By: Yael Sulkin

ARISTOTLE

384 BCAristotle is born in Stagira.

ARISTOTLE’S LIFE

347 BCLeaves Athens. Marries

Pythias and their daughter, Pythias is born.

343 BCIs invited to Macedonia to tutor Alexander the Great.

ARISTOTLE’S LIFE CONTINUED...

335 BCReturns to Athens and

founds his own school called the Lyceum.

322 BC Aristotle dies at age 62.

ARISTOTLE’S LIFE CONTINUED...

• Unlike Plato, Aristotle focused on examining the physical world and drawing connections between the sciences (physics, biology, etc.) and philosophy.─ When having knowledge of a fact, repeating it is not

enough—it is necessary to give reasons why the fact is true (a process Aristotle called demonstration)

• Aristotle perceived the physical world as the “real world” and he insisted that there is no “perfect realm” beyond.

• Aristotle was very logical, and he defined knowledge as categorizing, comparing and identifying different things that can be seen in the world. ─ Aristotle made 10 categories to differentiate between

physical aspects. (All of them are related, except for the first one)

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Categories Aristotle’s Term Greek Examples

Substance/Essence

“substance”“this”“what-it-is”

ousiatode titi esti

man, horse

Quantity How much poson four-foot, five-foot

Quality What sort poion white, literate

Relation related to what pros ti double, half, greater

Location Where pouin the Lyceum, in the marketplace

Time When pote yesterday, last year

Position Being situated keisthai lies, sits

Habit Having, possession echein is shod, is

armed

Action Doing poiein cuts, burns

Passion Undergoing paschein is cut, is burned

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT CONTINUED…

Inde

pend

ent

depe

nden

t

• Aristotle emphasized the importance of observation and he often pondered over the idea of “cause and effect” in nature, which was reflected in his theory of the four causes:

1. Material cause, or the elements out of which an object is created;

2. Efficient cause, or the means by which it is created;

3. Formal cause, or the expression of what it is;

4. Final cause, or the end for which it is.• He contributed to the development of the theory of the

four elements: earth, fire, air and water

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT CONTINUED…

His works discussed many subjects: Physics, metaphysics, poetry, theatre, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics,

government, ethics, biology and zoology. They can be categorized into types of works:

ARISTOTLE’S WRITINGS

Logic Physical

Works

Psychological works

Works on

Natural

History

Philosophical works

• Aristotle wrote many books, but one of his most prominent ones is called “Nicomachean Ethics”

• It consists of 10 books, in itself (numbered using roman numerals) that explore the idea of attaining happiness.

ETHICS

• In summary: all human activity strives for a positive end that we categorize as ‘good’

• The “supreme” good, is happiness, which comes hand-in-hand with being virtuous: Aristotle insists that a person

cannot be happy if they are not virtuous.• Aristotle states that people are “good” when they properly perform their functions, and that is how one

attains happiness. i.e. a baseball player—once they learn to pitch and play well, they have served their purpose,

making them “good”, and allowing them to attain happiness.

BOOK I

• Summary: There are two kinds of virtue:

1. Intellectual: learned by instruction

2. Moral: learned by habit and constant practice• i.e. when a baseball player learns how to pitch, they

learn virtue through practice not thinking about pitching. • Aristotle defines human virtue as the desirable middle

between two extremes (also known as the “golden mean”).

BOOK II

Vice of Deficiency Virtuous Mean Vice of Excess

Cowardice Courage Rashness

Insensibility Temperance Intemperance

Illiberality Liberality Prodigality

Pettiness Munificence Vulgarity

Humble-mindedness High-mindedness Vaingloriness

Want of Ambition Right Ambition Over-ambition

Spiritlessness Good Temper Irascibility

Surliness Friendly Civility Obsequiousness

Ironical Depreciation Sincerity Boastfulness

Boorishness Wittiness Buffoonery

Shamelessness Modesty Bashfulness

Callousness Just Resentment Spitefulness

BOOK II: THE GOLDEN MEAN

• Summary: A person’s actions depend on if they are: ─ Voluntary: a conscious decision to do something

─ Involuntary: not a conscious decision, but a person later recognizes their ignorance

─ Nonvoluntary: not a conscious decision, and the person never recognizes or suffers for their ignorance

• For example, if you’re playing basketball and you deliberately throw the ball at someone’s face, that is voluntary. Or, if you lack hand-eye coordination and accidentally throw the ball in someone’s face but feel remorse, that is involuntary. Finally, if you lack hand-eye coordination and throw the ball at someone’s face without realizing (you leave before you see the end result), then your action is non-voluntary.

