Aristotle Flashcards
Aristotle lived from
384 BC - 322 BC
What is Aristotle’s epistemology
Use your senses to look at the things around you
What are the 4 causes of being
- causa materialis
- causa formalis
- causa efficiens
- causa finalis
What is the causa materialis
the material cause, matter, what something is made of
What is the causa formalis
the formal cause, form, that owing to which something becomes a certain something
What is the causa efficiens
the efficient cause, that owing to which things come into existence
What is the causa finalis
the final cause, telos, that for the sake of which something exists
What is potency
the potential a substance has: a nut has the potential to become a tree, potential to fulfill its telos
What is act
the actualization of the potency: being the actual tree
What is teleology
explanation of phenomena by their purpose
What is Aristotle’s critique on Plato
- how can the essences be apart from the actual thing (participation)
- Plato is creating another world to explain this world, but he can’t explain change
- how do we get the knowledge of the things surrounding us if we turn away from them
- what about colours and relations, we can’t see only a colour or only tallness
What are (primary) substances
concrete, individual things with essential and coincidental qualities
What is the essential quality of a primary substance
essence, eidos
what is the coincidental quality of primary substance
can be left out
What is Aristotle’s ethics
everybody can be happy as long as they use reason in the right way
