Aristotle

Aristotle

Disagreed with his teacher - Plato. Said there aren't 2 separate realms.
The world we live in is the place where we can have true knowledge.
We come to understand things through sense experience.
1. Accepted empirical and a posteriori knowledge
He rejected Plato's Theory of the Forms and said the world is made of matter.
The Four Causes
1. 1. Material Cause: what something's made of, the matter/substance it's made of e.g. a book is made from paper
2. 2. Formal Cause: what its characteristics are, what gives the matter its form or structure.
3. 3. Efficient Cause: its reason for existing, how itcomes to exist, the creator of it.
4. 4. Final Cause: its use, the reason it is the way it is, its function.
5. Example - a statue: 1. marble 2. shape of a statue 3. a mason made it 4. to honour or remember someone
Potentiality + Actuality
1. Potentiality = matter has the potential to acquire its final form/telos
2. Everything has a purpose/telos
3. Potentiality is actualised by motion (motus)
4. Example: a tadpole has the potentiality to become a frog. The process of change (motion) from tadpole to frog is 'actualisation'. The telos of a tadpole is to become a frog.
5. Telos can be frustrated e.g. a tadpole could be eaten by a heron

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	Created by Heloise Tudor about 8 years ago

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