Ideas of Aristotle, by Theme

[Greek, 384 - 322 BCE, Born Stageira. Plato's Academy in 368 BCE, for 20 years. Tutor to Alexander the Great. Founded Lyceum in Athens. Died at Chalcis.]

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1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
Wisdom is scientific and intuitive knowledge of what is by nature most precious
Wisdom does not study happiness, because it is not concerned with processes
There is practical wisdom (for action), and theoretical wisdom (for deep understanding) [Whitcomb]
Wisdom seeks explanations, causes, and reasons why things are as they are [Politis]
Knowledge chosen for its own sake, rather than for results, is wisdom
1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People
Aristotle thinks human life is not important enough to spend a whole life on it [Nagel]
Wise people can contemplate alone, though co-operation helps
It is not much help if a doctor knows about universals but not the immediate particular
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
All philosophy begins from wonder, either at the physical world, or at ideas
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 2. Invocation to Philosophy
Without extensive examination firm statements are hard, but studying the difficulties is profitable
If each of us can give some logos about parts of nature, our combined efforts can be impressive
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined
Philosophy is a kind of science that deals with principles
Absolute thinking is the thinking of thinking
Philosophy has different powers from dialectic, and a different life from sophistry
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 4. Divisions of Philosophy
If only natural substances exist, science is first philosophy - but not if there is an immovable substance
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / a. Philosophy as worldly
Unobservant thinkers tend to dogmatise using insufficient facts
Free and great-souled men do not keep asking "what is the use of it?"
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / c. Philosophy as generalisation
Wisdom is knowledge of principles and causes
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / d. Philosophy as puzzles
Inquiry is the cause of philosophy
Translate as 'humans all desire by nature to understand' (not as 'to know') [Annas]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 6. Hopes for Philosophy
Even people who go astray in their opinions have contributed something useful
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
Most people are readier to submit to compulsion than to argument
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 1. Nature of Analysis
Our method of inquiry is to examine the smallest parts that make up the whole
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 2. Analysis by Division
Begin examination with basics, and subdivide till you can go no further
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 7. Limitations of Analysis
Trained minds never expect more precision than is possible
1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 1. Aims of Science
The object of scientific knowledge is what is necessary
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 1. On Reason
Desired responsible actions result either from rational or from irrational desire
Didactic argument starts from the principles of the subject, not from the opinions of the learner
There is pure deductive reasoning, and explanatory demonstration reasoning [Politis]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 2. Logos
Human beings, alone of the animals, have logos
For Aristotle logos is essentially the ability to talk rationally about questions of value [Roochnik]
An account is either a definition or a demonstration
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 4. Aims of Reason
Reason grasps generalities, while the senses grasp particulars
Reasoning distinguishes what is beneficial, and hence what is right
Reasoning is a way of making statements which makes them lead on to other statements
Aristotle is the supreme optimist about the ability of logos to explain nature [Roochnik]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 6. Coherence
Maybe everything could be demonstrated, if demonstration can be reciprocal or circular
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 7. Status of Reason
Intelligence which looks ahead is a natural master, while bodily strength is a natural slave
It is readily agreed that thinking is the most godlike of things in our experience
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 9. Limits of Reason
A very hungry man cannot choose between equidistant piles of food
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 3. Non-Contradiction
Contrary statements can both be reasonable, if they are meant in two different ways
A thing cannot be both in and not-in the same thing (at a given time)
For Aristotle predication is regulated by Non-Contradiction, because underlying stability is essential [Roochnik]
We cannot say that one thing both is and is not a man
Aristotle does not take the principle of non-contradiction for granted [Politis]
The most certain basic principle is that contradictories can't be true at the same time
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 4. Contraries
Contraries are by definition as far distant as possible from one another
The contrary of good is bad, but the contrary of bad is either good or another evil
Both sides of contraries need not exist (as health without sickness, white without black)
In "Callias is just/not just/unjust", which of these are contraries?
From one thing alone we can infer its contrary
Two falsehoods can be contrary to one another
There is no middle ground in contradiction, but there is in contrariety
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 5. Opposites
If everything is made of opposites, are the opposed things made of opposites?
Not everything is composed of opposites; what, for example, is the opposite of matter?
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic
It is the role of dialectic to survey syllogisms
Dialectic starts from generally accepted opinions
Dialectic aims to start from generally accepted opinions, and lead to a contradiction
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 3. Eristic
Competitive argument aims at refutation, fallacy, paradox, solecism or repetition
2. Reason / D. Definition / 1. Definitions
There can't be one definition of two things, or two definitions of the same thing
Definitions are easily destroyed, since they can contain very many assertions
The material element may be essential to a definition
The parts of a definition are isomorphic to the parts of the entity
If we define 'man' as 'two-footed animal', why does that make man a unity?
2. Reason / D. Definition / 3. Types of Definition
You can't define particulars, because accounts have to be generalised
2. Reason / D. Definition / 4. Real Definition
Aristotelian definitions aim to give the essential properties of the thing defined [Quine]
Definitions are of what something is, and that is universal
Definition by division needs predicates, which are well ordered and thorough
An Aristotelian definition is causal [Witt]
You can define objects by progressively identifying what is the same and what is different
A definition must be of something primary
Only substance [ousias] admits of definition
Sometimes parts must be mentioned in definitions of essence, and sometimes not
Definitions need the complex features of form, and don't need to mention the category [Wedin]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 5. Genus and Differentia
The differentia indicate the qualities, but not the essence
The genera and the differentiae are part of the essence
In definitions the first term to be assigned ought to be the genus
We describe the essence of a particular thing by means of its differentiae
Differentia are generic, and belong with genus
'Genus' is part of the essence shared among several things
Aristotelian definition involves first stating the genus, then the differentia of the thing [Urmson]
'Plane' is the genus of plane figures, and 'solid' of solids, with differentiae picking out types of corner
Whiteness can only belong to man because an individual like Callias happens to be white
A definition is of the universal and of the kind
Definition by division is into genus and differentiae
If the genus is just its constitutive forms (or matter), then the definition is the account of the differentiae
If I define you, I have to use terms which are all true of other things too
Species and genera are largely irrelevant in 'Metaphysics' [Wedin]
Aristotle's definitions are not unique, but apply to a range of individuals [Witt]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 6. Definition by Essence
The definition is peculiar to one thing, not common to many
What it is and why it is are the same; screening defines and explains an eclipse
Essence is not all the necessary properties, since these extend beyond the definition [Witt]
A definition is an account of a what-it-was-to-be-that-thing
2. Reason / E. Argument / 3. Analogy
Some things cannot be defined, and only an analogy can be given
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 2. Infinite Regress
Not everything can be proven, because that would lead to an infinite regress
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 3. Question Begging
Men are natural leaders (apart from the unnatural ones)
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 5. Fallacy of Composition
'If each is small, so too are all' is in one way false, for the whole composed of all is not small
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 8. Category Mistake / a. Category mistakes
The differentiae of genera which are different are themselves different in kind
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 1. Truth
Simple and essential truth seems to be given, with further truth arising in thinking
Truth is either intuiting a way of being, or a putting together
Truth is a matter of asserting correct combinations and separations
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 3. Value of Truth
Piety requires us to honour truth above our friends
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 6. Verisimilitude
If one error is worse than another, it must be because it is further from the truth
3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 1. For Truthmakers
Truth-thinking does not make it so; it being so is what makes it true
3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 5. What Makes Truths / a. What makes truths
The truth or falsity of a belief will be in terms of something that is always this way not that
3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 5. What Makes Truths / b. Objects make truths
A true existence statement has its truth caused by the existence of the thing
3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 10. Making Future Truths
It is necessary that either a sea-fight occurs tomorrow or it doesn't, though neither option is in itself necessary
3. Truth / C. Correspondence Truth / 1. Correspondence Truth
A statement is true if all the data are in harmony with it
Statements are true according to how things actually are
Falsity says that which is isn't, and that which isn't is; truth says that which is is, and that which isn't isn't
Aristotle's truth formulation concerns referring parts of sentences, not sentences as wholes [Davidson]
4. Formal Logic / A. Syllogistic Logic / 1. Aristotelian Logic
Aristotle's later logic had to treat 'Socrates' as 'everything that is Socrates' [Potter]
Square of Opposition: not both true, or not both false; one-way implication; opposite truth-values
Aristotle was the first to use schematic letters in logic [Potter]
Aristotelian syllogisms are three-part, subject-predicate, existentially committed, with laws of thought [Hanna]
Aristotelian sentences are made up by one of four 'formative' connectors [Engelbretsen]
Aristotelian identified 256 possible syllogisms, saying that 19 are valid [Devlin]
Aristotle replaced Plato's noun-verb form with unions of pairs of terms by one of four 'copulae' [Engelbretsen/Sayward]
Aristotle listed nineteen valid syllogisms (though a few of them were wrong) [Devlin]
4. Formal Logic / A. Syllogistic Logic / 2. Syllogistic Logic
Aristotle's said some Fs are G or some Fs are not G, forgetting that there might be no Fs [Bostock]
4. Formal Logic / B. Propositional Logic PL / 2. Tools of Propositional Logic / e. Axioms of PL
An axiom is a principle which must be understood if one is to learn anything
Axioms are the underlying principles of everything, and who but the philosopher can assess their truth?
The axioms of mathematics are part of philosophy
4. Formal Logic / D. Modal Logic ML / 1. Modal Logic
Modal Square 1: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'contraries' of □¬P and ¬◊P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Modal Square 2: ¬□¬P and ◊P are 'subcontraries' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Modal Square 3: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'contradictories' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Modal Square 4: □¬P and ¬◊P are 'contradictories' of ¬□¬P and ◊P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Modal Square 5: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'subalternatives' of ¬□¬P and ◊P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Modal Square 6: □¬P and ¬◊P are 'subalternatives' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
4. Formal Logic / D. Modal Logic ML / 4. Alethic Modal Logic
There are three different deductions for actual terms, necessary terms and possible terms
4. Formal Logic / G. Formal Mereology / 1. Mereology
Are a part and whole one or many? Either way, what is the cause?
