Questions tagged [aristotle]
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, famous for his prolific writings on a vast array of subjects, including logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, politics, and even the natural sciences. He is widely considered a "founding figure" in Western philosophy.
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Aristotle's virtue
In NE 1.7 1098a15, Aristotle claims that "human good turns out to be activity of soul exhibiting virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete."...
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Aristotle's function argument
My question lies in the reconstruction of Aristotle's argument that "The human good turns out to be activity of the soul exhibiting virtues, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance ...
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How to express an is/too-much gap?
Phrases like "too much" and "not enough" can be morally charged fairly easily, so how would we express the fact/value distinction in these terms? I was thinking of using special ...
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Correspondence between chapters and Bekker numbers in Metaphysics
Where can I find a table of correspondences such that if one work cites Aristotle's metaphysics by book and chapter, I can find the passage in an edition with Bekker numbers but no chapter divisions?
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When is mental illness a meaningful failure of wisdom?
Some philosophers think mental illness is a failure of function, to act rationally, others a failure of doing, but it can also at least involve failures of self appraisal, to accurately judge what is ...
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Under what conditions can we say that two things are ontological distinct?
I am curious as to under what conditions we say that two things are ontologically distinct. My hunch is that we say two things are ontologically distinct if they differ in their essential properties. ...
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Seeking Guidance for Reading Aristotle's Metaphysics
I've recently embarked on a journey to explore Aristotle's Metaphysics, but I must admit, I'm finding it quite challenging to grasp. As a newcomer to Aristotle's works, I wonder if there's a guide or ...
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When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body, or does it make the body as perfect as possible?
I would be grateful if you could answer the question above. When the soul is with the body, does the soul change the body or does it make the body perfect [or should I say that as perfect as the body ...
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Does Aristotle provide a mean for Phronesis? And if so, what is it?
From what I've tried to understand, Aristotle believed that practical wisdom (phronesis) is an intellectual virtue. And also, virtues are found at the mean between excess and deficiency. It seems to ...
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The priority of locomotion in Aristotelian physics - what are qualities then?
Reading through the Physics I came across a passage whose significance I had not adequately appreciated, in VIII.7 260b7-14, when he's arguing for the causal and temporal priority of locomotion to ...
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Did Socrates say: "Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; weak minds discuss people."?
Where did Socrates say or did Aristotle quote Socrates saying:
Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; weak minds discuss people.
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Does Artistole's principle of non-contradiction imply/concede/allow there are contradictions, we just can't learn much via them?
From Graham Priest and the SEP it seems like the world doesn't have to be a certain way with the PNC being necessary for "scientific inquiry, reasoning and communication" (SEP).
The world ...
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Do any philosophers value excellence per se?
I was wondering if any philosophers value excellence as a property, regardless of the action.
Akin to aesthetic functionalism, where the functionalism in itself has value, even if the thing performing ...
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Early Modern Science vs Aristotelianism
Peter Thiel said in a podcast:
Early Modern Science wanted to resist the aristotelianism of the Catholic church
This confused me because I thought that aristotelianism was the precursor to science.
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Does the Introduction of Teleology into Ethical Discourse Solve Hume's Is/Ought Problem?
For Hume, no one could describe objective reasons for thinking that a man ought to do something generally, becuase there was no way to derive an ought from an is. But, if a classical view of causality ...
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What's the difference between vanity and boastfullness?
In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics the vices boastfulness and vanity are described. The explanations (English translations, Leob) I have found are that vanity is "claiming more than you deserve&...
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Bertrand Russell describes Aristotle
"The form of a thing, we are told, is its essence and primary substance. Forms are substantial, although universals are not. When a man makes a brazen sphere, both the matter and the form already ...
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Understanding Aristotle's argument of simultaneously and sequentially actualisable potential infinities in response to Atomism
I am reading a book about Aristotle. Aristotle lays out a potential argument against infinite divisibility by the Atomists, that infinite division would leave components of zero-magnitude which could ...
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Are there any arguments that show the genus-species distinction does not work?
I would be grateful if someone tried to answer the question above. What are some arguments that show that genus-species relation does not correctly describe the world, that it is not a correct ...
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How did Aristotle discover his logic?
Supposedly Euclid employed analysis (conclusions→principles) and not synthesis (principles→conclusions) when he devised his definitions/postulates/axioms in his Elements.
How did Aristotle discover ...
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Matter and form vs. noumena and phenomena
Aristotle says that the objects of experience are made up of matter which has taken up a form. This can be understood in a fairly unremarkable sense: in a statue of Aphrodite, the matter is marble, ...
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What does it mean to be a principle?
I would be grateful if you could direct me to relevant passages in Aristotle where I can read more about the nature of "principle." Not exacty about the principle of non-contradiction but ...
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Where do words like "colour" and "age" fit into Aristotle's Categories?
Sometimes when we talk about someone we might say something like "she has a colour" or "she has an age". But we do not say "She is age" or "She is colour", so, ...
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Are fairytales Immoral?
Disney and other prominent movie production studios are making a genre out of remakes of classical fairytales, like Little Mermaid or Peter Pan. The goal is to take on broader cultural contexts and ...
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Can someone explain the terms "virtual cause" and "eminent cause"?
I would highly appreciate it if you could explain the two terms virtual and eminent. Please also refer me to a book or an article where this issue has been discussed, preferably extensively.
This ...
