Aristotle’s Philosophy: Key Concepts in Metaphysics and Ethics
Aristotle: Context and Knowledge
Athens experienced profound development after the Persian Wars. Greek hegemony continued until 431 BC when the Peloponnesian War began, which Sparta, a militarily renowned culture, would win. At the end of this war, a tyranny was established in Athens, after which democracy returned, but with a notoriously corrupt character. Aristotle studied at the Academy of Athens with Plato and was later charged by King Philip II of Macedonia with the education of his son, Alexander the Great.
The Pursuit of Knowledge
Like Plato, Aristotle believed that the greatness of man lies in his soul, in his rational capacities. Body and soul form a substantial unity and act together. Abstraction is the process by which reason separates itself from the sensible to establish ideas and rational knowledge.
The Abstraction Process:
- Observe things through the senses.
- Remember those things.
- Form an image that becomes an idea.
Scientific knowledge is a consequence of extending the process of abstraction (knowing the causes). In Aristotle, the principle of non-contradiction is paramount, from which he derived the remaining principles. These are formed through processes of induction.
Aristotle distinguishes three types of human activity:
- Theoretical Activity: Philosophical and empirical knowledge.
- Practical Activity: Logic, ethics, and politics.
- Poietic Activity: Poetry, music, and gymnastics.
Metaphysics: Exploring the Nature of Being
The commonality among entities is that, regardless of what they are, Aristotle sought to investigate the ideas and principles that apply to all types of entities, a universal science. This science did not yet exist, and he termed it “first philosophy.”
Ontology: The Study of Being
Ontology is the study or knowledge of the constitutive principles of being, that is, everything that exists. Metaphysical ontology means the same thing but adds the nuance that such principles are only perceptible by the intellect, not by the senses.
Substance is what makes each thing what it is. It is something that must be present in a body for it to remain that body. Substance is being in its first and fundamental way. Within any substance, other ways of being or principles, called “categories,” can be divided: quantity, quality, relation, place, time, action, and passion. There is no substance without categories, and no categories without a substance.
Accidents are all that may or may not be without affecting the substance. Act and potency are principles of being that explain how substances can acquire the perfection they lack. The act expresses the perfection of a being at a given time, and potency means what it can be. There is no substance without causes: efficient, formal, material, and final.
Nature is the synthesis of all the principles: the self and the specifics of a being. Essence is what a being has in common with others of its species and cannot fail to be what it is. Substance is for individual beings. The substance is always a concrete individual being. It is not an abstract concept; the substance expresses the structural aspects of being: static articulation.
Ethics: The Pursuit of Happiness and Virtue
Ethics is a reflection on the purposes that human beings should achieve. Ethical behavior contributes to achieving those purposes, while unethical behavior detracts from them. Morality refers to the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of a rule or law: it is moral to do what the rule commands and immoral not to comply.
People seek to achieve the greatest degree of happiness, that is, to achieve the perfection of rationality. Aristotle called “Virtue” such perfection of rationality. There are four rational or dianoetic virtues: science, wisdom, art, and prudence.