Aristotle relativises the notion of wholeness to different measures [Koslicki]
5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 6. Classical Logic
Demonstrations by reductio assume excluded middle
5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 7. Second-Order Logic
Predications of predicates are predications of their subjects
5. Theory of Logic / B. Logical Consequence / 1. Logical Consequence
Something holds universally when it is proved of an arbitrary and primitive case
5. Theory of Logic / B. Logical Consequence / 3. Deductive Consequence |-
Deduction is when we suppose one thing, and another necessarily follows
5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 1. Bivalence
In talking of future sea-fights, Aristotle rejects bivalence [Williamson]
For Aristotle bivalence is a feature of reality [Boulter]
5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 2. Excluded Middle
A prayer is a sentence which is neither true nor false
Everything is either asserted or denied truly
5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 1. Logical Form
For Aristotle, the subject-predicate structure of Greek reflected a substance-accident structure of reality [O'Grady]
Aristotle places terms at opposite ends, joined by a quantified copula [Sommers]
5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 2. Logical Connectives / d. and
'Are Coriscus and Callias at home?' sounds like a single question, but it isn't
5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 7. Predicates in Logic
Aristotle's logic is based on the subject/predicate distinction, which leads him to substances and properties [Benardete,JA]
5. Theory of Logic / G. Quantification / 1. Quantification
Affirming/denying sentences are universal, particular, or indeterminate
5. Theory of Logic / G. Quantification / 3. Objectual Quantification
Aristotelian logic has two quantifiers of the subject ('all' and 'some') [Devlin]
5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 1. Axiomatisation
Aristotle's axioms (unlike Euclid's) are assumptions awaiting proof [Leibniz]
5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 2. Aporiai
Puzzles arise when reasoning seems equal on both sides
We must start with our puzzles, and progress by solving them, as they reveal the real difficulty
Aporia 10: Do perishables and imperishables have the same principle? [Politis]
Aporia 1: is there one science of explanation, or many? [Politis]
Aporia 2: Does one science investigate both ultimate and basic principles of being? [Politis]
Aporia 5: Do other things exist besides what is perceptible by the senses? [Politis]
Aporia 11: Are primary being and unity distinct, or only in the things that are? [Politis]
Aporia 6: Are the basic principles of a thing the kinds to which it belongs, or its components? [Politis]
Aporia 7: Is a thing's kind the most general one, or the most specific one? [Politis]
Aporia 8: Are there general kinds, or merely particulars? [Politis]
Aporia 15: Are the causes of things universals or particulars? [Politis]
Aporia 12: Do mathematical entities exist independently, or only in objects? [Politis]
Aporia 13: Are there kinds, as well as particulars and mathematical entities? [Politis]
Aporia 3: Does one science investigate all being, or does each kind of being have a science? [Politis]
Aporia 4: Does metaphysics just investigate pure being, or also the characteristics of being? [Politis]
Aporia 9: Is there one principle, or one kind of principle? [Politis]
Aporia 14: Are ultimate causes of things potentialities, or must they be actual? [Politis]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 1. Mathematics
Mathematics is concerned with forms, not with superficial properties
Mathematical precision is only possible in immaterial things
Mathematics studies the domain of perceptible entities, but its subject-matter is not perceptible
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry
Geometry studies naturally occurring lines, but not as they occur in nature
The essence of a triangle comes from the line, mentioned in any account of triangles
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / a. Numbers
We perceive number by the denial of continuity
Pluralities divide into discontinous countables; magnitudes divide into continuous things
Perhaps numbers are substances?
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / c. Priority of numbers
One is prior to two, because its existence is implied by two
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / g. Real numbers
Two is the least number, but there is no least magnitude, because it is always divisible
Parts of a line join at a point, so it is continuous
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / m. One
The one in number just is the particular
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / a. Units
Unit is the starting point of number
A unit is what is quantitatively indivisible
If only rectilinear figures existed, then unity would be the triangle
Units came about when the unequals were equalised
The unit is stipulated to be indivisible
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / c. Counting procedure
Two men do not make one thing, as well as themselves
When we count, are we adding, or naming numbers?
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / a. The Infinite
Without infinity time has limits, magnitudes are indivisible, and numbers come to an end
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / c. Potential infinite
Aristotle's infinity is a property of the counting process, that it has no natural limit [Le Poidevin]
Infinity is only potential, never actual
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / j. Infinite divisibility
Lengths do not contain infinite parts; parts are created by acts of division [Le Poidevin]
A continuous line cannot be composed of indivisible points
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / b. Greek arithmetic
Some quantities are discrete, like number, and others continuous, like lines, time and space
Number is plurality measured by unity
Each many is just ones, and is measured by the one
The idea of 'one' is the foundation of number
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 7. Mathematical Structuralism / a. Structuralism
Mathematics studies abstracted relations, commensurability and proportion
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 1. Mathematical Platonism / a. For mathematical platonism
It is a simple truth that the objects of mathematics have being, of some sort
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 1. Mathematical Platonism / b. Against mathematical platonism
Aristotle removes ontology from mathematics, and replaces the true with the beautiful [Badiou]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 4. Mathematical Empiricism / a. Mathematical empiricism
Ten sheep and ten dogs are the same numerically, but it is not the same ten
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 2. Types of Existence
Existence is either potential or actual
Some things exist as substances, others as properties of substances
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / a. Nature of Being
There are four kinds of being: incidental, per se, potential and actual, and being as truth [Wedin]
Being is either what falls in the categories, or what makes propositions true [Aquinas]
There is only being in a certain way, and without that way there is no being
Being, taken simply as being, is the domain of philosophy
Things are predicated of the basic thing, which isn't predicated of anything else
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / e. Being and nothing
Non-existent things aren't made to exist by thought, because their non-existence is part of the thought
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / f. Primary being
Primary being must be more than mere indeterminate ultimate subject of predication [Politis]
The three main candidates for primary being are particular, universal and essence; essence is the answer [Politis]
Primary being is either universals, or the basis of predication, or essence [Politis]
Non-primary beings lack essence, or only have a derived essence [Politis]
Primary being is both the essence, and the subject of predication [Politis]
Primary being ('proté ousia') exists in virtue of itself, not in relation to other things [Politis]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / g. Particular being
If nothing exists except individuals, how can there be a science of infinity?
Being must be understood with reference to one primary sense - the being of substance [Gill,ML]
Nothing is added to a man's existence by saying he is 'one', or that 'he exists'
The primary subject seems to be substance, to the fullest extent
Existence requires thisness, as quantity or quality
Other types of being all depend on the being of substance
There is no being unless it is determinate and well-defined [Politis]
Aristotle discusses fundamental units of being, rather than existence questions [Schaffer,J]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 4. Abstract Existence
The incommensurability of the diagonal always exists, and so it is not in time
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 5. Reason for Existence
Maybe necessity and non-necessity are the first principles of ontology
7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 1. Nature of Change
Change is the implied actuality of that which exists potentially
The sophists thought a man in the Lyceum is different from that man in the marketplace
True change is in a thing's logos or its matter, not in its qualities
A change in qualities is mere alteration, not true change
If the substratum persists, it is 'alteration'; if it doesn't, it is 'coming-to-be' or 'passing-away'
There are six kinds of change: generation, destruction, increase, diminution, alteration, change of place
Nature is an active principle of change, like potentiality, but it is intrinsic to things
7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 2. Processes
All comings-to-be are passings-away, and vice versa
An actuality is usually thought to be a process
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 1. Grounding / c. Grounding and explanation
Aristotle's formal and material 'becauses' [aitiai] arguably involve grounding [Correia/Schnieder]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 4. Ontological Dependence
A thing is prior to another if it implies its existence
Of interdependent things, the prior one causes the other's existence
What is prior is always potentially present in what is next in order
Prior things can exist without posterior things, but not vice versa
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 3. Reality
Knowledge of potential is universal and indefinite; of the actual it is definite and of individuals
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 6. Physicalism
Materialists cannot explain change [Politis]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 3. Proposed Categories
There are ten basic categories for thinking about things
The categories (substance, quality, quantity, relation, action, passion, place, time) peter out inconsequentially [Benardete,JA]
There are ten categories: essence, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, activity, passivity
Substance,Quantity,Quality,Relation,Place,Time,Being-in-a-position,Having,Doing,Being affected [Westerhoff]
The immediate divisions of that which is are genera, each with its science
7. Existence / E. Categories / 4. Category Realism
Aristotle derived categories as answers to basic questions about nature, size, quality, location etc. [Gill,ML]
8. Modes of Existence / A. Relations / 1. Nature of Relations
The separation from here to there is not the same as the separation from there to here
Aristotle said relations are not substances, so (if they exist) they must be accidents [Heil]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 1. Nature of Properties
An individual property has to exist (in past, present or future)
Properties are just the ways in which forms are realised at various times [Frede,M]
The 'propriae' or 'necessary accidents' of a thing are separate, and derived from the essence [Koslicki]
There cannot be uninstantiated properties [Macdonald,C]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 2. Need for Properties
Aristotle promoted the importance of properties and objects (rather than general and particular) [Frede,M]
For two things to differ in some respect, they must both possess that respect
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 3. Types of Properties
An 'accident' is something which may possibly either belong or not belong to a thing
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 4. Intrinsic Properties
To seek truth, study the real connections between subjects and attributes
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 5. Natural Properties
For Aristotle, there are only as many properties as actually exist [Jacquette]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 6. Categorical Properties
Some things said 'of' a subject are not 'in' the subject
We call them secondary 'substances' because they reveal the primary substances
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 8. Properties as Modes
The features of a thing (whether quality or quantity) are inseparable from their subjects
Whiteness can be explained without man, but femaleness cannot be explained without animal
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 9. Qualities
Four species of quality: states, capacities, affects, and forms [Pasnau]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 10. Properties as Predicates
If we only saw bronze circles, would bronze be part of the concept of a circle?
