Nature, Society, and the Human Being: An Aristotelian View
The Essence of Nature (Physis)
The term physis refers to the essence of nature. Early Ionian philosophers, such as Anaximenes, used physis primarily to understand the origin of things. Aristotle adapted physis to explain the movement or change in natural beings, emphasizing the inherent principle within them. This principle drives the substantial movement of natural beings, aligning with the hylomorphic theory where form actualizes within matter. In essence, the cause of physis is internal, initiating the first stage of development. This concept applies especially to living beings, with Aristotle extending it to living organisms and their biological thought.
For example, humans are social and political animals by nature. This inherent nature defines human existence, emphasizing the importance of living in society. Furthermore, in the ethical realm, human nature is distinguished by reason (logos), enabling rational function and action. Therefore, fulfilling human nature, or physis, involves cultivating reason within society.
The Social Being
Only solitary beings or gods exist outside of society. Human nature is inherently social and political, requiring life within a polis (city-state). This is demonstrated by the capacity for language. Human social existence necessitates fulfilling needs and functions through rationality. Life within a community is preferable.
Autarky, or self-sufficiency, was considered by some philosophers as the supreme good. Aristotle believed true autarky is achieved not individually, but within the political community. Happiness is the ultimate goal, and while individual autarky is insufficient, true autarky resides in the polis. Humans are social beings who need relationships with family, friends, and fellow citizens. Later, with the decline of the polis, Cynics, Epicureans, and Skeptics identified autarky with individual autonomy, focusing on personal well-being rather than political involvement.
The Four Causes
Knowledge is acquired by understanding causes. Physics aims to establish the causes of natural beings, endowed with proper motion. Critics of Aristotle noted that earlier philosophers often focused on only one cause. For example, Thales focused on water, Heraclitus on fire, Anaximenes on air, and Empedocles on earth, air, fire, and water. Plato discussed two causes: formal and material, but created a divide between them. Aristotle, however, identified four causes:
- Material Cause: The matter from which something is made (e.g., flesh and blood for a human).
- Formal Cause: The form or essence of a thing (e.g., the human form, nature, or physis).
- Efficient Cause: The agent that brings something about (e.g., parents producing a child).
- Final Cause: The purpose or end goal of a thing (e.g., a social animal developing rationality).
The formal, efficient, and final causes often coincide, referencing the nature or physis of a thing, as opposed to its material.
Potentiality and Actuality
All beings have two aspects or dimensions: actuality (what something is, e.g., a tree) and potentiality (its capacity to become something it is not yet, e.g., a seed). Actuality has absolute priority over potentiality. Although a seed may seem chronologically prior to the tree, the tree precedes the seed in actuality. Actuality guides potentiality. Aristotle had a teleological conception of nature.
Aristotle understood movement as the transition from potentiality to actuality. Parmenides erred by understanding being univocally, only as being-in-action. Non-being and being-in-potentiality are different. Being-in-actuality always proceeds from being-in-potentiality. Heraclitus’ error was assuming that everything changes and nothing remains. If this were true, Aristotle argued, the world would be unintelligible. Therefore, Aristotle supposed that underlying substances exist, providing stability and order to the world.
Matter and form are analogous to potentiality and actuality. Matter is in potentiality with respect to form, while form actualizes matter, perfecting it and conferring being. Form is always in act.