Jaymie Ticknor Intro Philosophy 1050 Sect 003 5 and 7 February 2014 Lecture 7 Aristotle started a school called Lyceum nicknamed the Peripatetic walk around philosopher Empiricism belief that we gain knowledge from our senses Aristotle was an empiricist knowledge is not innate comes from senses and experiences vs Rationalism belief that we gain knowledge from our reason Plato a rationalist knowledge is innate some experiences Telos Everything has an ultimate end or purpose or goal humans telos was to be happy wealth power etc are just means for eudaimonia happiness flourishing Aristotle rejects Plato s Theory of the Forms more down to earth replaced it with the fact that the forms do exist but they exist in the physical world Form the form of an animal is the way the matter of the body is organized Matter the material or substance out of which the subject or object is composed made of Aristotle s method of investigation interested in natural world collecting detailed information of animals plants etc Book called the Physics phusis translates more accurately as the order of nature classified things into Natural principle of motion and stability growth and decay or alteration animals parts plants elements air water earth and fire makes up a fifth element Aether heavenly bodies humans animals vegetables minerals etc and Artificial Other bed cloak artifacts made by a craft Properties Accidental property that exists in an object but is not necessary for that object to be what it is human of a particular weight height with no leg arm etc Necessary Properties what something needs to have to be what it is triangle has to have three sides to be a triangle Humans accidental properties skin color eye color hair color age fingers toes gender etc necessary properties four chamber heart human DNA human blood consciousness mammal human brain according to Aristotle consciousness rationality as a necessary essential property for humans Categorizes Four causes aition neutral form a word commonly used to describe responsibility or blame uses this word in the sense meaning an explanation for how a thing came about for both accidental and necessary properties Material cause whatever something is made of x is what y is made out of Formal cause explains the form or pattern to which a thing corresponds x is what it is to be y necessary properties Efficient cause effico which is what we ordinarily mean by cause the original source of the change x is what produces y Final cause that for the sake of which final cause which is the intended purpose of the change x is what y is for essential Examples Book M paper F pages paragraphs organization E author publisher editor F reading knowledge Observed Giraffes M bones blood flesh F organization shape long neck spots E parents of giraffe divine being F ecosystem balance reproduce survive