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 1. Powers
Heavy and light are defined by their tendency to move down or up
Potentiality is a principle of change, in another thing, or as another thing
Active 'dunamis' is best translated as 'power' or 'ability' (rather than 'potentiality') [Gill,ML]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 2. Powers as Basic
Actualities are arranged by priority, going back to what initiates process
The main characteristic of the source of change is activity [energeia] [Politis]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 4. Powers as Essence
Sight is the essence of the eye, fitting its definition; the eye itself is just the matter
Giving the function of a house defines its actuality
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 5. Powers and Properties
Potentiality in geometry is metaphorical
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 6. Dispositions / d. Dispositions as occurrent
The Megarans say something is only capable of something when it is actually doing it
Megaran actualism is just scepticism about the qualities of things
Megaran actualists prevent anything from happening, by denying a capacity for it to happen!
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 1. Universals
Substance is not a universal, as the former is particular but a universal is shared
Universals are indeterminate and only known in potential, because they are general [Witt]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 2. Need for Universals
Separate Forms aren't needed for logic, but universals (one holding of many) are essential
The acquisition of scientific knowledge is impossible without universals
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 3. Instantiated Universals
Colour must be in an individual body, or it is not embodied
No universals exist separately from particulars
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / a. Platonic Forms
Forms are said to be substances to which nothing is prior
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / b. Partaking
If partaking explains unity, what causes participating, and what is participating?
If you accept Forms, you must accept the more powerful principle of 'participating' in them
How can the Forms both be the substance of things and exist separately from them?
There is a confusion because Forms are said to be universal, but also some Forms are separable and particular
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / c. Self-predication
Forms have to be their own paradigms, which seems to fuse the paradigm and the copy
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / d. Forms critiques
Eternal white is no whiter than temporary white, and it is the same with goodness
It is meaningless to speak of 'man-himself', because it has the same definition as plain 'man'
How will a vision of pure goodness make someone a better doctor?
We can forget the Forms, as they are irrelevant, and not needed in giving demonstrations
What possible contribution can the Forms make to perceptible entities?
Predications only pick out kinds of things, not things in themselves
If men exist by participating in two forms (Animal and Biped), they are plural, not unities
The Forms have to be potentialities, not actual knowledge or movement
There is no point at all in the theory of Forms unless it contains a principle that produces movement
All attempts to prove the Forms are either invalid, or prove Forms where there aren't supposed to be any
Are there forms for everything, or for negations, or for destroyed things?
Aristotle is not asserting facts about the location of properties, but about their ontological status [Moreland]
If two is part of three then numbers aren't Forms, because they would all be intermingled
8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 1. Nominalism / b. Nominalism about universals
The thesis of the Form of the Good (or of anything else) is verbal and vacuous
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 1. Physical Objects
Aristotle gave up his earlier notion of individuals, because it relied on universals [Frede,M]
Form and matter may not make up a concrete particular, because there are also accidents like weight [Frede,M]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 2. Abstract Objects / a. Nature of abstracta
Objects lacking matter are intrinsic unities
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 4. Impossible objects
Some philosophers say that in some qualified way non-existent things 'are'
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / a. Individuation
To know a thing is to know its primary cause or explanation
Aristotle's form improves on being non-predicable as a way to identify a 'this' [Wiggins]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / d. Individuation by haecceity
For Aristotle, things are not made individual by some essential distinguishing mark [Frede,M]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / e. Individuation by kind
Genus and species are substances, because only they reveal the primary substance [Wedin]
Genus gives the essence better than the differentiae do
Individuals within a species differ in their matter, form and motivating cause
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 6. Nihilism about Objects
Why are being terrestrial and a biped combined in the definition of man, but being literate and musical aren't?
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / a. Intrinsic unification
Natural objects include animals and their parts, plants, and the simple elements
Aristotle says that the form is what makes an entity what it is [Frede,M]
Things are one numerically in matter, formally in their account, generically in predicates, and by analogy in relations
Primary things just are what-it-is-to-be-that-thing
How is man a unity of animal and biped, especially if the Forms of animal and of biped exist?
Things may be naturally unified because they involve an indivisible process
The formal cause may be what unifies a substance
A unity may just be a particular, a numerically indivisible thing
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / b. Unifying aggregates
Things are one to the extent that they are indivisible
Indivisibility is the cause of unity, either in movement, or in the account or thought
Things are unified by contact, mixture and position
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / c. Unity as conceptual
Some things are unified by their account, which rests on a unified thought about the thing
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / a. Substance
Substance is not predicated of anything - but it still has something underlying it, that originates it
We only infer underlying natures by analogy, observing bronze of a statue, or wood of a bed
Is primary substance just an ultimate subject, or some aspect of a complex body? [Gill,ML]
Primary being is 'that which lies under', or 'particular substance' [Politis]
Substances have no opposites, and don't come in degrees (including if the substance is a man)
A single substance can receive contrary properties
The substance is the cause of a thing's being
The Pre-Socratics were studying the principles, elements and causes of substance
If substance is the basis of reality, then philosophy aims to understand substance
Substance is prior in being separate, in definition, and in knowledge [Witt]
It is wrong to translate 'ousia' as 'substance' [Politis]
'Ousia' is 'primary being' not 'primary substance' [Politis]
The baffling question of what exists is asking about the nature of substance
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / b. Need for substance
We may have to postulate unobservable and unknowable substances
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / c. Types of substance
Secondary substances do have subjects, so they are not ultimate in the ontology [Frede,M]
In earlier Aristotle the substances were particulars, not kinds [Lawson-Tancred]
A 'primary' substance is in each subject, with species or genera as 'secondary' substances
Units are positionless substances, and points are substances with position
Elements and physical objects are substances, but ideas and mathematics are not so clear
Mature Aristotle sees organisms as the paradigm substances [Pasnau]
Is a primary substance a foundation of existence, or the last stage of understanding? [Gill,ML]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / d. Substance defined
Earlier Aristotle had objects as primary substances, but later he switched to substantial form [Lowe]
Things are called 'substances' because they are subjects for everything else
Substance [ousia] is the subject of predication and cause [aitia?] of something's existence
Essence (fixed by definition) is also 'ousia', so 'ousia' is both ultimate subject, and a this-thing
A substance is what-it-is-to-be, or the universal, or the genus, or the subject of saying
It is matter that turns out to be substance [ousia]
Matter is not substance, because substance needs separability and thisness
The substance is the form dwelling in the object
Substance is unified and universals are diverse, so universals are not substance [Witt]
A thing's substance is its primary cause of being
In Aristotle, 'proté ousia' is 'primary being', and 'to hupokeimenon' is 'that which lies under' (or 'substance') [Politis]
Substance is distinct being because of its unity [Witt]
None of the universals can be a substance
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / c. Statue and clay
A nature is related to a substance as shapeless matter is to something which has a shape
Statues depend on their bronze, but bronze doesn't depend on statues [Gill,ML]
The statue is not called 'stone' but 'stoney'
Primary matter and form make a unity, one in potentiality, the other in actuality
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / a. Hylomorphism
Form, not matter, is a thing's nature, because it is actual, rather than potential
The unmoved mover and the soul show Aristotelian form as the ultimate mereological atom [Koslicki]
Scientists explain anger by the matter, dialecticians by the form and the account
Matter is potential, form is actual
Forms of sensible substances include unrealised possibilities, so are not fully actual [Frede,M]
In 'Metaphysics' Z substantial primacy (as form) is explanatory rather than ontological [Wedin]
In 'Metaphysics' substantial forms take over from objects as primary [Frede,M]
Essences are not properties (since those can't cause individual substances) [Witt]
Plato says changing things have no essence; Aristotle disagrees [Politis]
Essential form is neither accidental nor necessary to matter, so it appears not to be a property [Witt]
Aristotle's cosmos is ordered by form, and disordered by matter [Gill,ML]
Aristotle moved from realism to nominalism about substances [Frede,M]
A substance is a proper subject because the matter is a property of the form, not vice versa [Gill,ML]
Aristotle doesn't think essential properties are those which must belong to a thing [Kung]
The form of a thing is its essence and its primary being
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / b. Form as principle
Some forms, such as the Prime Mover, are held by Aristotle to exist without matter [Gill,ML]
A true substance is constituted by some nature, which is a principle
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / c. Form as causal
A thing's form and purpose are often the same, and form can be the initiator of change too
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / d. Form as unifier
Unity of the form is just unity of the definition
The 'form' is the recipe for building wholes of a particular kind [Koslicki]
Things are a unity because there is no clash between potential matter and actual shape/form
Aristotle's solution to the problem of unity is that form is an active cause or potentiality or nature [Gill,ML]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 3. Matter of an Object
In feature-generation the matter (such as bronze) endures, but in generation it doesn't [Politis]
Matter is the substratum, which supports both coming-to-be and alteration
Every distinct thing has matter, as long as it isn't an essence or a Form
In Aristotle, bronze only becomes 'matter' when it is potentially a statue [Gill,ML]
Aristotle's conception of matter applies to non-physical objects as well as physical objects [Fine,K]
Aristotle's matter is something that could be the inner origin of a natural being's behaviour [Witt]
Matter is secondary, because it is potential, determined by the actuality of form [Witt]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 5. Composition of an Object
Is there a house over and above its bricks?
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 7. Substratum
Something must pre-exist any new production
It is unclear whether Aristotle believes in a propertyless subject, his 'ultimate matter' [Lawson-Tancred]
A substrate is either a 'this' supporting qualities, or 'matter' supporting actuality
A subject can't be nothing, so it must qualify as separate, and as having a distinct identity [Gill,ML]
If you extract all features of the object, what is left over?
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / a. Parts of objects
The contents of an explanatory formula are parts of the whole
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / b. Sums of parts
A 'whole' (rather than a mere 'sum') requires an internal order which distinguishes it
If a syllable is more than its elements, is the extra bit also an element?
