Aristotle Chapter 1 Study Guide

Yashira Flores

Assignment 1

Chapter One

Aristotle is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of western science and philosophy, making contribution to logic, metaphysics, physics, biology, botany, ethic, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre. He was a Greek philosopher and very educated man. He was student of Plato who in turn studied under Socrates. His view on all subjects was teleological. Aristotle recognized purposes apart from greater than the will of the individual human being and the first to classify areas of human knowledge into distinct disciplines such as mathematics, biology and ethics. Some of these classifications are still used today. Aristotle believe that human happiness was the reaction of fulfilling human

The being, according to Aristotle, although it is unique, manifests itself in ten different ways, called categories: the first is the substance, which is the fundamental category, and the remaining nine (quantity, quality, relation, place, time, situation, possession, action and passion) are accidents or modifications that are predicated of the substance.

In his physics, Aristotle defines natural beings as those who have in themselves the principle of movement and rest. The movement is explained as the passage from being in power to being in act, a being that is deprived of a certain form, but can have it, happens to acquire it effectively.

The ethics of Aristotle is teleological, that is, that identifies the good with an end. The philosopher defends this idea because he understands that when men act is because they seek to achieve a specific goal, mainly, happiness in life. Aristotle identifies happiness with the virtues, and divides them into two branches, the ethical, those that are designed to dominate the irrational part of our soul and the dianoetics, which correspond to the rational nature of the human being. Among the first we find strength, temperance and justice, while in the second group would be prudence and

Aristotle maintained some social organisms; the state is prior by nature to individuals, families and villages that form it, and man can be defined as a political animal, since it lacks meaning outside the social whole, the city-state of which it is a part.

Additionally, Western philosophy is mainly used in the Western parts of the world, such as in the European countries, while the Eastern philosophy is prevalent in Asian countries. Western philosophy deals with individualism while Eastern philosophy is related to collectivism. Both philosophy center takes more of spiritual approach while Western philosophy is more hands-on. Western philosophy is referred to as the school of thought from Greek philosophy that influenced the greater part of Western civilization. In contrary Eastern philosophy is based mainly in Asia more specifically the Chinese