Paper Assignment on Aristotle
PHIL 341 -- Fall 2012
Last revised: November 13, 2012
Due: December 3, 2012. (The last day of classes is December 7.)
Pick your topic by November 19 if possible and let me know. I recommend that you provide
me with an outline or early draft by November 26, so that I can give feedback before you
craft your final draft. I can email this advice to you.
Length: 1150-1400 words. Please give me a word count, not including quoted material and
endnotes or footnotes.
Points assigned: 36 out of 200 semester total
Choose your primary topic from one of the following
(1) How does Aristotle’s notion of the fundamental type of being (substance) change from
the Categories to On Soul and Metaphysics vii? (Use the Study Questions I have provided on
these texts as a further guide.)
(2) Based on relevant passages in On Soul, how does Aristotle understand the human soul,
bearing in mind that it has nutritive, sensitive (perceptual and appetitive), and intellectual
faculties? How does Aristotle’s view of the soul differ from Plato’s in the Phaedo, assuming
that Plato’s view is expressed by the Socrates character in that dialogue?
(3) How does Aristotle understand moral virtue generally in Nicomachean Ethics Book II
(but start with Book I, chapter 13)? How is it related to the vices, action, emotion, the mean,
and the time, place, and situation of the moral agent? And how is that understanding
reflected in his specific treatment of the moral virtues and vices related to fear and
confidence or taking physical pleasure. These states of character are discussed in N.E. Book
III, chapter 6-12, which is not in RAGP but available in translations in the WKU library or
online at: http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.3.iii.html
(4) First two questions in #3 but continue with: What is “intelligence” (Irwin’s translation
of phronesis, often translated “practical wisdom”)? And how is it related to moral virtue?
(See N.E. VI, which is in RAGP.)
(5) A key analytical distinction developed and frequently employed by Aristotle is that
between potentiality, first actuality, and second actuality. Explore how this applies to
various subject matters about which Aristotle writes: motion, learning, the nature of the
senses, e.g. sight, the nature of the soul as related to the body, the capacities of the human
soul as related to virtue and to happiness. (See Special Note on p. 2 of these instructions.)
(6) Formulate your own topic that you can use to demonstrate awareness of Aristotle’s
philosophy—but check with me first before writing the paper. I may set certain conditions
or provide additional sources.
There are several stages in this process.
1. Familiarize yourself in a general way with the subject-matter. Read the relevant works
by Aristotle. Work through the relevant works using the Study Questions I have
provided. Get as much as you can from classroom discussions of the relevant texts. Feel
free to email me with specific questions.
2. Compose an essay of the appropriate length, consisting of paragraphs no longer than ten
lines each. The paragraph division should help convey the organization of your thought.
The relationships—logical, causal-explanatory, interpretive-explanatory, or otherwise—
between the sentences should be clear. Provide documentation as appropriate, say, by
referring to (and perhaps on occasion briefly quoting) the relevant fragments. I prefer
Bekker references to than RAGP page numbers. (See “Citing Works by Aristotle” in the
Aristotle Study Questions section of the website.) Careful paraphrase will enable you avoid
excessive quoting.
Of course, you will want to avoid plagiarism. See FAQ on Plagiarism, in the Information on
Papers section of the course website.
Do not hesitate to ask for clarification or further guidelines for this assignment, e.g., on
methods of citing and referring to texts, preferably in person during class or in office hours,
but you may also email me at jan.garrett@wku.edu. If need be, I will give you my home
email address, which I check more regularly when I am not on campus.
Special Note on Potentiality, First Actuality, and Second Actuality. Important passages in
Aristotle’s writing that touch on this issue include Physics II, 193b7-8; 195b3-6; Physics III,
201a10-11; 201b27-202a1; On Soul II, 1.412a10; 412a16-22; 412a23-38; 412b18-24;
412b1-11; 412b26-28; 5.417a22-30; 418a5-7; III, generally, esp chapters 4-5. The
distinction/relationship is also at work in the Nic. Eth. (NE), although translations of the NE
do not use the terms very much, since the NE is not aimed chiefly at students of philosophy
as such. Yet Aristotle often discusses in the NE capacities and parts or faculties of the soul
(=potentialities), states or dispositions such as knowledge, craft, intelligence, virtue and
vice (which are related to capacities as first actuality to potentiality); wishes, deliberations,
decisions, actions, activities and active feelings are second actualities when their
praiseworthy or flawed quality depends upon already developed states or dispositions
(first actuality). Learning and habituation, important topics in the NE, are processes
(“motions” or “changes” in the soul) from a capacity to a state or disposition, i.e., from
potentiality to first actuality.