Introduction
Aristotle was born in 384 B.C.E. at stature, a Greek colonial town on the Aegean near the Macedonian border and east of the modern city of Salonica (Britannica, encyclopaedia; 1952). He was first trained in medicine, considering his father was a physician of the royal Macedonian family. Upon this, Aristotle, later when to Athens to study philosophy at Plato 's Academy. During his time at this academy, they gave a lot of attention to the problem of politics and legislation and, its more general philosophical interest. Although their ideas were similar, Aristotle rejected Plato 's theories of form. He was more empirically-minded than Plato and Socrates. Aristotle made contributions to physics, biology, politics, agriculture, medicine, botany, dance, theater, ethics, logic and metaphysics. He is also known as the father of ‘natural law. Aristotle believed that what was “just by nature” was not always “just by law” ("Natural Law” Britannica/topic/natural-law. 26 May 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2016). He believed that the aim of logic is to elaborate a coherent system that allows people to investigate, classify, and evaluate exceptional and atrocious forms of
Web. 24 Feb. 2016). Aristotle separated his ideas into sections such as; the organon, categories, from words into propositions, kinds of propositions, square of opposition, the laws of thought, existential assumptions, form versus content, the syllogism, inductive syllogism, deduction versus induction, science, non-discursive reasoning, rhetoric, fallacies, moral reasoning also including his perception of natural law and the tyranny and rule of law( Groarke, Louis F. "Aristotle: LogIc." Aristotle: Logic| Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.) Aristotle was a realist. He was also a empiricist, who saw perception and the only real avenue to
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), son of a physician to the Macedonian ruler, was a Greek philosopher who studied virtually everything from logic to the sciences to ethics. He spent two decades under Plato’s tutelage in the Academy in Athens, then tutored abroad for twelve years, during which he taught Alexander the Great. He settled down afterwards in Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum. He stayed there until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. caused an increase of anti-Macedonian sentiment, at which point he left the city and died shortly afterwards due to natural causes. Considered one of the most significant and influential figures of Western philosophy, he produced many written pieces, though most have not survived to this day. Many of those that have, however, are still being studied worldwide.
Aristotle’s nature of law appealed to me the most because he defines the cultivation of virtues that achieve full potential in life. Aristotle’s theory of happiness had a process of exercising a moral life in order to reach genuine eudaemonia, which means, “actively exercising the soul’s powers”. The fulfillment of the self, allowed a person to strengthen their system of morals and values to practice a “good” life. Your whole persona should life a live with integrity, never conflicting your happiness with false satisfaction. As one develop a solid set of morals and beliefs, and then one can create a path of righteousness that will benefit the value of character. As one lives life, one is able to adjust their view of happiness due to the experience
In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that the ultimate human goal or end is happiness. Aristotle then describes steps required for humans to obtain the ultimate happiness. He also states that activity is an important requirement of happiness. A virtuous person takes pleasure in doing virtuous things. He then goes on to say that living a life of virtue is something pleasurable in itself. The role of virtue to Aristotle is an important one, with out it, it seems humans cannot obtain happiness. Virtue is the connection one has to happiness and how they should obtain it. My goal in this paper is to connect Aristotle’s book of Nicomachean Ethics to my own reasoning of self-ethics. I strongly agree with Aristotle’s goal of happiness and conclude to his idea of virtues, which are virtuous states of character that affect our decision making in life.
At some point in everyone’s life, they have probably wondered what their purpose is, what they’re meant to do or accomplish during their time on Earth. In his writing, Physics, Aristotle gives four causes that are responsible for that which is by nature, with the final cause, the purpose of a thing, being the considered the chief cause. With this principle in mind, Aristotle ponders what the final causes are for both man and for the state in the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle applies the doctrine of final causality to his teachings by claiming that the final cause for man is happiness, attainable through virtue, and the telos of the state is to produce and foster virtuous citizens.
The great Greek thinker Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in Stagirus, a city in ancient Macedonia in northern Greece. At the age of eighteen Aristotle went to Athens to begin his studies at Plato's Academy. He stayed and studied at the Academy for nineteen years and in that time became both a teacher and an independent researcher. After Plato's death in 347 B.C. Aristotle spent twelve years traveling and living in various places around the Aegean Sea. It was during this time that Aristotle was asked by Philip of Macedon to be a private tutor to his son, Alexander. Aristotle privately taught Alexander for three years before he returned to Athens after Philip gained control of the Greek capital. During this period back in Athens Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, where he taught for twelve years. In 323 B.C. Alexander the Great died and the Macedonians lost control of Athens. Aristotle was forced to leave and he died one year later in Chalcis, north of Athens, at the age of 62.
