Aristotle’s Philosophy and Contributions
Contextualization
Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stagira, raised in a family of physicians. He taught at the Academy and was summoned by Philip to educate his son Alexander, who was influenced by the possibility of spreading Greek culture through uniting the people. Aristotle believed that man was a “zoon politikon” who needed to live in a community, and those who did not were considered either gods or animals. After Alexander’s death, Aristotle was accused of ungodliness and fled to Calcis, where
Read MoreUnderstanding Ethics and the Pursuit of Happiness
Week 1: Understanding Ethics
1. Definition of Ethics
Men are free. This means that if a man understands what to do and chooses to do it, he can be happy. Freedom, therefore, is the path to happiness.1 The path is not easy, but every man, relying on his perceptions, intuitions, and everyday thoughts, can use his intelligence to discover which path to follow to achieve happiness. The life of every person is full of complexities that are difficult to solve. “What do I do?” and “What should I do?” are
Read MoreThe Birth of Liberalism and Radical Democracy: Locke and Rousseau
The Birth of Liberalism: John Locke (1632-1704)
The Political Role of Ownership in Building Consensus and Democracy
John Locke, the empiricist philosopher known for his assertion, “there is nothing in the intellect that has not previously been in the senses,” also likened a child’s mind to “wax, forming and shaping as you want, a blank slate.”
According to Locke, the human mind at birth is like a blank page, devoid of any innate ideas, including the concept of God. Knowledge originates from simple
Read MorePlato: Philosophy, Ideas, and the Soul
Plato (427 BC – 347 BC)
Born into an aristocratic family in Athens, Plato’s father was Ariston. As a youth, he had political ambitions but became disillusioned with the rulers of Athens. Aristotle was his most outstanding student. With the opportunity to combine philosophy and practical politics, Plato went to Sicily in 367 BC to become a guardian of the new ruler. He died in 348 or 347 BC.
The Theory of Ideas
Plato’s theory of ideas attempts to answer the problem of universal concepts, exploring whether
Read MoreNietzsche’s Critique of Truth: Unmasking the Illusion of Objectivity
The Problem of Knowledge: From Ancient Greece to Modern Philosophy
The pursuit of knowledge has been a central concern in philosophy since its inception. In ancient Greece, philosophers like Parmenides and Heraclitus grappled with the nature of reality, leading to contrasting views on the existence of change and permanence. Plato, with his theory of Forms, proposed a dichotomy between the world of appearances and the world of true knowledge, laying the groundwork for later philosophical debates.
Modern
Read MoreThe Evolution of Science: From Formal Systems to the Digital Revolution
Types of Science
Formal Sciences
Logic and mathematics refer to objects not observable by the senses and offer no information about the world. They are universal and necessary. They find consistency in the very coherence of the reason that builds them. Their statements are called “a priori” because they are built for any reason prior to the experience. These sciences proceed by deduction.
Empirical Sciences
Physics, biology, etc., start from the observation of facts and provide information about the
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