Herman 3-4 Flashcards
What are some of the reasons Aristotle left Athens after the death of Plato? Where did he go after leaving, and how did his experiences change his direction?
Aristotle left Athens after the death of Plato in 347 BCE because, politically, it wasn’t a good time for a Macedonian to be in Athens because Philip of Macedon had just crushed the Greek city states so Aristotle would have gotten a lot of backlash for being Macedonian and hanging around the land that had just been conquered. He may also have left because he was upset that despite being Plato’s greatest pupil, leadership of the Academy went to Plato’s nephew and not him. He went to Atarnaeus (a small town in Asia Minor directly opposite the islands of Lesbos). He became fascinated with nature and began his studies of biology
What did Aristotle believe about “the cave” and why did he come to hold these beliefs?
His thoughts were based on the question of why would a supreme being spend so much creating an intricate world (cave) that we live in and give it no significance? Aristotle dissected the world around him searching for meaning instead of trying to speculate as to what is beyond. His father was a doctor which influenced him to observe the world with great care. Looking to the clarity and organization of nature, Aristotle became impatient with the secrecy of allegories, aphorisms, and myths characteristic of Plato. In rejection of Plato’s myth of the cave, Aristotle decided that the cave, or visible, natural world, is the only true reality.
Of all the fields of study in which Aristotle had interests (physics, psychology, biology, politics, zoology, etc.) which field “remained for him the model of true science” and why?
Of all the fields that Aristotle studied, the one that remained for him the model of true science was biology. A reason for this came from his dislike of the disembodied abstract Forms of the Platonists and a preference towards dealing with tangible objects that could be touched.
Individuals are more important than the category.
Aristotle recognized the crucial point that “our visible world…is real,” yet Plato missed this point in two ways. What were these ways?
In Aristotle’s theory, the physical world is “real”, but Plato’s theory misses this point by 1), leaving out any possibility for change, and 2), by theorizing that forms exist separately from the individual rather than being expressed through it. Plato’s theories are limiting because they make change and progress out to be unattainable in this world. Aristotle believed that Reality was the world that we lived in and we could discover it without the brain power of a Divine Being.
What are Aristotle’s 4 causes and what is his theory of causation
1) The Material cause, or origin (Chemistry) 2) The Efficient cause, or the person or thing which acts on it 3) The Formal clause , or physical shape, or why it is created the way it is and 4) The Final cause, or the intention, or the end goal for the creation, or the purpose. He thought that all causes were in some way linked back to the Master Engineer of the whole system. God is the Unmoved Mover, and first cause. He couldn’t possibly care for the world because he could only think about himself and couldn’t change.
What are Aristotle’s three forms of knowleddge
Episteme - The form of knowledge concerned only with knowing or understanding.
Praxis - The kind of knowledge that has to do with doing.
Techne - The kind of knowledge that has to do with making.
What are Aristotle’s views on virtue? What is, for him, the secret of happiness? Does he see the world as basically a good or an evil place
Aristotle does not view ethics as a science. Aristotle said that Virture is the ability to find a middle ground between volatile emotions. It is not good to keep all your money or to give all of it away, but it is good to be generous with the excess that you do not need. He says that all emotions or attributes of a person are like this, and that in order to be virtuous, we have to find the middle ground of all of these. He believes that people are generally trying to be good. Aristotle believed that all morality was situational, and that all emotions were good in proportion. The decisive matter is our intention
Aristotle said that “the job of ethics” is….?
“not that we may know what virtue is, but that we may become virtuous.”
Aristotle believed that the practice of virtue was different for…
People in different social classes.
