Summary of Aristotle

Alvaro Santos

Philosophy Professor

«Here I leave you a basic guide to know, in summary, the most important concepts of Aristotle, his work and legacy. A quick way to get closer to one of the most influential philosophers in history. »

Alvaro Santos

Philosophy Professor

«Here I leave you a basic guide to know, in summary, the most important concepts of Aristotle, his work and legacy. A quick way to get closer to one of the most influential philosophers in history. »

In this post we are going to talk about Aristotle, dealing with various aspects.

Biography of Aristotle

Acrossóteles was un threadósofo grayego y uno de mace importantes y leastacados pensadores de la antigüedad. Nació en Eastagira en el ado not 384 a.C. y was diskípulo de Main courseon. Thepuand de la muerte de Main courseon, Aristóteles fundó su Corkia euela, el Liceo, en Athas. Allí enseñó majordoors aproximadamente 12 años antes de trasladburned a Our preview ofiljan. Allí eribió la Mosted de his or her obras, that abarcaron somede la lógica y la threadosofed havea la biloged y la astronautomed. Its ideas tucomeon una a lot of e Influance en la cultura occidentity, y su pensamfeelo ejerció una great Influance en la threadosofed, la cienInc y la in.ítica. F ció en el ado not 322 a.C. en Calluscis.

Selected Artworks

obras mace leastacadas de Aristóteles includeduyin:

  • Ética a Nicómaco
  • La Fisica
  • Categorías
  • La Courseórica
  • Políticas
  • Withafísica
  • The Tratados de lógica
  • history welfareium

Ademace, eribió varios tratados sobre biloged, economyed, poesed y astronautomed. Su obra mace importante es probablemente la Ética a Nicómaco, una obra de moral y threadosofed ofica that abwordsa hasas ono el bien, el deber y la felicnity. Easta obra ha sido ampYo soybeing isudiada y diskutida a lo wideo de la historyia.

Legacy

Aristotle will define nature or physis as that which is endowed with its own movement. He will differentiate natural things from artificial things, saying that the former have their own internal movement and the latter, on the contrary, do not have their own movement, but rather this is given to them by an external agent. The study of nature, physis, or what is the same, beings that have movement, will be physics. When studying movement we discover that there is always a starting point and a destination point, that is, an object is in one place and happens to be in another place, occupying a new space.

Aristotle introduces the fundamental concepts of act and potency. To understand them it is better to see it with an example. We can take a seed, this is an actual seed, at the current moment, but it can become a tree, so we can affirm that it is a potential tree, because it can become a tree. In this way, power is that which things can become, but are not yet. According to the philosopher, all beings are in the process of updating themselves, of becoming an act, that is, becoming what they really are. This being so, we can affirm that nature behaves teleologically, that is, it tends towards an end.

The stagirite will make a classification of the types of change, on the one hand there are accidental changes, which are those that natural beings suffer but do not alter their essence, and on the other hand there are substantial changes, which do alter the essence of things, destroying it or generating a new one. Within accidental changes we can distinguish local changes, which are those that occur when a being moves from one place to another. Qualitative changes, which are those in which some of the fundamental properties of a being are altered. Finally, within accidental changes we find quantitative changes, which refer to changes in the dimensions or size of beings.

Philosophical thought

Acrossóteles was un penslove threadosófico importante. Su pensamfeelo se centeró en el with ocimfeelo, la naturbut byza de la partnity y la ofica. Afirmó that el with ocimfeelo se adquired a betweenvand de la experienceInc y la I observedacion, y that la partnity it wasa computhis de soustancias materiales, formas y principleios. By obelieve led, Defendió la ofica ono una forma de vida that se alcanzaba a betweenvand de la virtueud, el placer y la búsqueda de la felicnity.

hylomorphic theory

Aristotle states that all things have a substance and this is made up of matter and form. This is known as hylemorphic theory, hile (matter) – morph (form). Every being or thing will always be made up of matter and this matter must be informed. For example, a table is made of wood (matter) and a form (table form).

causality

Aristotle defends that every movement must have a cause, that is, it will be caused by something. The types of cause are: efficient, material, final and formal. The philosopher affirms that, if all movement has a cause, that is, everything that moves has to be moved by something, in this sense he will introduce the idea of ​​the first mover. That is to say, if some things are moved by others, something like the pieces of a domino that fall pushed by the previous one, in some way there must be a first original motor that is not moved by anyone, that is, it moves but is not moved, it is a first unmoved mover.

Alma

While for Plato the soul was an entity of immortal nature separate from the body, for Aristotle the body and the soul are two attributes of the same reality, the human being. The soul is the principle of life and is linked to the body, if the body dies, so does the soul. For Aristotle there is no world of ideas nor the immortality of the soul. Following this line, he will defend that the essences of things do not exist in a separate world, but rather that the essence of things is explained with the hylemorphic theory. He defends that we should not go looking for the idea of ​​good, but good men, not the idea of ​​a horse, but the specific horses that exist, in the same way we should not look for justice but just men. To know, we must not only use intelligence, but also our senses.

