Basic concepts of Aristotelian
philosophy
Theoretical Philosophy
Practical Philosophy
• Physis (nature), zoe (life)
• Psyche (soul), nous
(mind, reason)
• Taxis (order), kosmos
(world-order)
• Cause or reason (aitia)
• To on (being), ousia
(substance), genesis
(becoming)
• Potency (dynamis) and
act (energeia)
•
•
•
•
Anthropos (man)
Empeiria (experience)
Techne (art)
Theoria (contemplation)
and praxis (action)
• Polis (city-state)
• Arete (virtue) and
Eudaimonia (well being,
happiness, flourishing)
• Logos (speech/reason)
Logos
• a given language OR speech OR reason
• that through which experience is known by
human beings
• frames all things, but it is possible for
human beings to become aware of that
conceptual framework, its norms (logic)
and its limitations
“Men think there are many logoi, but in reality (physis) there
is only one.” –Heraclitus
“In the beginning was the Logos.” - John
Nature and Life
• Nature/physis =
– 1st concept of Greek
philosophy
– Known by science
(episteme)
• Nature =
– One material totality
– Repetitive patterns
of being/destruction
– Operates in and of
itself, toward ends
• Life/zoe =
– self-moving
– self-replicating reality
• Life =
– Basic form of Nature
– Goal-directed:
teleology of form
and function
– Individuals and
natural kinds; all
part of the Whole
Nature
Nature (physis)
presents itself as
emergent reality,
one material world in
which human
persons are
embedded, one
mysterious whole –
but one which, in
Aristotle’s view, is
basically ordered
toward goals or end
states (teloi).
Teleological Nature
Telos = goal or end state.
• teleological structure =
designed so as to
achieve goals (e.g.
roots, leaves, seeds)
• teleological behavior =
functional, i.e. occurs in
order to bring about
certain ends (e.g.
absorb water, etc.)
Soul and Mind
• Soul/psyche= principle
of self-movement and
consciousness
• Body and Soul =
– Separate entities
(Platonic dualism)
– Different aspects of zoon,
living being (Aristotelian
functionalism)
– Soul = offshoot of,
dependent on body
(scientific materialism)
• Mind/nous = principle of
intellectual life and of
knowledge
• Mind or Reason =
– operates on senseexperience (aesthesis)
– structured by essential
concepts, rules
• substance vs. property
• principle of non-contradiction
– directed toward its own
end = truth
Order and World
• Order/taxis =
mathematical structure
– Basic pattern of
rationality
– Mathematical, e.g.
numerical or
geometrical basis
– Inherent in some
physical things, e.g.
musical harmony
• World/kosmos = orderly
structure of the universe
– Rational order,
knowable by man
– Wholistic structure of
beauty and value
(kosmos)
– Evidence of harmony
and of Divine Mind
Cosmos
The “fixed stars”
rotate around the
geocenter, where
elemental earth
gathered, then
water, air and fire.
Sun, moon and
planets circle in
other orbits. Earth
and Man are in the
center, God at the
outer limit, moving
it all…
Cause (aitia) = why something is as it is
1. Material cause = material basis for something e.g.
why did the knife break? ans. The metal was brittle
2. Agent or efficient cause = entity which brings
something about, e.g. builder of boat, cue ball of
other ball’s motion
3. Formal cause = structural explanation of
something e.g. why did that animal chase the cat?
ans. It is a dog; that is what dogs do.
4. Final cause = explanatory purpose or goal , e.g.
why did the Athenians attack Melos? ans. To
secure a harbor midway to Sparta.
Being, Substance, Properties
and Becoming
• Being = ‘what is’ but also and especially ‘what is
enduring/permanent’
• Substance= core notion of ‘being’
– Substance qua entity (Categories)
– Substance qua ‘soul’ (Metaphysics)
• Properties = predicated esp. of substances
– Essential = define X as being of that kind (e.g.
rationality of man)
– Accidental or incidental = can lose without changing
identity (e.g. color of man’s hair)
• Becoming = phenomena of change, transformation,
including coming-into existence and going-out-of existence
Aristotle: There an “essential structure” of being.
Potency and Act
• Potency (dynamis) = natural possibility,
“power” or “potentiality” that something
has, esp. by virtue of its nature
• Act (energeia) = natural actualization or
activity that something has, esp. by virtue
of its nature. When something does what
fulfills its nature, it exhibits “en-tel-echeia,”
fulfillment or being-in-its-perfected-state. In
this sense, “developmental becoming” is
actually a form of “being.”
Concepts of Human-Being
• Man (anthropos) = human = rational animal, center of
kosmos
• Theory (theoria) and Action (praxis) = two basic modes
of human life, realms of knowledge and freedom
• Experience (empeiria) and Art (techne) = human
creativeness, source of enduring human world, division
between man and nature
• Household (oikos) = locus of human family
• City-State (polis) = center of human world, law and
public action
• Virtue (arete) and Happiness (eudaimonia) = principles
of Greek ethics
• Logos (language, reason) = form of human mind,
experience, communication
Man
• “Man is the measure of all things,
both of the things that are and how
they are, and of the things that are
not and how they are not.”
–Protagoras
• “Man is the rational political animal
(zoon politikos echein logon).”
--Aristotle
Logos
• = language OR speech OR reason
• = that through which experience is known
by human beings
• = common medium of human life, Pol. I
• = scientific (apophantic), rhetorical
(persuasive) or poetic
Logos frames all things, but it is possible for
human beings to become aware of that
conceptual framework, and its limitations
Experience (empeiria) and Art (techne)
• Stabilizes perceptual
memories in a single form
• = knows individuals, not
universals
• Can = basis for prediction.
action
• Lacks techne-knowledge
of ‘universal pattern’ or
‘nature’ of things involved
– why X causes blood to
congeal in Z type bodies
– why there is a lunar eclipse
this date every 10 years
• Creates enduring world of
human artifacts, including
– Temples, warships, homes,
monuments
– Works of art music poetry
– Laws and government
• Implies a good to be
achieved, and knowledge
of how to achieve it
• Divides nature into human
vs. non-human
Q: Is there an ‘art’ of living? Or is
living wisely a something beyond
‘craft’ and ‘technique’?
Polis
• Polis = civilized community, center of
government including military life
• Greek city-state = stage of political life,
place to win enduring “name/identity”
• Linked to democracy, demos (the People),
as well as law
• Contrast to oikos, private world of family
• Praises the “life of action,” citizen rather
than the “life of the mind,” philosopher
Arete and Eudaimonia
• Virtue/excellence (arete) = key ethical values
–
–
–
–
Courage, resilience (andreia)
Self-restraint/moderation (sophrosyne)
Justice/uprightness (dikaiosyne)
Wisdom/prudence (phronesis)
• Well-being/lasting happiness (eudaimonia) =
‘activity-goal’ of human life (what everyone
seeks to have and be)
Q: Is happiness found in having, doing or
being? In family or fame, wealth or
knowledge?