Philosophy Final Test: Plato & Aristotle

First principles

the fundamental, self-evident starting points or axioms of knowledge that are necessarily true, indemonstrable by other means, and serve as the irreducible foundations for all logical reasoning, scientific understanding, and true wisdom, such as the laws of non-contradiction and excluded middle

Foundations for logical reasoning

Metaphysics

is the study of the highest principles and causes, and a wise man has knowledge of the highest and first principles and causes; therefore, attaining wisdom is the same as studying metaphysics.

wisdom is

metaphysical

Wisdom, and therefore metaphysics, deals with the most

abstract science, the furthest derived from the senses.

Although it is the most abstract, it is the most

exact

There are four causes that philosophy and wisdom deal with

1. The substance or essence of a thing-what it is made of (material)

2. The matter or subject-the shape (formal)

3. The source of motion of the efficient cause-where it comes from (efficient)

4. The final cause (end)-the purpose (final)

Aristotle disregards

other philosophers who came before him

The Form of the Good

makes all knowledge possible (like the sun makes vision possible).

The Good is the Sun of the

intelligible world

Five regimes, from best to worst, according to Plato

1. Aristocracy (rule by the wise)

2. Timocracy (honor-loving warriors)

3. Oligarchy (rule by the rich)

4. Democracy (rule by appetite; chaotic freedom)

5. Tyranny (rule by one enslaved to his desires)

Three regimes, from best to worst, according to Aristotle

1. Monarchy

2. Aristocracy

3. Constitutional Government

Justice

The harmonious order of the soul, mirrored in the harmonious order of the ideal city, is achieved through philosophy and knowledge of the Good.

In the soul

justice = reason rules, spirit supports, appetite obeys

In the city

justice = rulers rule, guardians protect, producers work.

5 historical facts of Aristotle

1. Taught by Plato

2. Taught Alexander the Great

3. Started Lyceum

4. Wrote the book of Metaphysics

5. Left the school of Athens and fled Greece because of anti-Alexander backlash after being charged with impiety

Substance =

Matter + Form

Nine accidental categories

quantity, quality, place, time, action, passion, situation, habit, relation.

Quantity

how much there is (ie. How tall, how many pounds)

Quality

Characteristics or attributes of a substance. (It is red, Socrates is wise)

Relation

How a substance is related to another (Father, son, double, half of)

When

When a substance exists or an event occurs (9pm, 470 BC)

Where

location of a substance (In the garden, on the table)

Being

Arrangement or posture of a substance, how a substance exists physically. Static, descriptive. (sitting, running)

Substance

The primary being, what exists independently (Socrates, a tree)

Condition

A state a substance is in (armed, healthy, angry)

Action

What a substance does. Dynamic, Causative. (teaching, running, action verbs)

Being affected

What happens to a substance (being praised, being struck, being used)

Aristotle is

against women's rights

Plato is

for women's rights

The three types of metal-From Plato

Gold

For rulers / philosopher-kings

Represents wisdom, leadership, and the ability to govern

Silver

For guardians/soldiers

Represents courage, discipline, and strength

Bronze (or Iron)

For producers (farmers, craftsmen, workers)

Represents practical skill, labor, and economic work

The pursuit of metaphysics, for Aristotle, is not merely to "find" an individual primary substance, but rather

to understand the nature and first principles of all primary substances

Plato is obsessed with _____________________ like in the world of forms and aristotle is obsessed with____________________.

what things could be, what things are

A secondary substance is predicated on

a primary substance.

Predicated

What we can say about a thing

The One

Secondary substance

The Many

Primary Substance

Orchard Example of the "One and the Many"

There are Many individual trees, but they are all trees, which is the one thing they all have in common. They are not each other, but they are all trees. So, since they are all trees, that is the general definition. The general definition of something gives it more principles it can follow and therefore more abstract, which makes it a secondary substance. The individual trees are primary substances because they are each individual and therefore can be predicated. You can't predicate something into being that exact tree, but you can predicate that exact tree into different categories.