Ethics

Aristotle presents his ethical theory in the Nicomachean Ethics, where he addresses the question of the ultimate good toward which all beings strive. He concludes that this end is happiness. From this point, he sets out to discover what happiness consists of. He arrives at the conclusion that if beings strive toward what they are, then human happiness lies in the development of reason, which is what makes us truly human. To achieve this goal, the cultivation of virtues is necessary. Some of the principal virtues he discusses are temperance, justice, courage, and wisdom. The harmony or mean among these is achieved through prudence, which enables the development of ethical or moral virtues.

It will also talk about the intellectual or dianoetic virtues, which are those that are acquired through teaching, those of art and science. Aristotle will also tell us about justice, understood as the main ethical virtue. Through it, a fair and balanced distribution of material goods must be made (distributive justice) and on the other hand, it must be fair when applying sentences to those who commit crimes or crimes (commutative justice).

Politics

Aristotle in his work Politics stated that man is a “political animal”, a political being by nature, that is, he cannot not be political. The philosopher reviewed the different forms of government such as monarchy, tyranny, democracy, oligarchy or aristocracy. He will say of monarchy, the government of a single individual, that it is a valid system of government as long as it does not degenerate into a tyranny in which the monarch only looks out for his own interests. Of the aristocracy, the government of the best prepared is valid as long as it does not become oligarchy, that is, the government of a few only for a few. Democracy will be a good system as long as it does not become demagogy. He concluded that the best system of government is a mix of oligarchy and democracy, as long as there is an economically prosperous middle class. He will also say, as in ethics, that harmony or middle ground must be sought when governing and that neither the wealthiest nor the poorest classes should govern, in the same way, the most radical or extreme positions should not govern, either. but the prudent and moderate ones.

Influences

Aristotle's thought will have a notable influence throughout the history of philosophy, but this influence will be more evident in medieval philosophy, with thinkers such as Saint Thomas Aquinas or Averroes. The latter, of Muslim origin, introduced Aristotelian thought to Europe. Saint Thomas will adapt Aristotle's ideas to Christianity, in this way, he will associate the idea of ​​God with the idea of ​​the first unmoved mover. Su trabit skeep going siendo relevante en la presentnity, y su leged skeep going siendo fubeing de debate y de isudio.

¿Cuál was la relacion de Aristóteles with Main courseon?

Acrossóteles was un diskípulo de Main courseon. Withos compArticleían una teacherthen amisad y respectivelyeto courageuo, y Aristóteles in youró alNETWORKedor de veinte años en la Acadit's mine de Main courseon. Aunthat it wasan de acuerdo en muchos aspectos, twithiand thían algunas diferencias de opinionion. Aristóteles somearrolló su Corkia threadosofed withafisica, that se with oce ono aristotelism, y iso contrastaba with el pensamfeelo flatonico. Shipping Costs embargo, withos compArticleían el mismo amor by el with ocimfeelo y el someeo de descubrir la seedad.

¿Cuál was la relacion de Aristóteles with Socrates?

Acrossóteles was un diskípulo de Sócrfire. Aristóteles was uno de diskípulos mace leastacados, Junto with otros ono Main courseon y Xenofyesterday. Aprendió muchas de the ideas de Sócrfire y the somearrolló all with crear su Corkia threadosofed. Aristóteles twithiand was el primer mainspiration de Alejandro MagNo..

Text comment (Selectivity level)

“After this we have to consider what virtue is […] But it is necessary to say not only that it is a habit, but also what kind. It must be said, then, that every virtue perfects the condition of that of which it is a virtue and causes it to execute its operation well; For example, the excellence of the eye makes the eye and its function good […]; Likewise, the excellence of the horse makes the horse good and enables it to run, to carry the rider and face enemies. If this is so in all cases, man's virtue will also be the habit by which man becomes good and by which he executes well his proper function. How this is so in part we have already said; but it will become still clearer if we consider what is the nature of virtue. In everything continuous and divisible it is possible to take more or less or an equal quantity, and this from the point of view of the thing itself or relatively to us; and the same is a middle ground between excess and defect. I call the middle term of the thing that which is the same distance from both extremes, and this is one and the same for all; and relatively to us, to which there is neither too much nor too little, and this is neither one nor the same for all. […] Thus, every connoisseur shuns excess and defect, and seeks the middle ground and prefers it; but the middle term not of the thing, but that relative to us. […] Therefore, virtue is a middle term, since it points to the middle. Furthermore, one can be wrong in many ways […], but being right, only in
a. […]

Virtue is, therefore, a selective habit that consists of a middle term relative to us, determined by reason and by that by which the prudent man would decide.

Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, 6 (Center for Constitutional Studies, Madrid 1985, p. 25-26).

Post tags

Latest Posts

Related Post

Subjects

Subscribe to our newsletter and don't miss a thing!

The courses for the PCE 2027 exams have just started, so you don't fall behind...