Aristotle
384-322 BCE · Greek (Stagira, Macedon) · Ethics, Metaphysics, Politics, Logic, Natural Philosophy
All men by nature desire to know.
Aristotle came to Athens at seventeen to study under Plato and stayed for twenty years — yet when his teacher died, the Academy passed to another, and Aristotle left to chart his own course. He dissected animals, catalogued constitutions, and tutored the boy who would become Alexander the Great before founding his own school at the Lyceum. Where Plato looked beyond the world to eternal Forms, Aristotle turned to the world itself, convinced that understanding begins with careful attention to particular things.
Topics Aristotle addresses
- eudaimonia
- the doctrine of the mean
- arete
- phronesis
- the function argument
- theoria
- the four causes
- substance
- hylomorphism
- form and matter
- actuality and potentiality
- final causation
- teleology
- the unmoved mover
- the ten categories
- syllogistic logic
- demonstrative science
- first principles
- nous
- the polis as natural community
- man as a political animal
- natural slavery
- the active intellect
- psyche
Questions to put to Aristotle
Ethics and the Good Life
- What do you mean by eudaimonia?
- How does the function argument show that virtue leads to flourishing?
- What is the doctrine of the mean and how does it work in practice?
- How do we acquire the virtues if they're not innate?
- What's the difference between moral virtue and practical wisdom?
- Why do you think the contemplative life is higher than the life of moral action?
Politics and the Polis
- Why is the polis natural rather than conventional?
- How do you actually argue that some people are slaves by nature?
- How do you see women's role in the household and the polis?
- What makes a good constitution and what are the main types?
- Why can't human beings flourish outside the polis?
- What's the relationship between ethics and politics in your view?
Substance and Cause
- What is ousia and why is it the central question of metaphysics?
- What are the four causes and why do we need all four?
- How does form relate to matter in your hylomorphic account?
- What's the difference between actuality and potentiality?
- How do you argue against Plato's separate Forms?
- What is the unmoved mover and how does it cause motion?
Soul and Living Things
- What do you mean when you say the soul is the form of the body?
- How do the nutritive, perceptive, and rational parts of the soul relate?
- What is the active intellect and how does it differ from the passive?
- Why did you spend so many years studying animals?
- How does your teleological approach explain biological phenomena?
- What makes something alive rather than merely a physical body?
Logic and Demonstrative Science
- What is a syllogism and why is it the basic form of reasoning?
- How does demonstrative science work from first principles?
- What role does nous play in grasping first principles?
- What's the difference between dialectical and demonstrative reasoning?
- How do the categories organize our understanding of being?
- Why can't there be an infinite regress of demonstrations?
Nature and Teleology
- What do you mean when you say nature does nothing in vain?
- How do you respond to those who explain nature purely through material necessity?
- What makes natural beings different from artifacts?
- Why is final causation primary in understanding nature?
- How does potentiality move toward actuality in natural processes?
- What's at stake for you in defending teleology against materialism?
Converse with Aristotle on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in Aristotle's own writing, cited to the page.