BOOK III

• Ultimately, the choice between virtue and vice is in the hands of people.

• Side note:

Character

BOOK III

Ethics Actions

• For example, a religious person: they are characteristically devout to their faith and this is reflected in their ethics because they follow the ten commandments. This is also

reflected in their actions because they go to Church.

• He better explains the chart of vices and virtues (in more depth)

BOOK IV

• The role of laws: to encourage people to act virtuously. • Virtue (a person’s moral state) versus justice (relations

between people).• Two types of justice:

1. Distributive: a fair distribution of wealth that is proportional to a person’s merit. (this is the virtuous mean) i.e. good person receives more than a bad person.

2. Rectificatory: an unfair distribution of wealth (this is the vice) i.e. theft

BOOK V

• The question ‘How does one attain the golden mean?’ is answered.

Soul

BOOK VI

Rational part

Irrational part

Contemplative part: sciences

and mathemati

cs

Calculative part:

practical matters in day-to-day

life.• Aristotle states that the right reasoning leads to making the right decisions and thus attaining the virtuous mean.

Aristotle proposes four reasons for incontinence (lacking in restraint or control):

1. A person has the knowledge of what is wrong, but does not reflect on it: thus doing something wrong without realizing it.

2. Drawing wrong conclusions due to ignorance.

3. A person is mentally unstable.

4. Impulsiveness and desire for hasty success.

BOOK VII

Types of Friendship

BOOK VIII

Utility Pleasure:

drawn by wit, charm, good looks…

Goodness: admire one another’s goodness (and help maintain one another’s)

• Why friendships fall apart: i.e. a friendship of “utility” breaks apart when both parties no longer need each other, unjust treatment, people who initially misrepresent their true characters…

• Friendship is complicated and is often quite superficial. It is not always requited.

• Being independent allows a person to survive without friends, because they do not need them—but friendship is “good”, and without it one cannot attain happiness.

BOOK IX

• People can “amuse” themselves in many different ways, but this should not be confused with happiness.

• Happiness can be achieved through contemplation—only a god can spend all of their time only contemplating, but

people must strive to do as much contemplation as possible.

BOOK X

Can mastering mathematics and the sciences, as well as understanding the physical world help us attain the

virtuous mean? Is the virtuous mean even attainable?

Real Life situation:

The job description of a modern day scientist is to perform research in order to get a more comprehensive knowledge

of the human body, and because of this there have been many medical breakthroughs over the years (i.e. vaccines

for the flu, cancer treatment…). Ultimately, scientists strive to find ways to maintain human health, and as far as

Aristotle goes, this would be a virtuous mean.

KNOWLEDGE ISSUE

Aristotle believes that most of humanity (if not all) is not born virtuous, but virtue is something that we must strive

for. However, does attaining knowledge of the physical world truly promote the idea of the “golden mean”? After

all, being a scientist is a job, not a life-style. So in this case, the end result may appear to be a virtuous act (because

lives are being saved), but really, it is just superficial (it is a profession that earns money, not a charity).

COUNTER-ARGUMENT

I think that Aristotle would say that a scientist has still attained the ‘golden mean’. The ultimate purpose of it is to

attain happiness; whether a scientist chooses their profession because they want to help others, or simply for

monetary gain, they are left satisfied. So as long as they are successful with their research, scientists are able to attain

the virtuous mean.

WHAT WOULD ARISTOTLE SAY?

• Attaining the “virtuous mean” is the only way for people to attain happiness.

• The physical world holds many truths and people must strive to gain as much knowledge as possible in order to attain the “golden mean”.

Unresolved Question:• If, per say, our soul dies along with us and there is no

afterlife, what is the purpose for attaining happiness? Why should people go out of their way to be virtuous (since it is not in their nature)?

SYNTHESIS

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