Introducing Aristotle E-Book

Rupert Woodfin

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Graphic Guides
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 114

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

"Introducing Aristotle" guides the reader through an explosion of theories, from the establishment of systematic logic to the earliest rules of science. Aristotle's authority extended beyond his own lifetime to influence fundamentally Islamic philosophy and medieval scholasticism. For fifteen centuries, he remained the paradigm of knowledge itself. But can Aristotelian realism still be used to underpin our conception of the world today?

Leseprobe

Published by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP Email: [email protected]

ISBN: 978-184831-986-8

Text copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd

Illustrations copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd

The author and illustrator has asserted their moral rights

Originating editor: Richard Appignanesi

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

A Universal Mind

Aristotle’s Family Background

Education in Athens

The Symposium

Aristotle and Plato

Murky Affairs

Aristotle’s Partners

Gone Fishing

Alexander the Great

The Return to Athens

Aristotle Founds the Lyceum

The Peripatetics

“Sinning Twice”

Evidence of a True Story

The End

A Good Man

His Writings

Lecture Notes

History of Aristotle’s Works

The Arab Connection

The Works

Realist and Relativists

The Eleatic View of Monism

Achilles and the Tortoise

Time and the Arrow

Plato’s Ideal Forms

Ultimate Reality

Empiricism: the Basis of Science

The Middle Way

Definitions and Descriptions

Ontology: the Essential Quality

What is “Is”?

Existence: the Problem of Being

Genus and Species

Thisness

Thisness Is Not An Illusion

The Categories

Aristotle and My Cat

Are the Categories Real?

Science and the Categories

Individual Substances

Universals

The Kinds of Change

Form and Matter

Teleology: Arguing from Design or Purpose

Ancient and Modern Reductionism

Aritotle’s View of Cause

The Nature of Change

Aition or “Type of Explanation”

The Four Causes

Aristotle’s Explanation of Change

The Problem of Purpose

Emergent Features

Natural Things and Artefacts

The Problem of Form

The Metaphysical Solution

Basic Species

The Potential and the Actual

What is Logic?

Logic and Doing Science

A Satisfying Conclusion

Deductive Interference

The Truth of Pythagoras’ Theorem

The Syllogism or Valid Deduction

Higher-level Syllogisms

Rules of Thought

The Two Principles

Induction

The Dialectic

The Agon

Primary Propositions

The Problem of “Noun”

The Great Chain of Being

Determinism

How “Empirical” was Aristotle?

Assumptions and Misconceptions

Aristotle’s Science

Position and Motion

A Theory of the Universe

Incorrect Dynamics

The Cosmos

An Odd Mixture

Psychology

Consciousness: a Product of History

Mind and Body

The Capacities of the Soul

The Brain

The Objects of Sensation

Imagination and Memory

Transformation into Universals

Active and Passive Reason

The Ethics

A Flourishing Life

Eudaimonia

Is Pleasure a Good?

Contemplation Is Happiness

The Influence of Emotions on Reason

The Virtue of the Soul

The Doctrine of the Mean

Generosity and the Average

The Role of the State

Good Advice

Virtue Ethics Today

The Politics

Politics and Ethics

The Family as Political Economy

The Purpose of the City State

The Economy of Slavery

What is the Best Constitution?

Rule by One or Few …

Rule by a Middle Class

The Politics of Education

Politics, Education and Art

Plato’s Condemnation of Art

Aritotle’s Poetics

Techne and Mimesis

Higher Than History

Tragedy and Katharsis

Aritotle’s Unities

The Uses of Rhetoric

The Legacy of Aristotle

Aristotle and Islamic Science

Before Europe

Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas

The Decline of Aristotellanism

Is Aristotle “Scientific”?

Descartes’ Doubt

Does Empiricism Eliminate Doubt?

Hume’s Scepticism

Kant’s Theory of Knowledge

The Importance of Aristotle Today

Further Reading

Acknowledgements

Index

A Universal Mind

The Master of those who know.Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), poet of The Divine Comedy

Aristotle has been described as the most intelligent person who ever lived. He had an impact on human culture, understanding and knowledge that is difficult to match. Many of the ways in which we think can be traced back to him and his work, all too often unacknowledged today. In particular, the rational, scientific and technological culture that pervades much of the Western world owes more to him than to anyone else. He also made major contributions to the development of ethics, psychology, biology, politics and our appreciation of literature.

Aristotle’s Family Background

From a distance of two and a half thousand years, Aristotle remains a shadowy figure.

I WAS BORN IN THE SMALL TOWN OF STAGIRA, A GREEK COLONY IN THRACE, IN 384 BC. MY FATHER WAS NICOMACHUS, THE COURT DOCTOR TO KING AMYNTAS OF MACEDONIA.

It may be that the family had acted in this role for some generations of Macedonian Kings. The medical background is also significant. Medicine, even then, would have depended on acute observation, and this characterizes all of Aristotle’s work.