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / c. Wholes from parts
We first sense whole entities, and then move to particular parts of it
There is no whole except for the parts
The whole is prior to its parts, because parts are defined by their role
In the case of a house the parts can exist without the whole, so parts are not the whole
Wholes are continuous, rigid, uniform, similar, same kind, similar matter [Simons]
A syllable is something different from its component vowels and consonants
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 1. Essences of Objects
Aristotelian essence underlies behaviour, or underlies definition, or is the source of existence [Aquinas]
Aristotelian essence is retained with identity through change, and bases our scientific knowledge [Copi]
Aristotle says changing, material things (and not just universals) have an essence [Politis]
Are essences actually universals? [Politis]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 2. Types of Essence
Aristotelian essences are causal, not classificatory [Witt]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 3. Individual Essences
A primary substance reveals a 'this', which is an individual unit
Everything that is has one single essence
Particulars are not definable, because they fluctuate
Individual essences are not universals, since those can't be substances, or cause them [Witt]
Essence is the cause of individual substance, and creates its unity [Witt]
Aristotelian essence is not universal properties, but individual essence [Witt]
Aristotle does not accept individual essences; essential properties are always general [Kung]
Aristotle's essence explains the existence of an individual substance, not its properties [Witt]
Aristotle takes essence and form as a particular, not (as some claim) as a universal, the species [Politis]
To be a subject a thing must be specifiable, with some essential properties [Gill,ML]
The essence of a single thing is the essence of a particular
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 4. Essence as Definition
Definitions recognise essences, so are not themselves essences
A thing's essence is what is mentioned in its definition [Lawson-Tancred]
Essence is what is stated in the definition [Politis]
If definition is of universals, many individuals have no definition, and hence no essence [Witt]
Things have an essence if their explanation is a definition
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 5. Essence as Kind
The Aristotelian view is that the essential properties are those that sort an object [Marcus (Barcan)]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 6. Essence as Unifier
A thing's essence is its intrinsic nature
An essence causes both its own unity and its kind
Having an essence is the criterion of being a substance [Lawson-Tancred]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / b. Essence not necessities
An 'idion' belongs uniquely to a thing, but is not part of its essence
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / c. Essentials are necessary
The predicates of a thing's nature are necessary to it
Aristotle doesn't see essential truths or essential properties as necessary [Koslicki]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 8. Essence as Explanatory
The four explanations are the main aspects of a thing's nature [Moravcsik]
A thing's nature is what causes its changes and stability
Primary substances are ontological in 'Categories', and explanatory in 'Metaphysics' [Wedin]
Aristotelian essences are properties mentioned at the starting point of a science [Kung]
Metaphysics is the science of ultimate explanation, or of pure existence, or of primary existence [Politis]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 9. Essence and Properties
It is absurd that a this and a substance should be composed of a quality
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 10. Essence as Species
Generic terms like 'man' are not substances, but qualities, relations, modes or some such thing
Generalities like man and horse are not substances, but universal composites of account and matter
Genera are not substances, and do not exist apart from the ingredient species
'Categories' answers 'what?' with species, genus, differerentia; 'Met.' Z.17 seeks causal essence [Wedin]
Standardly, Aristotelian essences are taken to be universals of the species [Witt]
In 'Met.' he says genera can't be substances or qualities, so aren't in the ontology [Frede,M]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 11. Essence of Artefacts
Things are more unified if the unity comes from their own nature, not from external force
The hallmark of an artefact is that its active source of maintenance is external [Gill,ML]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 14. Knowledge of Essences
Aristotle claims that the individual is epistemologically prior to the universal [Witt]
Actual knowledge is of the individual, and potential knowledge of the universal [Witt]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 2. Objects that Change
Coming to be is by shape-change, addition, subtraction, composition or alteration
Natural things are their own source of stability through change
For animate things, only the form, not the matter or properties, must persist through change [Frede,M]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 6. Successive Things
A day, or the games, has one thing after another, actually and potentially occurring
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 10. Beginning of an Object
Coming-to-be may be from nothing in a qualified way, as arising from an absence
Does the pure 'this' come to be, or the 'this-such', or 'so-great', or 'somewhere'?
Philosophers have worried about coming-to-be from nothing pre-existing
The substratum changing to a contrary is the material cause of coming-to-be
If a perceptible substratum persists, it is 'alteration'; coming-to-be is a complete change
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 11. End of an Object
Destruction is dissolution of essence
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 12. Origin as Essential
If two things are the same, they must have the same source and origin
How a thing is generated does not explain its essence [Politis]
Aristotle wants definition, not identity, so origin is not essential to him [Witt]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 1. Concept of Identity
Two things with the same primary being and essence are one thing
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 4. Type Identity
Things such as two different quadrangles are alike but not wholly the same
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 5. Self-Identity
Aristotle denigrates the category of relation, but for modern absolutists self-relation is basic [Benardete,JA]
We can't understand self-identity without a prior grasp of the object
You are one with yourself in form and matter
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 8. Leibniz's Law
Only if two things are identical do they have the same attributes
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 9. Sameness
'Same' is mainly for names or definitions, but also for propria, and for accidents
Two identical things have the same accidents, they are the same; if the accidents differ, they're different
Numerical sameness and generic sameness are not the same
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 2. Nature of Necessity
What is necessary cannot be otherwise
Necessity makes alternatives impossible
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 3. Types of Necessity
A stone travels upwards by a forced necessity, and downwards by natural necessity
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 4. De re / De dicto modality
A deduction is necessary if the major (but not the minor) premise is also necessary
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 6. Logical Necessity
Reasoning is when some results follow necessarily from certain claims
A thing has a feature necessarily if its denial brings a contradiction
10. Modality / B. Possibility / 1. Possibility
The actual must be possible, because it occurred
Possibility is when the necessity of the contrary is false
Anything which is possible either exists or will come into existence
10. Modality / B. Possibility / 4. Potentiality
Matter is potentiality [Politis]
Potentialities are always for action, but are conditional on circumstances
A 'potentiality' is a principle of change or process in a thing
We recognise potentiality from actuality
Things are destroyed not by their powers, but by their lack of them
10. Modality / B. Possibility / 7. Chance
Chance is a coincidental cause among events involving purpose and choice
Intrinsic cause is prior to coincidence, so nature and intelligence are primary causes, chance secondary
Maybe there is no pure chance; a man's choices cause his chance meetings
10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 6. Necessity from Essence
The two right angles of a triangle necessitate that a quadrilateral has four
Some things have external causes of their necessity; others (the simple) generate necessities
Aristotle's says necessary truths are distinct and derive from essential truths [Koslicki]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 1. Knowledge
For Aristotle, knowledge is of causes, and is theoretical, practical or productive [Code]
The reason why is the key to knowledge
For Aristotle knowledge is explanatory, involving understanding, and principles or causes [Witt]
'Episteme' means grasping causes, universal judgments, explanation, and teaching [Witt]
The ability to teach is a mark of true knowledge
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 2. Understanding
Knowing is having knowledge; understanding is using knowledge
Understanding is the aim of our nature
We understand a thing when we know its explanation and its necessity
Some understanding, of immediate items, is indemonstrable
We only understand something when we know its explanation
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / c. Aim of beliefs
Opinion is praised for being in accordance with truth
No one has mere belief about something if they think it HAS to be true
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 6. Knowing How
Experience knows particulars, but only skill knows universals
Things are produced from skill if the form of them is in the mind
It takes skill to know causes, not experience
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty
Knowledge proceeds from principles, so it is hard to know if we know
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 1. Nature of the A Priori
The notion of a priori truth is absent in Aristotle [Politis]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 3. Innate Knowledge / c. Tabula rasa
The intellect has potential to think, like a tablet on which nothing has yet been written
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 1. Perception
Why can't we sense the senses? And why do senses need stimuli?
Why do we have many senses, and not just one?
Perception necessitates pleasure and pain, which necessitates appetite
Sense organs aren't the end of sensation, or they would know what does the sensing
Our minds take on the form of what is being perceived [Mares]
Perception of sensible objects is virtually never wrong
You cannot understand anything through perception
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 2. Qualities in Perception / b. Primary/secondary
Which of the contrary features of a body are basic to it?
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 2. Qualities in Perception / c. Primary qualities
Many objects of sensation are common to all the senses
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 2. Qualities in Perception / d. Secondary qualities
Some objects of sensation are unique to one sense, where deception is impossible
Some knowledge is lost if you lose a sense, and there is no way the knowledge can be replaced
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 3. Representation
In moral thought images are essential, to be pursued or avoided
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 6. Inference in Perception
Particular facts (such as 'is it cooked?') are matters of sense-perception, not deliberation
12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism
Aristotle is a rationalist, but reason is slowly acquired through perception and experience [Frede,M]
We may think when we wish, but not perceive, because universals are within the mind
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism
All men long to understand, as shown by their delight in the senses
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique
Animals may have some knowledge if they retain perception, but understanding requires reasons to be given
Aristotle's concepts of understanding and explanation mean he is not a pure empiricist [Frede,M]
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 1. Common Sense
It is enough if we refute the objections and leave common opinions undisturbed
If everyone believes it, it is true
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 2. Intuition
Intuition grasps the definitions that can't be proved
Aristotle wants to fit common intuitions, and therefore uses language as a guide [Gill,ML]
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 4. Memory
Many memories of the same item form a single experience
13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 1. Justification / b. Need for justification
To know something we need understanding, which is grasp of the primary cause
13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 2. Justification Challenges / a. Agrippa's trilemma
Sceptics say justification is an infinite regress, or it stops at the unknowable
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / b. Basic beliefs
When you understand basics, you can't be persuaded to change your mind
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / e. Pro-foundations
The starting point of a proof is not a proof
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 5. Dream Scepticism
Dreams aren't a serious problem. No one starts walking round Athens next morning, having dreamt that they were there!
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 3. Subjectivism
If truth is relative it is relational, and concerns appearances relative to a situation
If relativism is individual, how can something look sweet and not taste it, or look different to our two eyes?
