Aristotle

• Aristotle


  Ancient Greek philosopher
• Moved to Athens and joined Plato's Academy


  Age 17
• Moved to Turkey due to political tensions between Macedonia and Athens


  347 BCE
• Time in Turkey


  Investigating science and particularly biology
• Moved with family back to Macedonia to become tutor to King Philip II of Macedonia's son Alexander


  341 BCE
• Alexander became king


  Aristotle returned to Athens and founded a school called the Lyceum
• Aristotle remained in Athens teaching until Alexander the Great died


  323 BCE
• After Alexander's death


  It became difficult for Aristotle to stay in Athens as he was still perceived as a Macedonian
• Where he died a year later

  Aristotle and his family moved to Chalcis
• Aristotle was truly a remarkable person. He tutored students on most traditional subjects that continue to be taught

  at universities today. He was fascinated with understanding the physical world around him and the universe. Most

  scholars agree that only around a third of his books survive today, however those that do are remarkable. His

  biology books ere not superseded by anything better until 2000 years later. His other works include drama, rhetoric,

  meteorology, sport and physics.
• Aristotle was Plato’s student and continued to study many of the areas that first

  interested Plato. However, Aristotle’s approach was completely different from

  that of Plato. Plato was a rationalist (believing knowledge originates in the mind)

  whereas Aristotle was an empiricist (basing his ideas on observable evidence

  gained through the senses). Knowledge, for Aristotle, was not something

  remembered from the World of the Forms, but something gained through study

  and experience of the physical world.
• Aristotle's idea of education

  Different from Plato's idea that education consisted of bringing out knowledge that was already there in the mind
• Aristotle's approach to education

  • Emphasised the value of studying the physical world
  • Thought there were a variety of ways that people acquire knowledge: through observation, through being taught, and through practice of what was taught
• Aristotle's approach


  Empirical, leading to his rejection of the world of Forms
• Aristotle's writings always recognised the value of what he had learned from Plato, and his books often refer to Platonic ideas
• Anthony Kenny (A Brief History of Western Philosophy): 'Aristotle's writings always recognised the value of what he had learned from Plato, and his books often refer to Platonic ideas'
• Aristotle: 'Plato was the best and happiest of mortals 'whom it is not right for evil men even to praise''
• Aristotle and Plato


  Often represented together
• The school of Athens painting

  • Plato carrying the Timaeus and pointing upwards
  • Aristotle stood squarely on the ground, hand faced flat to the earth and carrying his book Ethics
• The painting vividly demonstrates both the relationship between the two great thinkers and their differences in thought
• Aristotle's understanding of reality


  Aristotle wanted to explain 'why' things exists as they do
• Aristotle rejected Plato's idea that things which exist in some way participate in or imitate and ideal Form of that object
• Aristotle's focus


  Why a particular piece of matter existed
• Car


  • Made of matter, but all the bits of matter in it have a particular arrangement and structure as part of the car
• Form


  The structure and characteristics of the object, all things which can be known through the senses
• The 'form' of something is to be found within the item itself, not a copy of an ideal Platonic 'Form'
• Substance


  The material of which things are made
• Matter


  The same as substance
• Aristotle questioned whether matter could exist without form, and concluded that it could, in the sense of prime matter (or 'stuff') which is matter waiting to be organised into a particular structure
• Aristotle concluded that only one thing could have from without substance, and that was God
• Four Causes


  Four different types of cause or explanation of why any object exists
• Cause


  The best translation available for the word used by Aristotle, 'aition', which carries a complex meaning of a responsible, explanatory factor
• Aristotle


  Looked for answers to questions about the nature or substance of things
• Form


  The structure and characteristics of an object which can be perceived by the senses
• Aristotle's approach is completely different to that of Plato
• Four causes that explain why a thing or object exists as it does

  • Material causes - questions about the physical substance of the object
  • Formal causes - questions about the nature and purpose of the object
• The four causes provide a complete understanding of the object
• Material Cause


  The matter or substance that something is made from (e.g. a table is made of wood)
• Material Cause


  • Poses and answers the question: what is the thing made of?
  • Explains the properties of something (e.g. wood can be carved, sawn, burnt)
  • Without the material, nothing would exist
• Knowing what something is made of does not give a complete answer