It is not known whether Aristotle practised medicine during his lifetime, but he did say later, rather pompously …

A MAN IS ADEQUATELY EDUCATED IF HE KNOWS THE THEORY OF MEDICINE BUT DOES NOT HAVE THE PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE.

He probably had a prosperous childhood, in a comfortable rather than magnificent court, where a high priority was put on combining theoretical wisdom with pragmatic action.

Education in Athens

Aristotle lost both his parents while still a youth and passed into the care of Proxenus, who was probably a relative of his father. His intelligence must have been evident, because at seventeen he was sent to complete his education in Athens. The Thracian scholars must have become exasperated with a brilliant pupil for whom they could do nothing more. Shortly after he arrived in Athens, he joined Plato’s Academy.

Plato’s reputation attracted students and scholars from all over the eastern Mediterranean, as well as the sons of prosperous and powerful Athenians.

PLATO (c. 428-347 BC) WAS ALREADY FAMOUS FOR HIS OWN PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS AND HIS ACCOUNTS OF SOCRATES (470-399 BC).

The Symposium

Plato encouraged penetrating discussions of obscure and difficult topics, but also taught the youth of Athens as a preparation for their adult life.

PARTICIPATION IN CIVIC AFFAIRS IS A DUTY FOR CITIZENS OF ATHENS. SOME TRAINING IN POLITICS AND ETHICS IS NEEDED. DINNERS IN ATHENS, WHERE STUDENTS AND OTHERS DISCUSS PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES, ARE CALLED SYMPOSIA.

A symposium could be sublimely intellectual or downright orgiastic. We should not, however, be thinking about the Academy in terms of examinations or qualifications. It sounds like the ideal life, and Aristotle’s later writings seem to indicate that he thought so.

Aristotle and Plato

Aristotle stayed for about twenty years in Plato’s Academy and must have become a very senior member. We know frustratingly little about the relationship between the two most significant philosophers in the greatest philosophical period of Western history. The intellectual legacies of Plato and Aristotle are sharply divergent, but this divergence may have taken place after Aristotle left the Academy. On the other hand, he may have, with the arrogance of youth, opposed Plato’s ideas from the start.

PLATO CALLED HIM “THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE SCHOOL”. I ALSO SAID THAT ARISTOTLE NEEDED “A BRIDLE RATHER THAN A SPUR”. AND I REFERRED TO PLATO’S ACADEMY AS “OUR FRIENDS”.

So it is safe to assume that the relationship might have been acrimonious from time to time, but was not bitter. Isocrates (436–338 BC) had a rival school to the Academy. Aristotle wrote and spoke on the opposing Academy “team”.

Murky Affairs

Plato died in 347 BC and Aristotle left the school. We don’t know why, but we can guess at some possibilities. Maybe it was because the Academy was putting too much emphasis on mathematics and pure theory and not enough on the practical sciences that interested Aristotle. The school passed into the hands of Plato’s nephew, Speusippus, who was not distinguished.

ARISTOTLE MAY HAVE THOUGHT THAT HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN APPOINTED SUCCESSOR. BUT THERE COULD ALSO HAVE BEEN A POLITICAL FACTOR INVOLVED.

Athens and Macedon were not on the best of terms because Philip of Macedon, Amyntas’ successor, had recently sacked another Greek city. Aristotle might have been seen to be too pro-Macedonian. It may also have been the case that ownership of a school was possible only for citizens, and Aristotle was never an Athenian citizen.

Aristotle’s Partners

Aristotle was away for twelve years. He went first to Atarneus, on the coast of Asia Minor, the other side of the Aegean Sea. The local ruler, or “tyrant” as they were called, was Hermias, who seems to have had some links with the Academy and who had fostered a small academic community under his protection. Hermias provided Aristotle and a friend, Xenocrates, who had gone with him with all that they needed.

Aristotle married Hermias’ niece, Pythias, who bore him a daughter. They might have been in love.

In The Politics, which he may well have written at this time, he says that the ideal age for a man to marry was thirty-seven, and for a woman, eighteen. Since he was thirty-seven at the time, we may guess that Pythias was eighteen. He also strongly, and rather oddly, condemned adultery, calling it “disgraceful”.

THIS INCLUDED THE SMALL TOWN OF ASSOS TO LIVE IN. WE WERE ABLE TO SPEND TIME IN TALKING, CONTEMPLATING AND PHILOSOPHISING. GREEK MARRIAGES WERE NORMALLY OF CONVENIENCE, FOR ESTABLISHING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LINKS AND FOR PRODUCING HEIRS. IT WOULD BE CUSTOMARY FOR A MAN IN ARISTOTLE’S POSITION TO FIND SEXUAL SATISFACTION IN PROSTITUTES, CONCUBINES OR HETAIRAE … … WHO WERE RATHER LIKE JAPANESE GEISHAS.

