FREE ESSAY ON ARISTOTLE AND HIS BASIC PHILOSOPHIES

ARISTOTLE AND HIS BASIC PHILOSOPHIES

Aristotle was born in 384 BC.; with him came the birth of Western realism. He was a
student of Plato and a tutor to Alexander the Great (Founders, 1991). It is difficult to
discuss the philosophies of Aristotle without bringing up those of his former tutor,
Plato. Aristotle's philosophies diverted from Plato's, and led to Aristotle forming his
own school, the Lyceum. After tutoring Alexander the Great for about five years, he
founded the Lyceum in Athens, Greece (Wheelwright, 1983). The Lyceum was a philosophical
school that dealt in matters such as metaphysics, logic, ethics, and natural sciences.
When teaching at the Lyceum, Aristotle had a habit of walking about as he discoursed. It
was in connection with this that his followers became known in later years as the
peripatetics, meaning to walk about (Owens, 1981). For the next thirteen years he devoted
his energies to his teaching and composing his philosophical treatises. This paper will
attempt to discuss Aristotle's contributions and theories in metaphysics, epistemology,
and axiology. However, his major contributions are in Metaphysics.
Aristotle's editors gave the name Metaphysics to his works on first philosophy, either
because they went beyond or followed after his physical investigations (Adler, 1983).
Metaphysics are the theories of the nature of reality. Aristotle broke down Plato's
dualism and replaced it with a hierarchy. He stated that both things and ideas are real,
but ideas are better. Actually all things are a combination of matter and idea. For
example: A chair may be wood, but it is more than just a block of wood. It is wood shaped
by an idea. By looking at the chair we can know something of the concept which gives it
meaning. The physical chair is real, but the concept which gives it meaning is higher in
the matter hierarchy. A more detailed look into this concept is discussed later in this
paper. Aristotle also believed in mind-body dualism, like Plato, which asserts that the
mind and body exist on separate planes. Realist metaphysics assumes the existence of
objects independently of the human experience of those objects; cognition involves an
interaction of the mind and the objective universe (Owens, 1981). The educational goals
of realism are to develop human rationality through the study of organized bodies of
knowledge and to encourage humans to define themselves by making rational decisions and
exercising their potential. For Aristotle, the subject of metaphysics deals with the
first principles of scientific knowledge and the ultimate conditions of all existence.
More specifically, it deals with existence in its most fundamental state, and the
essential attributes of existence. This can be contrasted with mathematics, which deals
with existence in terms of lines or angles, and not existence as it is in itself. 
Aristotle argues that there are a handful of universal truths. Against the followers of
Heraclitus and Protagoras, Aristotle defends both the laws of contradiction, and that of
the excluded middle. He does this by showing that their denial is suicidal. Carried out
to its logical consequences, the denial of these laws would lead to the sameness of all
facts and all assertions. It would also result in an indifference in conduct. As the
science of being as being, the leading question of Aristotle's metaphysics is, What is
meant by the real or true substance,(Founders, 1991). The development of potentiality to
actuality is one of the most important aspects of Aristotle's philosophy. It was intended
to solve the difficulties which earlier thinkers had raised with reference to the
beginning of existence and the relations of the one and many. The actual vs. potential
state of things is explained in terms of the causes which act on things. There are four
causes: 
1. Material cause, or the elements out of which an object is created; 
1. Efficient cause, or the means by which it is created; 
2. Formal cause, or the expression of what it is; 
3. Final cause, or the end for which it is (Adler, 1991). 
Take, for example, a brick house. Its material cause is the brick itself. Its efficient
cause is the builder, which he creates the house into shape. The formal cause is the idea
of the completed house. The final cause is the idea of the house as it prompts the
builder to act on the bricks. The final cause tends to be the same as the formal cause,
and both of these can be assumed by the efficient cause. Of the four, it is the formal
and final which is the most important, and which most truly gives the explanation of an
object. The final end of a thing is realized in the full perfection of the object itself,
not in our conception of it. Final cause is thus internal to the nature of the object
itself, and not something we subjectively impose on it. God to Aristotle is the first of
all substances, the necessary first source of movement who is himself unmoved. God is a
being with everlasting life, and perfect blessedness, engaged in never-ending
contemplation. 
Epistemology are theories of or the study of the nature and grounds for knowledge with
reference to its limits and validity (Wheelwright, 1983). Aristotle accepts the idea of
universal, knowable Truth. He believes that, since both ideas and things are real,
knowledge can be attained by both reason and sense experience - actually reason applied
to sense experience. Science and philosophy are both legitimate ways of knowing, but
philosophy is superior. 
Axiology is the science of value. The word axiology, derived from two Greek roots axios
(worth or value) and logos (logic or theory), means the theory of value (Adler, 1991).
The development of the science makes possible the objective measurement of value as
accurately as a thermometer measures temperature. Aristotle is philosophically an
absolutist. Certain values, like rationality, apply universally. In day to day
decision-making, his Golden Mean concept seems relativistic (Founders, 1991). Important
concepts include intrinsic and extrinsic values. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
established his ideals of moderation, balance, and harmony as the core of his axiological
system or value theory (Owens, 1981). Unlike Plato whose philosophy was based on
abstraction, Aristotle's methods were based on empirical observation and research, thus
the basis for realism. Similar to Plato's forms, Aristotle believed in essence, which
refers to the attributes necessary for an object to be what it is.
As mentioned earlier, this paper summarizes Aristotle's theories in metaphysics,
epistemology, and axiology, and does not discuss his other philosophies. To really
understand Aristotle's philosophy, one has to read all of his theories and beliefs. There
is no fine line between his different theories, and attempting to separate them into
sections, or to summarize them in a four page paper, strips them of their true global
perspective in relation to his other theories. However, regardless of the latter fact,
Aristotle's philosophies still astound scholars and people of all walks of life today,
two thousand three hundred and twenty two years later. 
Bibliography
References
Adler, M. (1991). Aristotle For Everybody. New York, NY:MacMillan Publishing Company.
Founders of thought. (1991). Philosophy. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Owens, J. (1981). Aristotle:The collected Papers of Joseph Owens. Albany, New York. State
University of New York.
Wheelwright, Philip. (1983). Five Philosophers. New York, NY: The Odyssey Press, Inc.