Aristotle’s Core Teachings: A Comprehensive Summary
Metaphysics
Background: A critique of the theory of ideas. Things are immanent, not transcendent. Ideas do not explain movement. Metaphysics is the science of being *qua* being and its fundamental attributes. It discusses first philosophy and theology. Being is said in many ways, as many as there are categories. The fundamental category is the substance. The remaining nine categories are accidents.
Hylomorphism
Substance is a composite of matter and form. Matter is the indeterminate principle; form is the essence or nature of the substance.
Physics
Physics is about moving beings. Nature (*physis*) is the immanent principle of movement and rest. Natural beings are composed of hylomorphism; their nature is determined by their essence or form. Movement is an imperfect measure. Movement is the actualization of potential while still in potential.
Classes of Change
- Substantial
- Accidental
- Qualitative
- Quantitative
- Locative
The Theory of Four Causes
- Material
- Formal
- Efficient
- Final
In natural beings, formal, efficient, and final causes match: this is teleology. The unmoved mover is the efficient cause of motion in the world.
Cosmology
Cosmology is the origin and formation of the cosmos. The Aristotelian universe is essentially qualitative, dualistic, geocentric, spherical, and finite. There are no remote actions.
Sublunary World
Constantly changing, it consists of four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. The motions of bodies are finite and rectilinear.
Supralunar World
Perfect, consisting of ether and characterized by having a uniform circular motion.
Anthropology
Each living being, and therefore, humans, is a hylomorphic substance; the soul is the form and the body is the material.
The Soul
The soul is a body’s functions; they are operational. It is not separable from the body. There is no immortality of the soul.
Functions of the Soul
- Nutritive
- Sensitive
- Appetitive
- Motive
- Thinking
The Theory of Knowledge
Empirical Knowledge: Every idea is formed from experience.
Experience (Feeling): Knowledge of the particular. Catchment of sensitive forms without their matter.
Understanding (*Nous*): Uptake of universal forms inductively, starting from what is given by experience.
Imagination: State of knowledge intermediate between experience and understanding.
Kinds of Understanding
- Agent (universal and immortal)
- Patient (including deadly)
Ethics
Aristotle rejects the ethical intellectualism of Socrates and Plato.
Hedonistic: The end and highest good of man is happiness.
Virtue is a habit.
Virtue is a middle ground (between two vicious extremes) chosen as a wise man would.
Kinds of Virtues
- Ethical
- Dianoetic
Politics
A critique of Plato’s political utopianism.
Social-Organic: The State is like an organism as a whole; it is prior to its component parts (individuals).
Types of Government
- Monarchy
- Aristocracy
- Democracy
When pursuing the particular good and not the collective, they degenerate in the following ways:
- Tyranny
- Oligarchy
- Demagogy