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Understanding meta ethical judgement in nicomachean ethics
I'm reading Nicomachean Ethics's penguin classics version and the introduction section contains this paragraph and I'm having some trouble understanding this.
From what I've read so far I understand ...
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What does Aristotle mean by contemplation?
In Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle writes about contemplation and it being a kind of good of mankind, an ultimate good etc. But what actually is contemplation? What would be a good example of ...
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In the Physics, book IV, chapter 5, what does Aristotle mean by stating that a body of uncontained water would show a circular motion?
In the Physics, book IV, chapter 6, Aristotle writes (212a31-32):
If there were to be water that had not a container, the parts of it
will be moved, while the whole will be moved in one sense but not ...
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Why is knowledge knowledge of explanations?
I am reading Aristotle. He seems to me to believe that knowledge is knowledge of explanations (causes - aitiai). But what ground is there for this belief? I cannot formulate a reason for this. I would ...
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Is obedience necessary for friendship?
Is obedience necessary for friendship?
Aristotle doesn't speak of obedience in his discussion of friendship in Ethics bk. 9, but he does speak of a sort of friendship: concord, which St. Thomas says ...
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What difference does Aquinas's 'actus essendi' really make?
According to Wikipedia,
Aristotle didn't have the notion of actus essendi. In fact, the
contribution of Aquinas to the philosophy of being is precisely that
he discovered that all Aristotelian acts ...
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Essentialism and concepts
I've been reading an old logic text (Deductive Logic. George Stock. 1888) and he describes something very like Aristotle's notion of a definition, but in his description, it is clearly a matter of ...
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In what sense is the polis/city self-sufficient for St. Thomas Aquinas?
De Regno cap. 2 n. 14:
Now since man must live in a group, because he is not sufficient unto himself to procure the necessities of life were he to remain solitary, it follows that a society will be ...
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Did Aristotle used the term *contradiction* or the term *contradictory* in his discussions of *reductio ad impossibile*?
Did Aristotle used the term contradiction or the term contradictory in his discussions of reductio ad impossibile?
Two translators who disagree:
For all those which come to a conclusion through an ...
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Seeking insights on the origin of the term "Peripatetic Axiom"
I have been researching the origins of the "Peripatetic Axiom," which states that nothing is in the mind that was not first in the senses. While I understand that this principle was first ...
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Where did Aristotle say that a relation is an accident?
I believe Aristotle listed "relations" as one of the accidents. I am in need of a citation (or at least the name of the work) where I can find this in Aristotle. Appreciate the help!
A bit ...
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Chapter 22 in Organon, negative apodeictic term and problematic premise
Paragraph 4 in Chapter 22 in Prior Analytics of Aristotle:
For let us assume that A necessarily does not apply to C, and that B may apply to all C. Then by conversion of the affirmative premiss BC ...
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Is modus ponens an invalid rule in Aristotelian logic?
I am a beginner in Aristotelian logic and I was wondering that Aristotle does not pay attention to conditional propositions in his logic and only has focused on categorical syllogisms. Does this means ...
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Why did Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas believe that the fetus only receives a rational soul at a later stage of pregnancy?
What is different about a fetus at this later stage to deserve a rational soul?
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Aristotle on Plato's realm of forms
I am familiar with Plato's realm of forms. However, I have not read much of Aristotle except for the Nicomachean Ethics. In a nutshell, how does Aristotle pick up on Plato's forms and where would I ...
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Possible vs may (or impossible vs cannot) in Aristotle's Prior Analytics
In chapter 13 of the Prior Analytics, it is written that "it is evident if it is possible for A to apply to B, it is also possible for it not to apply". Which naively speaking makes sense, ...
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Looking for a reference on Aristotle
I just started reading Mortimer Adler's "Aristotle for everybody". In chapter 1, Adler is discussing Aristotle's distinction between living and non-living bodies and plant and animal bodies. ...
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Why cannot man be his own judge (St. Thomas Aquinas)?
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II q. 64 a. 5 ad 2:
One who exercises public authority may lawfully put to death an evil-doer, since he can pass judgment on him. But no man is judge of ...
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Genesis of Intellect in Aristotle
I know that Aristotle usually talks about things in the framework of Hylomorphism, meaning everything has form and matter as dual aspects of one being. However, there is one exception.The intellect is ...
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Is the city obliged to fulfill its promises after the political regime change occurs, according to Aristotle?
"And if this is true it is evident that the sameness of the state consists chiefly in the sameness of the constitution, and it may be called or not called by the same name, whether the ...
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What is the fundamental difference of these two Aristotle books given their confusion non-modern titles?
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
Aristotelian "physics" is different from what we mean today by this word, not only to the extent that it belongs to antiquity ...
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Aristotle quote on slaves believing they are slaves?
Years ago I read a quote attributed to Aristotle:
The remarkable thing about slavery is that slaves believe they are
slaves.
What was the actual quote?
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Can a final cause also be an efficient cause?
Aristotle distinguishes between four causes: material, efficient, formal and final. However, his use of 'cause' is different than our use. Our use of 'cause' is just the efficient cause, thing A ...
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Does modern physics contradict Aristotelean substances?
In Aristotle's philosophy, physical objects have a substance and accidents. A substance is what the object "really is" and the accidents are things that can change without changing the ...
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How do essentialists deal with fuzzy essential properties?
I've been reading a collection of essays on neo-Aristotelianism where they endorse the concept of essential properties. An essential property is an ontological concept, not a conceptual concept. The ...
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