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 6. Relativism Critique
If the majority had diseased taste, and only a few were healthy, relativists would have to prefer the former
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 2. Demonstration
Demonstrations move from starting-points to deduced conclusions
Demonstration starts from a definition of essence, so we can derive (or conjecture about) the properties
Demonstration is more than entailment, as the explanatory order must match the causal order [Koslicki]
Aristotle gets asymmetric consequence from demonstration, which reflects real causal priority [Koslicki]
Aristotle doesn't actually apply his theory of demonstration to his practical science [Leroi]
We can know by demonstration, which is a scientific deduction leading to understanding
Premises must be true, primitive and immediate, and prior to and explanatory of conclusions
Demonstrative understanding rests on necessary features of the thing in itself
Demonstrations must be necessary, and that depends on the middle term
Demonstrations are syllogisms which give explanations
The principles of demonstrations are definitions
There must be definitions before demonstration is possible
Demonstration is better with fewer presuppositions, and it is quicker if these are familiar
A demonstration is a deduction which proceeds from necessities
Aim to get definitions of the primitive components, thus establishing the kind, and work towards the attributes
All demonstration is concerned with existence, axioms and properties
Universal demonstrations are about thought; particular demonstrations lead to perceptions
There cannot be a science of accidentals, but only of general truths
Demonstrations about particulars must be about everything of that type
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 6. Falsification
A single counterexample is enough to prove that a truth is not necessary
14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 1. Scientific Theory
Plato says sciences are unified around Forms; Aristotle says they're unified around substance [Moravcsik]
14. Science / C. Induction / 1. Induction
Nobody fears a disease which nobody has yet caught
Induction is the progress from particulars to universals
14. Science / C. Induction / 2. Aims of Induction
We learn universals from many particulars
14. Science / C. Induction / 3. Limits of Induction
We say 'so in cases of this kind', but how do you decide what is 'of this kind'?
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / a. Explanation
Aristotelian explanations are facts, while modern explanations depend on human conceptions [Politis]
Are particulars explained more by universals, or by other particulars?
Universals are valuable because they make the explanations plain
What is most universal is furthest away, and the particulars are nearest
Universal principles are not primary beings, but particular principles are not universally knowable
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / b. Aims of explanation
We know a thing if we grasp its first causes, principles and basic elements
Explanation is of the status of a thing, inferences to it, initiation of change, and purpose
What we seek and understand are facts, reasons, existence, and identity
Understanding moves from the less to the more intelligible
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / a. Types of explanation
Science refers the question Why? to four causes/explanations: matter, form, source, purpose
Four Explanations: the essence and form; the matter; the source; and the end [Politis]
Aristotle's four 'causes' are four items which figure in basic explanations of nature [Annas]
There are as many causes/explanations as there are different types of why-question
Aristotle's standard analysis of species and genus involves specifying things in terms of something more general [Benardete,JA]
Aristotelian explanations mainly divide things into natural kinds [Politis]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / e. Lawlike explanations
Chance is inexplicable, because we can only explain what happens always or usually
Explanation and generality are inseparable [Wedin]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations
To grasp something, trace it back to its natural origins
The foundation or source is stronger than the thing it causes
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / k. Explanations by essence
Aristotelian explanation by essence may need to draw on knowledge of other essences [Koslicki]
The nature of each thing is its mature state
Aristotle regularly says that essential properties explain other significant properties [Kung]
To understand a triangle summing to two right angles, we need to know the essence of a line
Real enquiries seek causes, and causes are essences
We know something when we fully know what it is, not just its quality, quantity or location
We know a thing when we grasp its essence
The explanation is what gives matter its state, which is the form, which is the substance
Essential properties explain in conjunction with properties shared by the same kind [Kung]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 3. Best Explanation / a. Best explanation
Universals give better explanations, because they are self-explanatory and primitive
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / c. Features of mind
Mind involves movement, perception, incorporeality
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche
Everything that receives nourishment has a vegetative soul, with it own distinctive excellence
In a controlled person the receptive part of the soul is obedient, and it is in harmony in the virtuous
The irrational psuché is persuadable by reason - shown by our criticism and encouragement of people
If beings are dominated by appetite, this can increase so much that it drives out reason
Aristotle led to the view that there are several souls, all somewhat physical [Martin/Barresi]
Soul is seen as what moves, or what is least physical, or a combination of elements
Psuché is the form and actuality of a body which potentially has life
The soul is the cause or source of movement, the essence of body, and its end
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind
The rational and irrational parts of the soul are either truly separate, or merely described that way
If the soul is composed of many physical parts, it can't be a true unity
If a soul have parts, what unites them?
What unifies the soul would have to be a super-soul, which seems absurd
Understanding is impossible, if it involves the understanding having parts
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 6. Anti-Individualism
In a way the soul is everything which exists, through its perceptions and thoughts
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 8. Brain
The brain has no responsibility for sensations, which occur in the heart
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 1. Faculties
Courage from spirit is natural and unconquerable, as seen in the young
Whether the mind has parts is irrelevant, since it obviously has distinct capacities
If we divide the mind up according to its capacities, there are a lot of them
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 2. Imagination
Self-moving animals must have desires, and that entails having imagination
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 5. Generalisation by mind
Linguistic terms form a hierarchy, with higher terms predicable of increasing numbers of things [Engelbretsen]
Perception creates primitive immediate principles by building a series of firm concepts
A perception lodging in the soul creates a primitive universal, which becomes generalised
Skill comes from a general assumption obtained from thinking about similar things
Aristotle distinguishes two different sorts of generality - kinds, and properties [Frede,M]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 6. Idealisation
Science is more accurate when it is prior and simpler, especially without magnitude or movement
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 4. Presupposition of Self
The nature of all animate things is to have one part which rules it
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 1. Identity and the Self
Is Socrates the same person when standing and when seated?
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 7. Self and Thinking
It would seem that the thinking part is the individual self
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 1. Nature of Free Will
Aristotle never discusses free will [MacIntyre]
For an action to be 'free', it must be deliberate as well as unconstrained [Leibniz]
A human being fathers his own actions as he fathers his children
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 3. Constraints on the will
A man is the cause of what is within his power, and what he causes is in his power
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 4. For Free Will
Only a human being can be a starting point for an action
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
Aristotle assesses whether people are responsible, and if they are it was voluntary [Zagzebski]
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 1. Dualism
Emotion involves the body, thinking uses the mind, imagination hovers between them
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 2. Interactionism
All the emotions seem to involve the body, simultaneously with the feeling
The soul (or parts of it) is not separable from the body
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 8. Dualism of Mind Critique
If soul is separate from body, why does it die when the body dies?
Thinkers place the soul within the body, but never explain how they are attached
Early thinkers concentrate on the soul but ignore the body, as if it didn't matter what body received the soul
17. Mind and Body / C. Functionalism / 1. Functionalism
Aristotle has a problem fitting his separate reason into the soul, which is said to be the form of the body [Ackrill]
Does the mind think or pity, or does the whole man do these things?
17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 1. Physical Mind
The soul and the body are inseparable, like the imprint in some wax
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 1. Thought
The attainment of truth is the task of the intellectual part of the soul
Thinking is not perceiving, but takes the form of imagination and speculation
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / d. Emotional feeling
Some emotional states are too strong for human nature
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / g. Controlling emotions
There is a mean of feelings, as in our responses to the good or bad fortune of others
Nearly all the good and bad states of character are concerned with feelings
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / a. Rationality
Aristotle gives a superior account of rationality, because he allows emotions to participate [Hursthouse]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / b. Human rationality
Assume our reason is in two parts, one for permanent first principles, and one for variable things
Aristotle makes belief a part of reason, but sees desires as separate [Sorabji]
Aristotle sees reason as much more specific than our more everyday concept of it [Frede,M]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / c. Animal rationality
Aristotle and the Stoics denied rationality to animals, while Platonists affirmed it [Sorabji]
Animals live by sensations, and some have good memories, but they don't connect experiences
18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 5. Mental Files
Many memories make up a single experience
18. Thought / D. Concepts / 4. Structure of Concepts / i. Conceptual priority
It is unclear whether acute angles are prior to right angles, or fingers to men
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 2. Abstracta by Selection
You can't abstract natural properties to make Forms - objects and attributes are defined together
We learn primitives and universals by induction from perceptions
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 3. Abstracta by Ignoring
Mathematicians study what is conceptually separable, and doesn't lead to error
Mathematicians study quantity and continuity, and remove the perceptible features of things
Mathematicians suppose inseparable aspects to be separable, and study them in isolation
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 8. Abstractionism Critique
If health happened to be white, the science of health would not study whiteness
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 2. Meaning as Mental
For Aristotle meaning and reference are linked to concepts [Putnam]
19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 3. Predicates
Predicates are substance, quality, place, relation, quantity and action or affection
Only what can be said of many things is a predicable [Wedin]
Some predicates signify qualification of a substance, others the substance itself
19. Language / D. Propositions / 4. Mental Propositions
Spoken sounds vary between people, but are signs of affections of soul, which are the same for all
19. Language / E. Analyticity / 2. Analytic Truths
The notion of analytic truth is absent in Aristotle [Politis]
19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric
Rhetoric is a political offshoot of dialectic and ethics
Rhetoric now enables good speakers to become popular leaders
19. Language / F. Communication / 3. Denial
It doesn't have to be the case that in opposed views one is true and the other false
Negation takes something away from something
19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / d. Metaphor
If you shouldn't argue in metaphors, then you shouldn't try to define them either
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 1. Intention to Act / a. Nature of intentions
Not all actions aim at some good; akratic actions, for example, do not [Burnyeat]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
Choice is not explained by the will, but by the operation of reason when it judges what is good [Frede,M]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / c. Agent causation
An action is voluntary if the limb movements originate in the agent
Deliberation ends when the starting-point of an action is traced back to the dominant part of the self
