Aristotle’s Philosophy: Causes, Universe, and Human Nature

For Aristotle, the world is a rational entity because it is understood by reason (causally). When you know the cause of what is produced, knowledge is scientific. THEORY OF THE CAUSES. Material Cause: Immanent principle (within reality). The cause of something being made. Formal Cause: Principle: the species and its configuration. It is the model; how the species and the model cause the essence and genera. Efficient Cause: Principle: that from which change begins. The first agent is the cause of what is done. Final Cause: Principle: the end. That for which something exists; a living organism. Each part has a role and therefore must know what things are made for. MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE. Everything that happens has a cause, and when we know the relationship between cause and effect, we have scientific knowledge. Universe -> causal sequence (series). When we have a causal series, we must reach the first cause (unmoved mover) = source of all causal series. Aristotle argued that indefinite regress from mobiles to their movers was impossible. If it were indefinite (A is moved by B, B is moved by C, etc.), there would be no first mover and thus no movement. Therefore, there must be a first mover, an unmoved mover that is the source of movement. It must be stationary (unchanging) because if it moved, it would require a prior mover. It must be fully and eternally what it is, with no potential to become (without potency). It must be pure form without matter = God. But for Aristotle, it is not the creator of the world, nor does it know the world or movement. The unmoved mover is the final cause of movement. Concept of Nature. Nature = essence = principle of operations due to operational capacity. Artificial beings have no essence of their own, no nature. Genus (condition for determining the ideal order in which knowledge can include objects of experience) and Species (distinction of the individual from other individuals of the same genus). Between individuals of the same genus, there can be a way of being. Concepts: When we speak of a real being, we speak of something unique and unrepeatable. 1. Matter/Form. Matter: In itself, it is somewhat undifferentiated (not per se alone); it is related to space. It is qualified and qualitative, qualified because of its composite elements (air, earth, fire, water, and ether) that have different ways of being and moving. The space that matter occupies is not indifferent to it, nor is it qualitatively indifferent before or after time. Form: The principle of its movement, its way of being. 2. Act/Potency. Potency: The ability to receive a perception, a quality. It is the ability of movement and transformation, tied to how something is. Act: The realization of that potency (capacity). Intrinsic rates (belonging to the essence of being) and extrinsic (not essentially part of being). Not all beings have the same powers or real abilities. Potency -> cause of event. 3. Substance/Accident. Substance: The subject of what is real and is a mixture of substance and accident. Sub = not observable. Accident: A quality that is said about substance; it does not belong to its identity. 4. Essence/Existence. Essence: What is real, what tells me what a being is commonly. Principle that occurs in many different beings. Existence: The act of being, carrying out possibility. Ratio analysis. Invented the term logic. Took into account the number of individuals mentioned. Induction: Moving from the singular to the universal. Full induction -> identify all. Usual induction -> do not identify all; used to observe natural phenomena. Deduction: From the universal to the singular. THEORY OF ABSTRACTION. There are two types of mental representations. Image: Singular, material, and concrete representation. Idea: Immaterial, common representation. Two faculties: Agent Intellect: Representation: idea (abstract). Real object: no real object corresponding to the idea because it is a common representation. For Aristotle, images were a copy of reality; there was a common reality, but all were unique. 1. Compare multiple images. 2. Separate one or more attributes (essential). 3. Define—index what it is. In psychology, we present a comparison between images, but to generalize because they are similar, we attribute a common nature. Passive Intellect: Representation: image. Real object: unique being.

Mental Acts. Happiness: A state in which everything demanded by my nature has been achieved, and all that contradicts the demands of my nature (evil) does not exist. Like Plato, Aristotle believed happiness is what we want absolutely, not as a means to something better but as an end in itself. Requirements of human nature: Level 1: Preserve life. Level 2: Convey good and evil. Begin communication; the individual communicates essence. Level 3: Rational soul—need to know, perfect mind, fulfillment; need for sociability; the animal is social by nature. Language = parallel system of signs to communicate; therefore, language leads to sociability. Customs (Psychic Acts): Passions: Affections accompanied by pleasure or pain. Faculties: Those under which passions affect us (that in virtue of which we can rejoice or be sad…). Habits: That in virtue of which we behave well or badly regarding passions. Virtue: A selective habit that is a mean determined by reason, and decided upon by a wise man. It is the mean between two vices, one of excess and another of deficiency. It is about not exceeding the limit on passions and actions, while virtue finds and chooses the mean. PURPOSE OF MAN: To achieve happiness and self-sufficiency. Level 1: Individual; not self-sufficient and therefore needs to collaborate with others. Level 2: Self-sufficient family; it is not only biological origin but also meets the need for social communication. Level 3: State; self-sufficient and therefore its order is sufficient unto itself. The forms of state were the same as for Plato. GENRES OF KNOWLEDGE. Practical knowledge: To meet practical needs. Theoretical knowledge (scientific): Attempts to understand nature without seeking practical application; only contemplation of reality. Science: Knowledge of abstract entities that are essential. There is reasoning with the universal and necessary. Mental acts occur in the intellect—simple thought is expressed in a term (not qualified); intermediate in a statement that joins two or more terms; judgment, which can be true or false; complex: reasoning: linking two or more statements to reach a conclusion (valid or invalid). ORGANIC. Organ: Body part specialized in a function; organs are subordinate. Organize: Its particular good is subordinated to the state because man is not necessarily self-sufficient; it is a cluster (family, society, state). Nature does nothing in vain; if the universe is an order, it is for a purpose. DIFFERENCE between men and animals: Man is capable of right and wrong; good and evil. Language: Mental. Value: Content is symbolic constructs; quality that arises from an act of estimation; comes from man. State: Legal organization with which society organizes. Association: An assembly of living things with a common purpose. Good: What produces happiness. Comment: Currently, legitimacy stems from man’s desire for public consent; for Aristotle, it came from nature. He considered being a slave or a woman came from nature (the order of things). He took as normal what is habitual. The Stoics recognized that everyone has logos. The state must be subservient to the happiness of its inhabitants. If I consider the purpose of my life, it is an end sought in every person; for Plato, others.