OCR A Level Religious Studies Philosophy - Aristotle

Aristotle

- 384-322BCE

- moved to Athens at 17 and joined Platos Academy

- investigated biology

- became Alexander the Greats tutor

- founded his own school: the Lyceum

reason

Using logical steps and thought processes in order to reach conclusions

rationalist

one who claims that most human knowledge comes through reason

empiricist

person who believes that knowledge comes from experience of 5 sense

prime mover

Aristotle's concept of the ultimate cause of movement and change in the universe

- also known as unmoved mover

socratic method

philosophical method of questioning to gain truth

transcendent

being beyond this world a outside the realms of possibility

telos

end/purpose

theist

A person who believes in God

dualism

The belief that reality can be divided into two distinct parts, such as good and evil, or physical and non-physical

potentiality

the potential of something to happen

actuality

when potential is achieved

aetion

An explanatory factor, a reason or cause for something

Aristotle's understanding of reality

- Metaphysics: "All men desire to know. An indication of this is in the delight we take in our senses"

- fascinated about the world, understanding it, the nature of things and why we exist

- everything caused by something

- believed in potentiality and actuality

the four causes

- interested in why things exist the way they do, can find this out by looking at the world

- e.g. car made of matter, but not all bits of matter have particular structure - they have a particular form (but not the type Plato was interested in)

material cause

- matter/ substance something is made of

- e.g. book made of paper

- materials always have potential to change - represent impermanence of the world

- e.g. if you left a book outside for a long time, material of table would have changed

efficient cause

- the cause of an objects existence

- e.g. table exists as someone chose to make it

- doesn't have to be a person e.g. wind

- can have more than one efficient cause e.g. cakes efficient cause baker and mixing/ cooking process

formal cause

- what gives matter its form/ structure

- e.g. table not random piece of wood, but wood cut and arranged in a certain way, we recognise it as a table because of the way the wood is arranged

final cause

- reason why something is the way it is

- concerned with function

- teleological

prime mover

something must exist which causes motion without being moved and is eternal (final cause)

- physical world constantly in state of motion/ change

- change/ motion always caused by something

- objects in physical world in state of actuality/ potentiality

nature of the prime mover

- transcendent; outside time and space (immaterial)

- eternal; as not to change

- doesn't have a body; or subject to change

- doesn't rely on anything for existence

- humans move towards it, as that is all we can do

- leader and order of the universe

- final cause as telos of movement

- no potentiality/ actuality

nature of the prime mover

- ' a living being, eternal, most good, so that life and duration continuous and enteral belong to God; for this is God'

- good; badness related to lacking

- perfect; unable to think of anything other than itself, as if he thought about the universe, his knowledge changes

Aristotle's 3 substances

- believed you can categorise different substances which are brought about/ changed by the 4 causes

- substances which are evident but will decay or die

- substances which are evident but will not decay overtime e.g. time, the world

- substances which are immune from any change

Aristotle's understanding of the body and soul

- the body and soul were inseparable as they relied on each other

Aristotle and Plato

- although taught by him, his philosophy different

- thought we should use our senses to learn about the physical world around us which is the key to understanding

- rejected theory of the forms, as relationship between forms and objects in material world not explained

- didn't favour the dualist approach

strengths

- 4 causes derived from his studies of the world so many would agree that they are reliable

- 4 causes can be applied to things which already exist and confirmed

- anomalies don't disprove this argument

- no evidence it isn't true and doesn't overule any theories like God or the Big Bang, so doesn't have much opposition

weaknesses

- doesn't have concrete evidence that material world the source of knowledge; many rely on religion and faith

- anomalies e.g. chance and luck don't fit into 4 causes

- emotions have no cause

- could be an infinite regress of efficient causes; no need for unmoved mover or cause of all change

- Quantum physics: things come into existence without a prior cause so not all things have an efficient cause

- things may have a purpose but I may use it for a different purpose e.g. a cricket bat is for hitting the ball but may be used to kill

Critic: Plato

- 4 causes rely on experience

- experience was unreliable as it changes from person to person e.g. we cannot be sure that chairs look the same to every person

Critic: Descartes

- senses unreliable, deceive us e.g. dreams

- a priori approach better

Critic: Dawkins

- nothing the universe 'supposed to do' - has no purpose

Critic: the Big Bang theory

- universe has a definite beginning

Critic: Russel

- universe a brute fact, no final cause to it

Critic: Hume

- some things have bad telos/ purpose e.g. cancer