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / d. Weakness of will
Aristotle seems not to explain why the better syllogism is overcome in akratic actions [Burnyeat]
The akrates acts from desire not choice, and the enkrates acts from choice not desire
Virtue is right reason and feeling and action. Akrasia and enkrateia are lower levels of action. [Cottingham]
Akrasia merely neglects or misunderstands knowledge, rather than opposing it [Achtenberg]
Some people explain akrasia by saying only opinion is present, not knowledge
A person may act against one part of his knowledge, if he knows both universal and particular
Aristotle sees akrasia as acting against what is chosen, not against reason [Frede,M]
Akrasia is explained by past mental failures, not by a specific choice [Frede,M]
Licentious people feel no regret, but weak-willed people are capable of repentance
Akrasia is the clash of two feelings - goodness and pleasure
A community can lack self-control
Self-controlled follow understanding, when it is opposed to desires
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 2. Acting on Beliefs / a. Acting on beliefs
Choice results when deliberation brings together an opinion with an inclination
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason
Practical intellect serves to arrive at the truth which corresponds to right appetite
Seeing particulars as parts of larger wholes is to perceive their value [Achtenberg]
We deliberate about means, not ends
Prudence is mainly concerned with particulars, which is the sphere of human conduct
Virtue ensures that we have correct aims, and prudence that we have correct means of achieving them
The one virtue of prudence carries with it the possession of all the other virtues
Practical reason is truth-attaining, and focused on actions good for human beings
One cannot be prudent without being good
Unlike in inanimate things, in animate things actions have more than one starting point
The deliberative part of the soul discerns explanatory causes
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / b. Intellectualism
Bad people are just ignorant of what they ought to do
Some people are good at forming opinions, but bad at making moral choices
For Socrates virtues are principles, involving knowledge, but we say they only imply the principle of practical reason
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / c. Reasons as causes
We assign the cause of someone's walking when we say why they are doing it
Our reasoned acts are held to be voluntary and our own doing
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 4. Responsibility for Actions
If you repent of an act done through ignorance, you acted involuntarily, not non-voluntarily
For Aristotle responsibility seems negative, in the absence of force or ignorance [Irwin]
An action is voluntary when it is accompanied by thought of some kind
We are responsible if our actions reflect our motivation [Frede,M]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 5. Action Dilemmas / a. Dilemmas
A man should sooner die than do some dreadful things, no matter how cruel the death
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 4. Beauty
We choose things for their fineness, their advantage, or for pleasure
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 5. Natural Beauty
Pentathletes look the most beautiful, because they combine speed and strength
Nothing contrary to nature is beautiful
21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 2. Art as Form
Beauty involves the Forms of order, symmetry and limit, which can be handled mathematically
21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 8. The Arts / b. Literature
Poetry is more philosophic than history, as it concerns universals, not particulars
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 5. Objectivism in Art
The collective judgement of many people on art is better than that of an individual
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
Music can mould the character to be virtuous (just as gymnastics trains the body)
The good is found in actions, but beauty can exist without movement
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / d. Ethical theory
We aim not to identify goodness, but to be good
We must take for granted that we should act according to right principle
There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / g. Moral responsibility
Acts are voluntary if done knowingly, by the agent, and in his power to avoid it
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
Men are physically prime at thirty-five, and mentally prime at forty-nine
Perhaps we get a better account of happiness as the good for man if we know his function
If bodily organs have functions, presumably the whole person has one
To eat vast amounts is unnatural, since natural desire is to replenish the deficiency
What is natural for us is either there at birth, or appears by normal processes
Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal [Fogelin]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / f. Übermensch
For the great-souled man it is sometimes better to be dead
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / j. Ethics by convention
We all feel universal right and wrong, independent of any community or contracts
Aristotle said there are two levels of virtue - the conventional and the intellectual [Taylor,R]
Moral acts are so varied that they must be convention, not nature
Some say slavery is unnatural and created by convention, and is therefore forced, and unjust
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / a. Nature of value
For Aristotle 'good' means purpose, and value is real but relational [Achtenberg]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / e. Means and ends
We desire final things just for themselves, and not for the sake of something else
How can an action be intrinsically good if it is a means to 'eudaimonia'? [Ackrill]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / f. Ultimate value
No one would choose life just for activities not done for their own sake
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / b. Successful function
Each thing that has a function is for the sake of that function
Each named function has a distinctive excellence attached to it
Wearing a shoe is its intrinsic use, and selling it (as a shoe) is its coincidental use
A thing's active function is its end
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / d. Health
Excess and deficiency are bad for virtue, just as they are for bodily health
Disreputable pleasures are only pleasant to persons with diseased perception
Everything seeks, not a single good, but its own separate good
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / e. Death
The more virtuous and happy a person is, the worse the prospect becomes of ending life
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / f. Altruism
All altruism is an extension of self-love
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / g. Love
Most people want to be loved rather than to love, because they desire honour
Only lovable things are loved, and they must be good, or pleasant, or useful
Spirit [thumos] is the capacity by which we love
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / h. Fine deeds
Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom
Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds
Good people enjoy virtuous action, just as musicians enjoy beautiful melodies
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / i. Self-interest
For Aristotle, true self-love is love of the higher parts of one's soul [Annas]
Self-love benefits ourselves, and also helps others
The best people exercise their virtue towards others, rather than to themselves
Selfishness is wrong not because it is self-love, but because it is excessive
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / a. Form of the Good
Each category of existence has its own good, so one Good cannot unite them
There should be one science of the one Good, but there are many overlapping sciences
The good is 'that at which all things aim'
Is the good a purpose, a source of movement, or a pure form?
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / b. Types of good
Goodness is when a thing (such as a circle) is complete, and conforms with its nature
Intelligence and sight, and some pleasures and honours, are candidates for being good in themselves
Goods are external, of the soul, and of the body; those of the soul (such as action) come first
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / f. Good as pleasure
Pleasure is not the Good, and not every pleasure is desirable
The masses believe, not unreasonably, that the good is pleasure
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / g. Consequentialism
Clearly perfect conduct will involve both good intention and good action
We judge people from their deeds because we cannot see their choices (which matter more)
The function of good men is to confer benefits
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / h. Good as benefit
Wealth is not the good, because it is only a means
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / a. Nature of happiness
You can be good while asleep, or passive, or in pain
Happiness seems to involve virtue, or practical reason, or wisdom, or pleasure, or external goods
Horses, birds and fish are not happy, lacking a divine aspect to their natures
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / b. Eudaimonia
Eudaimonia is said to only have final value, where reason and virtue are also useful [Orsi]
Does Aristotle say eudaimonia is the aim, or that it ought to be? [McDowell]
Some good and evil can happen to the dead, just as the living may be unaware of a disaster
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / c. Value of happiness
Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are [Nagel]
Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself
Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness
Happiness is composed of a catalogue of internal and external benefits
If happiness can be achieved by study and effort, then it is open to anyone who is not corrupt
Happiness is activity in accordance with complete virtue, for a whole life, with adequate external goods
Happiness needs total goodness and a complete life
The happy life is in accordance with goodness, which implies seriousness
The best life is that of the intellect, since that is in the fullest sense the man
Happiness involves three things, of which the greatest is either wisdom, virtue, or pleasure
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / a. Nature of pleasure
For Aristotle, pleasure is the perception of particulars as valuable [Achtenberg]
Pleasure and pain are perceptions of things as good or bad
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / b. Types of pleasure
There are pleasures of the soul (e.g. civic honour, and learning) and of the body
Intellectual pleasures are superior to sensuous ones
God feels one simple pleasure forever
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / c. Value of pleasure
If we criticise bodily pleasures as licentious and bad, why do we consider their opposite, pain, to be bad?
Nobody would choose the mentality of a child, even if they had the greatest childish pleasures
It is right to pursue pleasure, because it enhances life, and life is a thing to choose
If happiness were mere amusement it wouldn't be worth a lifetime's effort
There are many things we would want even if they brought no pleasure
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / d. Sources of pleasure
Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity
While replenishing we even enjoy unpleasant things, but only absolute pleasures when we are replenished
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / e. Role of pleasure
Feeling inappropriate pleasure or pain affects conduct, and is central to morality
Character is revealed by the pleasures and pains people feel
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / f. Dangers of pleasure
The greater the pleasure, the greater the hindrance to thought
23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 1. Ethical Egoism
Self-interest is a relative good, but nobility an absolute good
A man is his own best friend; therefore he ought to love himself best
Nobody would choose all the good things in world, if the price was loss of identity
23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 2. Hedonism
Licentiousness concerns the animal-like pleasures of touch and taste
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / a. Nature of virtue
All good things can be misused, except virtue
The best virtues are the most useful to others
All moral virtue is concerned with bodily pleasure and pain
The good for man is an activity of soul in accordance with virtue
Many pleasures are relative to a person, but some love what is pleasant by nature, and virtue is like that
Aristotle must hold that virtuous King Priam's life can be marred, but not ruined [Hursthouse]
Feelings are vital to virtue, but virtue requires choice, which feelings lack [Kosman]
If virtues are not feelings or faculties, then they must be dispositions
Actions are not virtuous because of their quality, but because of the way they are done
Virtue is the feeling of emotions that accord with one's perception of value [Achtenberg]
Virtue is a purposive mean disposition, which follows a rational principle and prudent judgment
Acts may be forgivable if particular facts (rather than principles) are unknown
There are six categories of particular cirumstance affecting an action
An act is involuntary if the particular facts (esp. circumstances and effect) are unknown
A life of moral virtue brings human happiness, but not divine happiness
People who perform just acts unwillingly or ignorantly are still not just
Virtue is different from continence
Excellence is a sort of completion
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / b. Basis of virtue
The two main parts of the soul give rise to two groups of virtues - intellectual, and moral
How can good actions breed virtues, if you need to be virtuous to perform good actions?
If a thing has excellence, this makes the thing good, and means it functions well
Excellence is the best state of anything (like a cloak) which has an employment or function
Is excellence separate from things, or part of them, or both?