His first job was to train Alexander the Great before he had become the king of ancient Greece. Then Aristotle headed out south to work with Plato for a bit, but then branched out on his own. He founded a school called the Lyceum, his student followers were nicknamed peripatetics which means the wanderers. Is many books are based on lecture notes (politics, poetics, metaphysics, rhetoric, etc.). Aristotle raised a lot of good questions regarding things such as, “why do plants grow in some countries, but not in others,” and “what makes a whole society and a human life go well”? Philosophy is all about practical knowledge and wisdom suggests Aristotle. He answered four big philosophical questions asked, one of them is: what makes people happy? He came to a conclusion that each person needs to find its virtues and nurture them in themselves and honor them in others. Aristotle came up with 11 virtues, such as courage, temperance, and liberality are just some of them. He also observed that every virtue is in the middle of two vices (fig. 3) which is known as the Golden Mean between two extremes of character. (Carr, 2016).
Aristotle’s thoughts on ethics conclude that all humans must have a purpose in life in order to be happy. I believe that some of the basics of his ideas still hold true today. This essay points out some of those ideas.
In The Metaphysics, Aristotle states, “All men by nature desire to know.” Although, this is a generalization, of this insightful statement about the nature of humans and human understanding this statement truly captures what Aristotle was trying to figure out about humans and their thinking. Everyone has a desire to know or to understand. As rational beings we tend to contemplate very simple ideas to the most complicated, like our existence, or parts of the universe, or the universe as a whole. Aristotle is known as the father of modern day psychology and biology, even though many of his ideas of these two sciences was proven incorrect. The most important concepts of Aristotle’s theory of human understanding are the notion of cause, the infinite, and the soul.
Aristotle believes we obey laws because by obeying laws and following the justice system it leads to a good relationship between a monarch and the citizens. For example, he believes that kings that operated within the laws were those who were most successful and willing to have obedient citizens. According to Aristotle, we disobey laws because of moral character or qualities. He believes that some people have good qualities and some people don’t. For example, someone’s bad action or quality could lead to that person breaking the law. To Aristotle, obedience is very important, he hates dishonest people. He has a very close connection between justice and law. Aristotle thinks laws should be made with strict principles of justice and that true
Aristotle and the Book of Nicomanchean Ethics In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that the ultimate human goal or end is happiness. Aristotle describes the steps required for humans to obtain happiness. Aristotle states that activity is an important requirement for happiness. He states that a happy person cannot be inactive.
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Many of Aristotle’s teachings have shown remarkable insight into the human mind, especially considering the time in which he lived. Just as some of his teachings on physics were held as true for nearly 2000 years, many of his teachings on the human mind were well ahead of his time. His method of study and experimentation, followed by logical deduction are the basis for all sciences now, something which was completely new when he wrote of this approach.
Aristotle defined philosophy as the love of wisdom in logic, ethics, and metaphysics. He classified logic as a tool to get deeper into philosophy and his studies. He thinks of logic as a toolbox for philosophy and that philosophers carry logic with them to do their work, but they don 't consider it part of their work. He also said that logic is the handmaid of philosophy. Aristotle’s followers, the Peripatetics called his works of logic Oranon. He divides philosophy into three different branches which are, Theoretical Philosophy, Practical Philosophical, and Poetic Philosophy. Theoretical Philosophy is physics or natural philosophy, mathematics, and metaphysics. Practical Philosophy is the philosophy of politics and ethics. Poetic Philosophy is the philosophy of aesthetics or theory of art. Aristotle also has his own branch of philosophy with Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, and more. Theoretical Philosophy was Aristotle’s favorite because it was the study of animals and nature, he liked to study animal and plant specimens from his travels. Aristotle made a huge contribution to philosophy because of the way he organized it. He was one of the best philosopher in history and without his studies we might not even know about half of the stuff we know
Although Aristotle grew up under the ideas of Plato, through time he began to develop his own theories and views about philosophical thoughts (Aristotle Biography, 2015). Aristotle believed that in order to understand the natural world to the fullest, one must use each of the five senses, all of which we use to this day. Aristotle also had his own views of the world, especially the astronomy of it. He believed the earth was at the center of the universe and the remaining planets, only 5 known at the time, were circling around it (Worldview of Ancient Greece - Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, n.d.). We know now that his views on this matter are not taught and the planets revolve around the