Sadly, Pythias died. Aristotle later took another partner, called Herpyllis, who bore him a son, Nicomachus, who gave his name to The Nicomachean Ethics. We don’t know whether they married. Aristotle died before Herpyllis. He was kind to her in his will, which remains. She was to be given away well, if she chose to re-marry.

I RECEIVED MONEY IN THE FORM OF SILVER, FIVE SERVANTS AND PROPERTY IN EITHER CHALCIS OR STAGIRA.

However, in a reminder that these were also brutal times, the city state of Atarneus was captured by the Persians in 341 BC and Hermias was tortured to death.

Gone Fishing

Just before this, Aristotle had moved away from Assos to the island of Lesbos and lived in the main city of Mytilene. There he met Theophrastus, who had been born on the island, and again set up a philosophical group similar to that at Assos.

I BECAME HIS MOST FAMOUS PUPIL. MY INTEREST NOW FOCUSED ON BIOLOGY.

He spent much of his time in and around a large sea lagoon that was mostly surrounded by land, an ideal place for specimens. Much of his work shows a keen appreciation of how living things work. His main method of explaining how things change, teleology, can be seen as having its origins in this giant rockpool.

Alexander the Great

In 343 BC came the invitation that history remembers. Philip of Macedon asked Aristotle to act as tutor to his thirteen year old son Alexander, who went on to conquer most of the known world during his short lifetime.

AS WITH PLATO, WE CAN BE SURE OF LITTLE OR NOTHING ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE GREATEST MIND OF HIS TIME AND THE BOY WHO WAS TO BE THE GREATEST POWER. ARISTOTLE’S EXISTING POLITICAL WRITINGS BETRAY NO PARTICULAR INTEREST IN THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE.

There is nothing in Alexander’s bloody career for which we can hold Aristotle responsible. Perhaps the most striking feature of the whole relationship was what little impact each had on the other.

Philip would have wanted the very best tutor for his son, and the existing family ties from their fathers’ days must have pointed unmistakably at Aristotle. Perhaps Aristotle tried to combine the classical virtues of the heroes of Homer’s Iliad with the most recent thinking on ethics and politics. He was convinced of the superiority of the Greeks.

I REGARD ALL NON-GREEKS AS BARBARIANS … WOULD THIS VIEW – TYPICAL OF ALL GREEKS – HAVE ENCOURAGED ME TO CONQUER AND DOMINATE THEM?

This seems to have been only partly effective. Alexander chose a Persian wife and strongly encouraged intermarriage among his troops. Aristotle would certainly have disapproved of this. Alexander may also have arranged to have animals and plants sent back to Aristotle from the conquered lands.

The Return to Athens

Philip was killed in 346 BC and Alexander had no more time for school. Aristotle stayed in Stagira for a while and then left northern Greece the next year to return to Athens. Although his association with Alexander gave him security and prosperity in Athens, the relationship may have ended on a sour note. Aristotle’s nephew, Callisthenes, had been appointed as the official historian of the conquests. Alexander, becoming increasingly paranoid, charged him with treason.

I INCARCERATED HIM IN A TRAVELLING CAGE AND THEN EXECUTED HIM.

It is possible that Alexander also contemplated a similar fate for Aristotle as a relative of Callisthenes, but, fortunately, nothing came of it.

Aristotle Founds the Lyceum

Aristotle was almost fifty years old when he returned to Athens, a mature and respected philosopher. The leadership of the Academy was again vacant at this time, following the death of Speusippus, but Aristotle was not appointed. He seems not to have been prepared to work under his old colleague Xenocrates, and opened his own school, the Lyceum.

IT WAS SITUATED JUST OUTSIDE ATHENS NEXT TO THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO LYCEUS, AN AREA WHICH WAS A HAUNT OF PHILOSOPHERS EVEN BEFORE THIS. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS OF THE LYCEUM HAVE RECENTLY BEEN DISCOVERED UNDER THE STREETS OF MODERN ATHENS.

The Peripatetics

It was here, at the Lyceum, that Aristotle lived and worked for the next twelve years, overseeing the work of scholars and researchers and providing teaching. He taught in the covered walkway of the building, called the peripatos in Greek.

FROM THIS, MY COLLEAGUES, STUDENTS AND I BECAME KNOWN AS THE PERIPATETICS – THE WALKERS.

The school had a very wide range of interests, but tended to specialize in history and biology.

“Sinning Twice”

In 323 BC, Alexander the Great died. The Macedonian Empire, which Alexander held together, began to disintegrate. The Athenians seized the opportunity and tried to break free of Macedon. Aristotle was in danger. His Macedonian links were well-known and he was a friend of the Macedonian Regent of Athens. A trumped up charge of impiety (disrespect for the Gods) was brought against him, as it had before against Socrates. He left Athens.

I SHALL DENY THE ATHENIANS THE OPPORTUNITY OF SINNING TWICE AGAINST PHILOSOPHY.