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8/13/2019 Aristotles Goal of Nature Philosophy
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The first empiricist
Hero and Rebel
Student of Plato
Wanted to investigate nature
His work has been used as basic for
a long time and for some things is even
considered relevant up to know.
384322 B.C.E
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Disagreement Parmenides
No Change
Suggest Not Being which can not be the case
But we see change all the time
Physics gives a more detailed account
Aristotle puts experience before
philosophy
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Disagreement Plato
Forms / universals are in a
different realm
Only some people are
enlightened enough to see this
(AKA Philosophers like Plato)
This does not explain changes or
existence
Difficult relation between form andmatter
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Natural Philosophy
Practical, Productive or Theoretical
Ethics?
Physics vs meta physics
First philosophy?
Study of nature vs study of being qua being.
Meta physics needs to be studied through physics.
Is the search for first principles
Knowing a fact vs knowing why
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Causes
Material cause:things have properties, because they are
made from a certain material like stone
Formal cause:the thing is something because of its form. This
is a statue because it has the form of a statue
Efficient or movement cause: what made the thing as it is
mechanically. This would be the sculptor of the statue
Final cause: This is what the thing is meant to be, meant to
do. The statue could let you remember someone or honor
someone.
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Nature
a principle or cause of being moved and of being at rest inthat to which it belongs primarily, in virtue of itself, and notaccidentally (195b22-23).
Something is natural if it produces its ownmovement/change/growth/reproduction etc.
Physics is study of change
Nature is what somethingis supposed to be.
Compare with Platosforms
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How?
Aristotle is studying nature to find causes that lead him to the
final cause, which can then be used as a universal
explanation.
Look for similarities (experience)
As are Cs because of B.
Oaks are leave shedding because the are broad leaved
(reason)
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Is it a different method?
It is plain, then, that the teaching of the old physiologists is
inadequate, and that the true method is to state what the
definitive characters are that distinguish the animal as a
whole; to explain what it is both in substance and in form, and
to deal after the same fashion with its several organs; in fact,to proceed in exactly the same way as we should do, were we
giving a complete description of a couch.
MIT translation, Part of animals, part 1
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Small problem
Do you need a final cause?
A regularity needs an explanation
A final cause can explain this regularity
Things are the way they are, because they are supposed to be
that way.
But material cause still necessary
Why do hairs grow on your head?
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Question
Explaining with final causes is teleological.
We explain by stating that its is so because it has to be so, or that
is good that it is so, or that it is inherent that it is so, or that it is in
the nature etc.
This practice still continues today. Especially in certain types of
discussions.
What do you think, are these kind of explanations valid?
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Resources used
Cambridge Companion to Aristotle Barnes
Stanford encyclopedia on Aristotle
Sparknotes on Aristotle
http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.html
Translations used by MIT students
http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.html