History of Philosophy

Ancient Philosophy

Aristotle

Following Plato, the second most significant philosopher of antiquity was his student Aristotle (384-322 BCE). Born in the city of Stagira to a physician who moved to Macedonia and served as the court physician to King Amyntas III, Aristotle grew up at court and befriended the king’s son, Philip. Upon reaching maturity, Aristotle went to Athens to study at Plato’s Academy. When Philip’s son, Alexander, was born, he invited Aristotle back to the court to tutor the heir. Thus, Aristotle educated the eminent conqueror Alexander the Great. After Alexander became king and embarked on his campaign against the Persians, Aristotle returned to Athens, where he sought the position of head of the Academy but was not elected. Subsequently, he founded his own school, the Lyceum, from which the Latinized term "Lyceum" derives. Following Alexander’s death, anti-monarchist sentiments in Greece led to public censure of anything associated with the king, putting Aristotle, as his former teacher, under social scrutiny. Consequently, Aristotle had to leave Athens and relocate to Chalcis, where he died. Aristotle favored teaching his students while walking, which led to their being called Peripatetics (those who walk about). Aristotle was a prolific writer, and in the first century, Andronicus of Rhodes compiled and systematized his works, ensuring their preservation. Aristotle’s influence during the Middle Ages was so profound that his name was often left unspoken; the term "The Philosopher" sufficed to refer to him.

• Substance: The starting point of Aristotle's philosophy is the concrete thing perceived by the mind as a single concept, termed substance. Each substance is expressed through its manifestations—accidents. Accidents are any expressions of substance grasped by the senses, such as the dimensions, color, and mass of a table (substance) which are perceived through its accidents. Aristotle believed accidents could be classified into ten groups, known as categories.
• Hylomorphism: Each substance consists of form and matter. Since the Greek term for matter is "hyle" and for form is "morphe," Aristotle’s doctrine of form and matter is known as hylomorphism. Form, according to Aristotle, encompasses all aspects of substance that are knowable and define its essence. Matter is the carrier of form, the substrate upon which form is imposed. The human mind perceives only form. Form can exist without matter, as in the craftsman’s design of an object not yet made or the concept in the mind of one who has grasped it. Matter cannot exist without form; it is postulated as an axiom rather than known.
• Actuality and Potentiality: Every substance has a form but can change it. However, a substance can only assume forms permitted by its nature. For example, water can become part of a plant but not a stone. The form a substance has is termed actuality, while potential forms it might assume are termed potentiality. Actuality and potentiality relate to matter and form. Form is unchanging; it remains itself even if no objects of that form exist in the world. For instance, a square always has four right angles, even if no square objects exist. The form of a thing is its actual state, while matter contains its potentiality.
• Pure Act: The more perfect a substance, the fewer its potentials. For example, an adult has more knowledge and experience than a child but fewer potentialities, such as attending school. Since substances exist on different hierarchical levels, there must be a highest substance, which is God. As the most perfect substance, God has no potentialities and is Pure Act.
• Origin of the World: Since God is Pure Act and has no potentialities, He cannot create. This posed a challenging question for Aristotle: if God does not create, how did the world come into being? Aristotle answered that everything strives for its perfection. Non-being is the greatest imperfection but also seeks perfection. To attain perfection, non-being must resemble the highest being, God. The world arises from the self-ordering of chaos and non-being, modeled after God. Thus, God is the creator of the world in the sense that nothing would have come into existence without Him, as there would be no ultimate aim for substances to strive toward. However, Aristotle did not view God as an active creator of the world.
• Physics: Aristotle made a significant contribution to natural science, establishing a paradigm that dominated until the discoveries of Galileo and Newton. The primary task of Aristotle’s physics is to explain the nature of motion, which he saw as the transition from potentiality to actuality, the realization of any state a substance may attain. Motion is an unnatural state, arising only when external forces act on an object. Each thing has a natural place: earth and water are near the center of the world, while air and fire are on the periphery. Therefore, an object dominated by earth, if released, will move toward the world’s center until it reaches its goal or is obstructed, whereas fire will move towards the periphery. Only living beings, which have souls, are exceptions. The soul is an internal law for living beings that determines their motion and rest.
• Theory of Causes: Everything that exists has its causes. For something to come into being, four causes must converge. Two are internal, becoming elements of the thing once it exists: form and matter. In other words, to make something, one needs material and knowledge of its form. The other two causes are external, remaining outside the thing after its inception: the efficient cause (the person or instrument without which the thing could not come into existence) and the final cause (the purpose for which the thing is created). Among these, the final cause is the most crucial, as a thing will not come into being without a purpose, even if material, formal, and efficient causes are present.
• Ethics: Aristotle believed that the primary moral motivation is the pursuit of happiness. Everyone desires to be happy. One acts ethically because true happiness can only be achieved through moral behavior. The moral ideal is virtue, which Aristotle defined as a mean between two extremes. For example, miserliness is a vice, as is prodigality, while the mean between them is virtue. Humans are social beings, naturally existing within a society, where they can realize their potential and achieve happiness. Aristotle posited that humans are inherently good, but realizing this goodness requires a suitable environment, which is the state; without it, individuals cannot fully realize their good potentials.