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / c. Particularism
It is not universals we must perceive for virtue, but particulars, seen as intrinsically good [Achtenberg]
Actions concern particular cases, and rules must fit the cases, not the other way round
We cannot properly judge by rules, because blame depends on perception of particulars
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / d. Virtue theory critique
Aristotle neglects the place of rules in the mature virtuous person [Annas]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / a. Natural virtue
Moral virtue is not natural, because its behaviour can be changed, unlike a falling stone
We are partly responsible for our own dispositions and virtues
Dispositions to virtue are born in us, but without intelligence they can be harmful
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / c. Motivation for virtue
The end of virtue is what is right and honourable or fine
A person is good if they act from choice, and for the sake of the actions in themselves
Existence is desirable if one is conscious of one's own goodness
Virtuous people are like the citizens of the best city
People become good because of nature, habit and reason
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / d. Teaching virtue
Associating with good people can be a training in virtue
Nature enables us to be virtuous, but habit develops virtue in us
We acquire virtues by habitually performing good deeds
Like activities produce like dispositions, so we must give the right quality to the activity
True education is training from infancy to have correct feelings
We must practise virtuous acts because practice actually teaches us the nature of virtue [Burnyeat]
People can break into the circle of virtue and good action, by chance, or with help
We acquire virtue by the repeated performance of just and temperate acts
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / e. Character
A person of good character sees the truth about what is actually fine and pleasant
People develop their characters through the activities they pursue
When people speak of justice they mean a disposition of character to behave justly
It is very hard to change a person's character traits by argument
Character can be heroic, excellent, controlled, uncontrolled, bad, or brutish [Urmson]
The three states of character to avoid are vice, 'akrasia' and brutishness
Character virtues (such as courage) are of the non-rational part, which follows the rational part
Character is shown by what is or is not enjoyed, and virtue chooses the mean among them
We judge character not by their actions, but by their reasons for actions
Character (éthos) is developed from habit (ethos)
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / f. The Mean
The mean is relative to the individual (diet, for example)
Virtues are destroyed by the excess and preserved by the mean
Aristotle aims at happiness by depressing emotions to a harmless mean [Nietzsche]
Skills are only well performed if they observe the mean
One drink a day is moderation, but very drunk once a week could exhibit the mean [Urmson]
In most normal situations it is not appropriate to have any feelings at all [Urmson]
We must tune our feelings to be right in every way
The mean is always right, and the extremes are always wrong
The vices to which we are most strongly pulled are most opposed to the mean
To make one's anger exactly appropriate to a situation is very difficult
Patient people are indignant, but only appropriately, as their reason prescribes
The sincere man is praiseworthy, because truth is the mean between boasting and irony
The mean implies that vices are opposed to one another, not to virtue [Annas]
People sometimes exhibit both extremes together, but the mean is contrary to both of them
The law is the mean
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / h. Right feelings
At times we ought to feel angry, and we ought to desire health and learning
It is foolish not to be angry when it is appropriate
Possessors of a virtue tend to despise what reason shows to be its opposite
Virtue is concerned with correct feelings
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / i. Absolute virtues
There is no right time or place or way or person for the committing of adultery; it is just wrong
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / j. Unity of virtue
Nowadays we (unlike Aristotle) seem agreed that someone can have one virtue but lack others [Williams,B]
Greatness of soul produces all the virtues - and vice versa
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues
Gods exist in a state which is morally superior to virtue
Friendship is preferable to money, since its excess is preferable
Justice and self-control are better than courage, because they are always useful
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / b. Temperance
If someone just looks at or listens to beautiful things, they would not be thought intemperate
It is quite possible to live a moderate life and yet be miserable
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice
What emotion is displayed in justice, and what are its deficiency and excess? [Urmson]
Particular justice concerns specific temptations, but universal justice concerns the whole character
Justice is whatever creates or preserves social happiness
The word 'unjust' describes law-breaking and exploitation
Justice concerns our behaviour in dealing with other people
Between friends there is no need for justice
Justice is a virtue of communities
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / d. Courage
True courage is an appropriate response to a dangerous situation
Strictly speaking, a courageous person is one who does not fear an honourable death
Courage follows reason, which tells us to choose what is noble
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / e. Honour
Honour depends too much on the person who awards it
Honour is clearly the greatest external good
If you aim at honour, you make yourself dependent on the people to whom you wish to be superior [Williams,B]
Honour depends on what it is for, and whether it is bestowed by worthy people
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / f. Compassion
The young feel pity from philanthropy, but the old from self-concern
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / g. Contemplation
Only contemplation is sought for its own sake; practical activity always offers some gain
The intellectual life is divine in comparison with ordinary human life
We should aspire to immortality, and live by what is highest in us
The gods live, but action is unworthy of them, so that only leaves contemplation?
Lower animals cannot be happy, because they cannot contemplate
The more people contemplate, the happier they are
Contemplation (with the means to achieve it) is the perfect happiness for man
Contemplation is a supreme pleasure and excellence
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / a. External goods
The fine deeds required for happiness need external resources, like friends or wealth
A man can't be happy if he is ugly, or of low birth, or alone and childless
It is nonsense to say a good person is happy even if they are being tortured or suffering disaster
Goods in the soul are more worthy than those outside it, as everybody wants them
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / c. Wealth
Rich people are mindlessly happy
The virtue of generosity requires money
The rich are seen as noble, because they don't need to commit crimes
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / d. Friendship
Aristotle does not confine supreme friendship to moral heroes [Cooper,JM]
For Aristotle in the best friendships the binding force is some excellence of character [Cooper,JM]
Bad men can have friendships of utility or pleasure, but only good men can be true friends
Friendship cannot be immediate; it takes time, and needs testing
Decent people can be friends with base people
Master and slave can have friendship through common interests
We value friendship just for its own sake
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 1. Deontology
'Enkrateia' (control) means abiding by one's own calculations
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
Society collapses if people cannot rely on exchanging good for good and evil for evil
Even more than a social being, man is a pairing and family being
Man is by nature a political animal
People want to live together, even when they don't want mutual help
Only humans have reason
Man is intrinsically a civilized animal
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / b. The natural life
Man is by nature a social being
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / c. A unified people
The community (of villages) becomes a city when it is totally self-sufficient
A community must share a common view of good and justice
People who are anti-social or wholly self-sufficient are no part of a city
Friendship is the best good for cities, because it reduces factions
A community should all share to some extent in something like land or food
A city can't become entirely one, because its very nature is to be a multitude
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 2. Population / b. State population
The size of a city is decided by the maximum self-sufficient community that can be surveyed
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 1. Purpose of a State
A bad political constitution (especially a tyranny) makes friendship almost impossible
Political science aims at the highest good, which involves creating virtue in citizens
The main function of politics is to produce friendship
What is the best life for everyone, and is that a communal or an individual problem?
The happiest city is the one that acts most nobly
The same four cardinal virtues which apply to individuals also apply to a city
A city aims at living well
Every state is an association formed for some good purpose
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / d. General will
The state aims to consist as far as possible of those who are like and equal
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 3. Constitutions
The four constitutions are democracy (freedom), oligarchy (wealth), aristocracy (custom), tyranny (security)
The aim of legislators, and of a good constitution, is to create good citizens
The best constitution enables everyone to live the best life
A city is a community of free people, and the constitution should aim at the common advantage
The six constitutions are monarchy/tyranny, aristocracy/oligarchy, and polity/democracy
Constitutions specify distribution of offices, the authorities, and the community's aim
The greed of the rich is more destructive than the greed of the people
Any constitution can be made to last for a day or two
We must decide the most desirable human life before designing a constitution
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship
A citizen is someone who is allowed to hold official posts in a city
The virtues of a good citizen are relative to a particular constitution
A person can be an excellent citizen without being an excellent man
The middle classes are neither ambitious nor anarchic, which is good
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / b. Monarchy
Kings should be selected according to character
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / d. Elites
The only virtue special to a ruler is practical wisdom
The rich can claim to rule, because of land ownership, and being more trustworthy
People who buy public office will probably expect to profit from it
The guardians should not be harsh to strangers, as no one should behave like that
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 3. Government / b. Legislature
We hold that every piece of legislation is just
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 3. Government / c. Executive
In large communities it is better if more people participate in the offices
Election of officials by the elected is dangerous, because factions can control it
Officers should like the constitution, be capable, and have appropriate virtues and justice
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / a. Nature of democracy
Democracy is the best constitution for friendship, because it encourages equality
The many may add up to something good, even if they are inferior as individuals
Like water, large numbers of people are harder to corrupt than a few
Democracy arises when people who are given equal freedom assume unconditional equality
Popular leaders only arise in democracies that are not in accord with the law
Choosing officials by lot is democratic
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / d. Representative democracy
If the people are equal in nature, then they should all share in ruling
It is wrong that a worthy officer of state should seek the office
No office is permanent in a democracy
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / e. Democratic minorities
In many cases, the claim that the majority is superior would apply equally to wild beasts
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / f. Against democracy
Ultimate democracy is tyranny
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / e. Liberal community
We aim to understand the best possible community for free people
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 7. Communitarianism / a. Communitarianism
Friendship holds communities together, and lawgivers value it more than justice
Friendship is based on a community of sharing
Look at all of the citizens before judging a city to be happy
Community is based on friends, who are equal and similar, and share things
The best communities rely on a large and strong middle class
Citizens do not just own themselves, but are also parts of the city
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 8. Socialism
People care less about what is communal, and more about what is their own
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 9. Communism
Owning and sharing property communally increases disagreements
There could be private land and public crops, or public land and private crops, or both public
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 12. Feminism
Both women and children should be educated, as this contributes to a city's excellence
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
Aristotle thought slavery is just if it is both necessary and natural [Sandel]
Natural slaves are those naturally belonging to another, or who can manage no more than labouring
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 6. Political freedom
One principle of liberty is to take turns ruling and being ruled
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 1. Grounds of equality
Equality is obviously there to help people who do not get priority in the constitution
It is always the weak who want justice and equality, not the strong
We can claim an equal right to aristocratic virtue, as well as to wealth or freedom
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 2. Political equality
It is dreadful to neither give a share nor receive a share
Faction is for inferiors to be equal, and equals to become superior
The Heraeans replaced election with lot, to thwart campaigning
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 4. Economic equality
Phaleas proposed equality of property, provided there is equality of education
Wealth could be quickly leveled by only the rich giving marriage dowries
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
Law is intelligence without appetite
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights
Property should be owned privately, but used communally
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice
For Aristotle, debates about justice are debates about the good life [Sandel]
The best cure for mutual injustice is friendship
The good is obviously justice, which benefits the whole community, and involves equality in some sense
Justice is the order in a political community
Justice is equality for equals, and inequality for unequals
The virtue of justice may be relative to a particular constitution
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / a. Legal system
Man is the worst of all animals when divorced from law and justice
If it is easy to change the laws, that makes them weaker
Laws that match people's habits are more effective than mere written rules
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / b. Rule of law
Correct law should be in control, with rulers only deciding uncertain issues
It is said that we should not stick strictly to written law, as it is too vague
It is preferable that law should rule rather than any single citizen
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / c. Natural law
Natural justice is the same everywhere, and does not (unlike legal justice) depend on acceptance
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / b. Retribution for crime
It is noble to avenge oneself on one's enemies, and not come to terms with them
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 2. Religion in Society
The whole state should pay for the worship of the gods
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / a. Aims of education
A state is plural, and needs education to make it a community
A city has a single end, so education must focus on that, and be communal, not private
The aim of serious childhood play is the amusement of the complete adult
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / b. Education principles
Aristotle said the educated were superior to the uneducated as the living are to the dead [Diog. Laertius]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / c. Teaching
Intellectual virtue arises from instruction (and takes time), whereas moral virtue result from habit
Men learn partly by habit, and partly by listening
Wise men aren't instructed; they instruct
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 3. Abortion
Abortions should be procured before the embryo has acquired life and sensation
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 4. Suicide
A suicide embraces death to run away from hardships, rather than because it is a fine deed
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 1. Nature
Nature is a principle of change, so we must understand change first
Nothing natural is disorderly, because nature is responsible for all order
'Nature' refers to two things - form and matter
Nature does nothing in vain
Why are some things destructible and others not?
