Aristotle

• Aristotle 


  A Greek Philosopher, taught Alexander the Great, started a famous school, studied with Plato
• Empiricism 


  the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation
• A posteriori

  knowledge gained through experience
• what are the four causes?

  material, formal, efficient, final
• Material causes

  what something is made of
• Formal cause


  the form or essence of a thing
• Efficient cause

  An agent that brings something into being
• Final cause

  The purpose of a thing
• Prime Mover


  Aristotle's concept of the ultimate cause of movement and change in the universe
• Characteristics of Prime Mover

  Eternal, immutable, perfect, transcendent, pure actuality
• Actuality


  What something is currently
• Potentiality


  The ability to be able to become something else
• Pure Actuality

  That which is. God is "pure act." God does not have any potentiality, only actuality.
• Infinite Regress

  The idea that there is no first cause in the infinite line of causes extending into the past; causes are infinitely dependent on dependent causes.
• Wholly Simple


  The idea that God cannot be divided, suffer, who is not subject to change or time. God is changeless.
• Attraction


  The idea that the Prime Mover causes motion by all things being drawn towards it.
• Weakness

  No empirical evidence for the Prime Mover. Uncaused causer is contradictory. The causal relationship between the Prime Mover and the world is unclear. Aristotle doesn't explain how 'thinking about thinking' causes anything to move
• Materialism


  Aristotle's view that knowledge comes from experience of the world around us, rather than from abstract reasoning
• Four Causes


  • Explanatory factors developed by Aristotle to help explain the nature of things
• Material Cause


  The substance out of which something is made (e.g. wood, plastic, etc.)
• Formal Cause


  The "pattern" or "shape" of a thing that makes it what it is - the concept or idea behind the thing
• Efficient Cause


  What makes the object (e.g. a carpenter for a table, parents for a person)
• Final Cause


  The purpose or goal that an object is intended to achieve
• The efficient cause


  Takes the material cause and shapes it according to the formal cause in order to achieve the final cause
• Prime Mover


  Aristotle's concept of God as the being that acts as the final cause of the universe, drawing all things to itself
• Prime Mover


  • Necessary (depends on nothing for its own existence)
  • Immaterial (has no physical form)
  • Perfect (fully actualised, cannot lack anything)
  • Eternal (always exists)
• Criticisms of Aristotle's ideas: Does the universe really have a "purpose"? Is the Prime Mover totally irrelevant? Is Aristotle right that we can only learn through our senses?
• Aristotle


  Plato's most influential student
• Aristotle took a very different course to Plato and, in doing so, started one of the fundamental debates in Philosophy
• Materialism


  The view that knowledge comes from experience of the material world around us, rather than pure logic and reason
• Aristotle was a materialist, unlike Plato
• Aristotle is often seen as the father of science (although not necessarily in the modern sense of the word)
• Four Causes


  Explanatory factors developed by Aristotle to help explain the nature of things
• Material Cause


  The substance out of which something is made (e.g. wood, metal, plastic, flesh)
• Formal Cause


  The "pattern" or "shape" of a thing that makes it what it is, the "concept" or idea behind the thing
• Efficient Cause


  What makes the object, the "creator" or producer of the object
• Final Cause


  The "purpose" or goal the object or thing is intended to achieve
• The efficient cause takes the material cause and shapes it according to the formal cause in order to achieve the final cause
• Prime Mover


  Aristotle's concept of God, the being that acts as the final cause of the universe drawing all things to itself
• Prime Mover


  • Necessary: depends on nothing for its own existence, the only purely necessary being
  • Immaterial: can have no physical form because it is unchanging
  • Perfect: fully-actualised, cannot lack anything, must be perfectly good
  • Eternal: cannot cease to exist