, and give back philosophy to Presocratic natural study, also he adopted Socratic ethical thought and modified Plato’s philosophy.
Metaphysics
Aristotle was a most eminent pupil of Plato, and he criticized Plato’s philosophy and critically succeed it. Aristotle inspected the defect of Plato’s theory of forms and modified it. He turned around Plato’s idealistic view and presented his realistic view, also grasp the natural things and world. And he planned to moderate Presocratic natural philosophy and Plato’s theory of ideas.
On Plato’s theory of forms, we can’t confirm existence of the world of idea, and on the theory of forms, the connection between form and things is unclear. And the theory of forms apply only productive and artificial things (things can exist by techne), can’t apply natural things (things can exist by physis). Aristotle inquired the changes and transformations of things, also tried to construct a theory covers natural things and the nature.
Different to Plato’s idealistic and abstract theory of forms, Aristotle thought each things and existences should be grasped concretely. The four causes theory describe all ousia (independent being or substance, or subject of a sentence) are made by a combination of eidos, hyle, dynamis and entelecheia
Aristotle thought all things have aspects of eidos (form or essence) and hyle (matter, stuff or existence). Eidos is formal cause of things and hyle is material cause of things.
Plato thought a connection between a thing (matter) and an idea (eidos) is accidental and external. But Aristotle thought hyle includes eidos as a potentially. The potentiality is named dynamis (agent, potentiality and efficient). Dynamis is moving cause of things, and the state is realized by it is named entelecheia (actuality, end or purpose).
All things are understood, have dynamis and entelecheia, and are relative between them. A tree is a purpose of a seed, also is potentiality of a material wood. A material wood is an actuality of a tree, also a potentiality of a desk. A desk is an actuality of a wood, also an agent of writing or working.
By Aristotle’s view is biological, and all things are moving. All things or existences are in the teleological moving to realize potentiality is in each of things. And this moving of things is caused by the power of gods. For Aristotle, to see this moving or changing is to feel gods’ grace. So Aristotle called his metaphysics “theology”.
Ethics
Aristotle’s teleological view to the nature relates to his practical philosophy or ethics. He thinks good men can be wise and virtuous only by experiences of praxis, like the moving of things. He thought moral and ethics can’t teach for children, only adult can study them.
Ethics treats the aspect of praxis (practice or action) in which the internal function itself of beings which works and realizes. In a scene of praxis, the problem is human nature and the virtue. On the other hand, virtue is not opposite to the nature, but is not given by the nature. Men can be virtuous to perceive the nature, and to complete the human nature by habits. Ethics is a point joins the nature and techne. Virtue is a kind of habit made by the human nature, become the second nature, it means virtue is ethos (characteristics, habit) of human.
The human proper property different to other creatures and things is logos (discretion or reason). Aristotle thought happiness is realized when logos in a spirit performs on a scene of praxis.
And the supreme good state by Aristotle, is theoria (theory), the stable state such as perception, reflection or meditation to see and appreciate changing of things and praxis by logos.
Problems of Aristotlian Philosophy
Aristotle made a great achievement and contribution in philosophy, but he remained many problems on philosophy.
He organized all theories of Greek philosophy, and constructed a huge system of philosophy. But he made philosophy complexed. Philosophy after Aristotle to the modern philosophy, became interpretation and argument about Aristotle’s philosophy. Especially the medieval scholasticism solely adapted and harmonized Christian theology and Aristotle’s philosophy. The problem of universals was the argument about which is important essentia (Aristotle’s eidos) or existentia (hyle) for a long time.
Plato’s theory of ideas is a total universal monism system, can explain being, changing, moral, beauty and politics. Aristotle made a total system of philosophy and science, but he divided science and philosophy into many subjects and branches. And there are different principles is in each subjects and branches, he thought.
Also his thinking of the divide of the static principle of metaphysics and the world of theoria from the biological changeable world left many problems in philosophy.
References
Hiroyuki Ogino, Symposion of Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (NHK Publishing, 2003)
Jonathan Barnes, Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2000)
Jean-François Revel, Histoire de la philosophie occidentale (Nil Éditions, 1994)
Luc Ferry & Claude Capelier, La plus belle histoire de la philosophie (Éditions Points, 2014)
Roger-Pol Droit, Une brève histoire de la philosophie (Flammarion, 2008)
Bertrand Russell, The History of Western Philosophy (Simon & Schuster, 1972)
Nigel Warburton, A Little History of Philosophy (Yale University Press, 2011)
Roger Scruton, A Short History of Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2002)
Gen Kida, History of Anti-Philosophy (Kodansha Academic Library, 2000)
Seiji Takeda, An Introduction to Philosophy: To Know Thyself (Chikuma Arts-and-Science Library, 1993)
Shigeto Nuki, Philosophy Map (Chikuma New Books, 2004)
Sumihiko Kumano, The History of Western Philosophy: From The Ancient to The Middle Ages (Iwanami New Books, 2006)
Thierry Paquot & François Pépin, Dictionnaire Larousse de la Philosophie (Éditions Larousse, 2011)
Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition Revised), (Oxford University Press, 2008)
Robert Audi, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition), (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Thomas Mautner, The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition), (Penguin Books, 2005)
Related Posts and Pages
Note | Plato’s Theory of Ideas