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / a. Final purpose
Nature has purpose, and aims at what is better. Is it coincidence that crops grow when it rains?
An unworn sandal is in vain, but nothing in nature is in vain
There has to be some goal, and not just movement to infinity
If nature makes everything for a purpose, then plants and animals must have been made for man
Everything is arranged around a single purpose
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / b. Limited purposes
The nature of a thing is its end and purpose
A thing's purpose is ambiguous, and from one point of view we ourselves are ends
Teeth and crops are predictable, so they cannot be mere chance, but must have a purpose
Aristotle needed to distinguish teleological description from teleological explanation [Irwin]
The nature of any given thing is determined by its end
It is folly not to order one's life around some end
The best instruments have one purpose, not many
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / c. Purpose denied
Eyes could be used for a natural purpose, or for unnatural seeing, or for a non-seeing activity
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 3. Natural Function
Is ceasing-to-be unnatural if it happens by force, and natural otherwise?
Each thing's function is its end
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 4. Mathematical Nature
Pythagoreans say the whole universe is made of numbers
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 5. Infinite in Nature
The heavens seem to be infinite, because we cannot imagine their end
Continuity depends on infinity, because the continuous is infinitely divisible
There are potential infinities (never running out), but actual infinity is incoherent [Friend]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / a. Greek matter
Matter desires form, as female desires male, and ugliness desires beauty
Matter is the limit of points and lines, and must always have quality and form
The primary matter is the substratum for the contraries like hot and cold
Aristotle's matter can become any other kind of matter [Wiggins]
Matter is perceptible (like bronze) or intelligible (like mathematical objects)
Matter is neither a particular thing nor a member of a determinate category
Aristotle says matter is a lesser substance, rather than wholly denying that it is a substance [Kung]
Substance must exist, because something must endure during change between opposites
Aristotle had a hierarchical conception of matter [Fine,K]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / b. Prime matter
Primary matter is what characterises other stuffs, and it has no distinct identity
Ultimate matter is discredited, as Aristotle merged substratum of change with bearer of properties [Simons]
Aristotle may only have believed in prime matter because his elements were immutable [Alexander,P]
The traditional view of Aristotle is God (actual form) at top and prime matter (potential matter) at bottom [Gill,ML]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / c. Ultimate substances
There couldn't be just one element, which was both water and air at the same time
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / e. The One
It doesn't explain the world to say it was originally all one. How did it acquire diversity?
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / f. Ancient elements
When Aristotle's elements compound they are stable, so why would they ever separate? [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
Aether moves in circles and is imperishable; the four elements perish, and move in straight lines [Gill,ML]
An element is what bodies are analysed into, and won't itself divide into something else
The Four Elements must change into one another, or else alteration is impossible
Fire is hot and dry; Air is hot and moist; Water is cold and moist; Earth is cold and dry
I claim that Aristotle's foundation is the four elements, and not wholly potential prime matter [Gill,ML]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / g. Atomism
Wood is potentially divided through and through, so what is there in the wood besides the division?
Bodies are endlessly divisible
If a body is endlessly divided, is it reduced to nothing - then reassembled from nothing?
26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 1. Natural Kinds
Unusual kinds like mule are just a combination of two kinds
26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 2. Defining Kinds
All water is the same, because of a certain similarity
26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 6. Necessity of Kinds
Whatever holds of a kind intrinsically holds of it necessarily
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 2. Types of cause
The 'form' of a thing explains why the matter constitutes that particular thing [Politis]
A 'material' cause/explanation is the form of whatever is the source [Politis]
Causes produce a few things in their own right, and innumerable things coincidentally
Types of cause are nature, necessity and chance, and mind and human agency
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 3. Final causes
The four causes are the material, the form, the source, and the end
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 4. Naturalised causation
Is there cause outside matter, and can it be separated, and is it one or many?
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 5. Direction of causation
People assume events cause what follows them
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / c. Conditions of causation
We exercise to be fit, but need fitness to exercise
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / b. Nomological causation
Pure Forms and numbers can't cause anything, and especially not movement
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / d. Causal necessity
When a power and its object meet in the right conditions, an action necessarily follows
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / b. Scientific necessity
It is not possible for fire to be cold or snow black
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / d. Knowing essences
Scientists must know the essential attributes of the things they study
27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / a. Explaining movement
Motion fulfils potentiality
If movement can arise within an animal, why can't it also arise in the universe?
When there is unnatural movement (e.g. fire going downwards) the cause is obvious
If the more you raise some earth the faster it moves, why does the whole earth not move?
Movement can be intrinsic (like a ship) or relative (like its sailors)
Movement is spatial, alteration, withering or growth
Practical reason is based on desire, so desire must be the ultimate producer of movement
If all movement is either pushing or pulling, there must be a still point in between where it all starts
27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / b. Laws of motion
If something is pushed, it pushes back
27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 2. Thermodynamics / d. Entropy
Change goes from possession to loss (as in baldness), but not the other way round
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 1. Void
Void is a kind of place, so it can't explain place
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 4. Substantival Space
The universe as a whole is not anywhere
If everything has a place, this causes an infinite regress, because each place must have place
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 5. Relational Space
Place is not shape, or matter, or extension between limits; it is the limits of a body
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / b. Relative time
If there were many cosmoses, each would have its own time, giving many times
There is no time without movement
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / c. Idealist time
Would there be time if there were no mind?
It is unclear whether time depends on the existence of soul
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / d. Time as measure
Time is an aspect of change
Time does not exist without change
Time measures rest, as well as change
For Aristotle time is not a process but a means for measuring processes [Bardon]
Time is not change, but the number we associate with change
Change only exists in time through its being temporally measure
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / g. Growing block
Things may be necessary once they occur, but not be unconditionally necessary
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / i. Denying time
How can time exist, when it is composed of what has ceased to be and is yet to be?
If all of time has either ceased to exist, or has not yet happened, maybe time does not exist
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / a. Experience of time
Time is not change, but requires change in our minds to be noticed
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / e. Tensed (A) series
The present moment is obviously a necessary feature of time
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / h. Change in time
Unlike time, change goes at different rates, and is usually localised [Le Poidevin]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 3. Parts of Time / a. Beginning of time
It is hard to see how either time or movement could come into existence or be destroyed
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 3. Parts of Time / b. Instants
Time has parts, but the now is not one of them, and time is not composed of nows
Nows can't be linked together, any more than points on a line
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 3. Parts of Time / d. Measuring time
Circular motion is the most obvious measure of time, and especially the celestial sphere
We measure change by time, and time by change, as they are interdefined
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 3. Parts of Time / e. Present moment
The present moment is a link (of past to future), and also a limit (of past and of future)
We can't tell whether the changing present moment is one thing, or a succession of things
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 1. Cosmology
The Earth must be spherical, because it casts a convex shadow on the moon
The earth must be round and of limited size, because moving north or south makes different stars visible
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 2. Eternal Universe
Do things come to be from what is, or from what is not? Both seem problematical.
If each thing can cease to be, why hasn't absolutely everything ceased to be long ago?
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 3. The Beginning
Everyone agrees that the world had a beginning, but thinkers disagree over whether it will end
The first mover is necessary, and because it is necessary it is good
Even if the world is caused by fate, mind and nature are still prior causes
Something which both moves and is moved is intermediate, so it follows that there must be an unmoved mover
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 10. Multiverse
It seems possible that there exists a limited number of other worlds apart from this one
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 2. Life
Plants have far less life than animals, but more life than other corporeal entities
What is born has growth, a prime, and a withering away
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution
There is a gradual proceeding from the inanimate to animals, with no clear borderlines
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature
The source of all movement must be indivisible and have no magnitude
God is not blessed and happy because of external goods, but because of his own nature
There must a source of movement which is eternal, indivisible and without magnitude
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 5. God and Time
God is not a creator (involving time and change) and is not concerned with the inferior universe [Armstrong,K]
28. God / B. Proving God / 1. Proof of God
For Aristotle God is defined in an axiom, for which there is no proof [Frede,M]
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof
Being is better than not-being
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / b. Ontological Proof critique
'Being' and 'oneness' are predicated of everything which exists
Properties must be proved, but not essence; but existents are not a kind, so existence isn't part of essence
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof
An Order controls all things
The world can't be arranged at all if there is nothing eternal and separate
28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 4. God Reflects Humanity
Men imagine gods to be of human shape, with a human lifestyle
29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 2. Greek Polytheism
The concepts of gods arose from observing the soul, and the cosmos [Sext.Empiricus]
There are as many eternal unmovable substances as there are movements of the stars
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality
We all assume immortality is impossible