Aristotle’s Philosophy: Core Concepts and Enduring Influence
Aristotle’s Enduring Philosophical Contributions
The thoughts and works of Aristotle have been a benchmark in history. His theories and arguments were a source of unquestionable authority well into the Renaissance. Aristotle was regarded as the main manifestation of knowledge, the summit of principles considered valid and unmovable.
Relationship with Predecessors: On the problem of change and the nature of movement, Aristotle engaged with Heraclitus and Parmenides, who held opposing views on reality and being. Aristotle resolved this antinomy through his theory of potentiality and actuality, and the theory of hylomorphism, which seeks a permanent element within the changing (multiplicity). Unlike Parmenides, Aristotle asserted that “being is said in many ways,” according to analogy. While Aristotle remained in Plato’s Academy until his death and was deeply influenced by him, he also differed significantly, criticizing Plato’s theory of Forms (separate ideas and things). For Aristotle, ideas are part of the same substance. Plato divided the world into two; Aristotle did not accept this, arguing that it is not possible for the essence of things to exist apart from things. Although he didn’t reject the entire theory of Forms, he differed on their separate existence. Aristotle also rejected the soul-body dichotomy, considering them parts of the same individual. He didn’t accept Plato’s tripartite soul or the immortality of the soul. Aristotle developed a different concept of virtue from Plato, but they agreed on the importance of education and the relationship between ethics and politics. Aristotelian philosophy profoundly marked Western thought, and its influence is evident in many philosophers. The term “Aristotelianism” refers to all philosophers and movements accepting the basic principles of Aristotle’s thought. Aristotle’s work is divided into several stages.
Nature (Physis)
Nature (physis) is the internal principle of motion (and rest) that occurs in natural beings. Unlike artificial beings, natural beings possess the principle of their activity, changes, and movements. All natural beings tend to achieve their own perfection. Aristotle, influenced by biology, believed that living things have a purpose that guides and directs them. This view is teleological; beings strive towards their end, or good. Being and good are complementary. Human beings are social by nature, a political animal; this is part of their social nature, not merely a necessity. Only humans have the gift of language, enabling communication with peers and the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong. Participation in these things forms a family and a state. Ethics and politics are intertwined. The individual exists prior to the party, state, and family. Happiness (eudaimonia) is the supreme good of humans, the ultimate aim to which all other actions are subordinate. It is a perfect good achieved through virtues. Virtues are the mean between two extremes, except for the highest good, happiness, which the most virtuous possess. Happiness is the perfect exercise of a person’s own activity. To be happy, we must wisely unite virtue, contemplation, and external goods.
Substance (Ousia)
Substance (ousia) is Being itself, which has independent existence. Aristotle distinguishes two types: the actual individual and the species or genus. The second type of substance is not separate from the first but exists only within it. The first is truly real. Aristotle introduces the concept of substance as becoming or developing, undergoing a process of perfection. To explain this, Aristotle holds that substance is a composite of matter (hyle) and form (morphē).
Causality
Causality is the radical principle of all things, their own nature. Scientific knowledge is knowledge of things by their causes. Aristotle distinguishes four types of causes: the material from which something changes, the formal which determines the structure of matter, the extrinsic efficient which initiates the process, and the final cause or purpose for which something changes.
Potentiality and Actuality
Potentiality and Actuality: Being is relative to something wanting to develop and fulfill its nature, which Aristotle called being in potentiality, containing the possibilities of reaching its fullness. Absolute being that has already reached its completion is called being in actuality. Aristotle explains movement as the passage from potentiality to actuality; motion is the transition from potential being to actual being.