Aristotle’s Philosophy: Key Concepts and Ideas
Potency and Act
Aristotle explains change in nature through the structure of potency and act. Individual beings, in addition to matter and form, undergo transformations. In nature, individual beings are born and die; everything is evolving, everything moves. Potency is the set of possibilities that something contains. These possibilities are not yet developed but are inherent within. The act is the process by which the possibilities of a thing come true, where their contained capabilities are realized. For example, the act is what makes a lion cub effectively become a lion. The passage from potency to act constitutes change. Change involves something retaining its essence while losing its initial form and acquiring a new form that it already possessed in potency. With this explanation of change, Aristotle addresses criticisms leveled at Heraclitus, who posited that reality is in perpetual flux and becoming.
Cause
A cause is an individual principle that enables something’s existence. Aristotle posits that every individual is a result of four causes:
- Material Cause (Matter): The substrate of which things are made.
- Formal Cause (Form): The outline and operation of matter, what makes a particular thing what it is rather than something else.
- Efficient Cause: The maker, instrument, and process by which something comes into being.
- Final Cause: The purpose of a thing, the reason for its existence.
In his conception of knowledge, or epistemology, Aristotle also emphasizes purpose. He asserts that the production of knowledge and practical knowledge have purposes beyond themselves; they serve as means to create things or to behave appropriately. In his Ethics, Aristotle states that the good is the purpose of our actions, the “why” of our practice. Humans are beings who act, and they act because they seek the good.
Political Views
In his political views, Aristotle argues that humans are political animals, as they can only fulfill their needs by living in a community. Humans live in two types of communities: the oikos (household) and the polis (political community or city-state).
Happiness
For Aristotle, happiness does not reside in euphoria but in the joy of personal flourishing, which is central to his ethics. Happiness is the supreme good for humans and the ultimate end of human action or practice. Humans act because they seek the good. The good, happiness, virtue, or excellence is achieved by effectively performing one’s function. Thus, there are many virtues, one for each action or function. Among these virtues, which can be dianoetic (intellectual) or ethical (moral), the former brings greater happiness. Politically, the citizen represents the fulfillment and greatest happiness of which human nature is capable. The highest state we can achieve in life is to be citizens: free, fair, reasonable adults capable of dialogue, of governing and being governed, of establishing and obeying laws, and of creating art, philosophy, and science. This, for Aristotle, is the pinnacle of human existence. Only within the polis can the climate of freedom and coexistence that allows humans to develop their highest capacities exist.
Social Being
Aristotle maintains that humans are social and political animals because they can only satisfy their needs by living in a community. Those who live in isolation are either beasts or gods, but not humans. Human beings live in two types of communities: the oikos (household) and the polis (political community or city-state). The household serves to satisfy basic, everyday needs, such as food, clothing, and sexuality. By nature, men are superior to women and children, and masters are superior to their slaves. Slaves are not considered men but rather possessions, animated instruments whose nature is to execute orders given by their masters. Not all inhabitants of the city are citizens; women and slaves, without whom the city could not exist, are not citizens. Citizens are inhabitants entitled to participate in government, and the constitution of each polis determines whether only aristocrats, the wealthy, or all free men are citizens. Citizenship is passed from parents to children. Aristotle believes this scheme is the best imaginable, even the most sublime that can be conceived in theory, and the best in practice. It is the best because it is free of sedition or civil war, and because among many citizens, although some are better and some are worse, there will be greater good and justice than under the rule of a single man, especially if he is a tyrant.