Ancient Philospophical Influences: Aristotle

Strengths

Aristotles understanding of reality

Aristortle's 4 causes

Aristotle's Prime Mover

quotation form physics

marble/statue example

"Knowledge is the object of our inquiry, and men do not think they know a thing till they have grasped the 'why' of it"

for Aristotle, the word he used for the 'why' of something was aition, which has been translated as 'cause', although explanation could also be used

potency and act are distinct

potentiality vs actuality

he applies this to the process of change (or motion)

change is simply the process by which an object acquires a new form (very different from Plato's idea of Form). the object has the potentiality to become something different, and change is the actualisation of the potential of one form of matter to become another form of mattter

draws a distinction between potentiality and acuality

the block of marble has the potential to become an actual statue, th statue is latent within the block of marble - the block of marble has the capacity to become a statue

the marble cannot be both a block and statue at the same time

in another example a piece of wood cannot be both potentially on fire and actually on fire at the same time - so change is this movement between potential and actual

considered at the beginning of his Physics that we can only know something inasmuch as we can explain it

formal cause

final cause

efficient cause (how)

material cause (what)

the agent must be in a state of actuality, not potentiality. it must exist to be a cause of change in an object

you need actual water to affect the change if an acorn into an oak tree

from this we can see how Aristotle got the first two of his causes - there must be matter, which undergoes the change from one form to another. in other words, if someone asks for an. explanation of it, we can sat what it is made of - eg the statue is made of marble. this would then be the material cause

he wanted to know how we got the statue to its particular form, the 'how' = efficient cause

the sculptor acted upon the stone with his chisel to make the potential statue in the marble an actual statue

characteristics of it

need to add another cause to get a full explanation of a thing

eg a chair is more than some wood, it is an object with four legs and a space to sit

the formal cause is not as easily understandable as the other causes and has been seen as slightly controversial - much debate surrounds the notion of a form and many agree that Aristotle's notion is no less flawed than Plato's

the agent that moves from potential to actual

explanation

idea of purposive cause given because something's aim or goal is also an important part of an explanation of th thing

A gives eg of final cause of walking, medicine, purging, surgical instruments etc. as ask being for health

for A the aim of something can be seen as its greatest good

emphasis on telos (the goal of something)

key part of A's thought

change is the actualisation of somethings potential with respect to its potentiality -> something can only become what it has in it to be eg a piece of wood can become a bed but a human cannot become a bird

achieving telos

potential of something may be latent until something else acts upon it

uses of them

Modern science - efficient cause

Using teleological reasons

Modern science focuses on the efficient cause when explaining the physical world. In fact, the final cause is not considered.

when we are talking about the human world, it makes sense to talk about. why something happened in terms of a final cause -> eg why did you make that cake for Peter? I wanted to cheer him up

this is a teleological reason - makes sense in terms of what goal someone had in mind. we would not get a very good understanding of these actions if we left them out

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the cause of motion

the motion of heavenly spheres

Prime Mover vs Form of the Good

some things are not changing

rationalism vs empiricism

the logical result of the application of the final cause of the whole universe

the movement from potentiality to actuality is going on ina all things - in other words, change is happening to them

most things are changing (being generated and being destroyed), but sme things are not changing in that way

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thinks here of the devenbky spheres

the objects of desire moves other things to without itself moving (think of how a saucer of milk draws a cat to it) - in this way the prime mover is the cause of the motion of all other things

they are being drawn to it as to their own final end

both are linked in the domain of ethics:

PM is based on arguments that appeal to a posteriori (observed) evidence; the FoG on a priori argumenst

they are both 'ultimates', which might appeal yo non-theistic deists - impersonal sources of reality, arrived at through philosophical speculation rather than faith

PM: through the idea of everything being drawn to its own purpose

FoG: as the means by which everything that exists is known

how dependent on our sense are we for knowledge?

therefore it is a debate in the field if epistemology (philosophy of knowledge)

the empiricist Hume says that ideas do not exist in themselves independently from objects other than as a relation between objects

empircistics would arguetyhat sense experience is the ultimate source of knowledge

ratiinalists argue that concepts are independent of sense ecxperience

Weaknesses

4 causes

formal cause

final cause

efficient cause

goodness intrinsic

useful basis for knowledge

empirical

material cause is obvious. In order to exist and be observed , all things must be made of physical matter

explains the processs of change from potentiality to actuality

eg lump of metal has potential to turn piece of jewellery, silversmith needs to act on it to turn it into ring

helps understand what gives it shapes and characteristics

eg a bird that clucks and peck may help us idfentifyb a chicken

explains why everything has a purpose (telos). most important cause because it answers the questions about why the world ot its objects are as they are

if an object fulfils its purpose, it is good. Goodness is not found in another world, like Plato's form of the Good, but is intrsnsic to the object itself

the basis is applicable to life and scientific enquiry because we rely on sense, observation and experience

4 causes

disagreements of formal cause

issues of idea of purpose

cause and effect observed

but goodness may not be linked to a purpose

inanimate objects

sense deceive us

there is not a material cause of a colour/ concept such as beauty

Plato argues true knowledge comes from the non-physical World of the Form. we recognise the Form of Beauty in physical things

D Hume argues we may be able to observe these 2 processes but this does not mean that the effect was a result of the cause, simply that both are observed

how do we know which characteristics are essential to two an object to make it what is it - in a car, is it the engine, petrol, wheels, mirrors or a combination of factors?

purpose does not have to be intrinsic - purpose is given to the object by its creator. purpose is a human construct

some things have many purposes or purposes change

some things don't have a purpose

eg if a knife cuts my finger instead of the bread, it cuts well but is it a really good knife?

Plato would argue this, this physical world is a poor limitation of World of the Forms. We should use reason to know what is real

empiricism makes more sense of reality

empiricists say 'There is nothing in the mind except what was first in the senses' - we can use reason only after we have experienced and observed things in the world

if there is one absolute Form of the Good, why do we disagree over right and wrong or good? it is better to rely on observations - can observe whether something is good if it fulfils its final cause

no empriclcal evidence of the existence of another world outside of our senses so we should rely on our sense alone to find out more about reality

is knowledge innate as Plato suggests?

eg if I am burned by touching a hot pan, I can use reason to work out not to touch a hot lamp

eg the knife is good if it fulfils its final cause to cut

doesn't seem leaning seem much more difficult than simply remebering? empiricism gives a better understanding of reality because we learn from experiences and from our senses