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Aristotle “ The Naturalist ”

Aristotle “ The Naturalist ”. Aristotle is sometimes said to have brought philosophy down to earth , because he combined the study of humanity and nature .

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Aristotle “ The Naturalist ”

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  1. Aristotle“TheNaturalist”

  2. Aristotleissometimessaidtohavebroughtphilosophydowntoearth, because he combinedthestudy of humanity and nature. He stands alone as anarchetype of a philosophicalnaturalist. Naturalismisthebeliefthatrealityconsists of the natural world, thisuniversefollowsconsistent and discoverablelaws of nature and everything can beunderstood in terms of those fundamental laws. Nothingexistsoutside of space and time, naturealwaysactswith a purpose and thekeytounderstandinganythinglies in determiningitsessentialpurpose.

  3. Natural Changes Manyphilosophersstruggletoexplainhowchangeispossible. AristotleissometimescalledtheFather of Science, because he wasthefirst Western thinkertoprovideanadequateanalysis of a process of changebasedontheclaimthatformis inseparable frommatter.

  4. Form AristotlewastroubledbyPlatonicDualism, Therealm of becoming and therealm of being. Accordingto Plato, onlyForms (with capital F) are truly real; objects of senseperceptionare merereflectionsordiluted copies of Forms. Aristotlearguedthatform can bedistinguishedfromcontentonly in thought and never in fact. For ex: we can make a mental distinctionbetweenshape and color, butwewillneverencountershapelessshapesorcolorlesscolors.

  5. Aristotlearguedthatevery particular thing, considered at anygiven time, has twoaspects. Firstit shares propertieswithotherparticulars. For ex. You and yourteachers share manyproperties, you share propertieswithWillythewhalealso and anyother living thingcontaininghydrogen, butthereissomethingspecial, uniquethatyou, and I, and yourteachers share, thatis, ouressence, oursubstance, what can thatbe? Thatessenceishumanness. SecondAristotleissayingthatwhenwecaracterizedor define what a thingis , we are speaking of thatthing´ssubstanceoressence.

  6. FromtheGreekwordforessence (ousia) Aristotelianformisthatwhichis in matter and makes a thingwhatitis. AccordingtoAristotle, formisonlyonebasicaspect of reality. Theotherismatter. Matter In Aristotle´sview, whenweaskabout a particular thing, we are askingaboutthe material composition of whateverconstitutes a thing, thespecificstuffthatmakes a general form (humanbeing) into a particular instance of thatform (You and I) ismatter.

  7. ForAristotle, matter, fromtheGreekhyle, isthecommon material stufffound in a variety of things; matter has no distinctcharacteristicsuntilsomeformisimpartedtoitoruntiltheform in a thingbecomesactualized. Aristotlebelievedthatorder and purpose are inherent in nature, natureispurposive. Matterprovidesopportunity, formprovidesdirection. Formdoesnot---cannot---existwithoutmatter; matterdoesnot ----cannot--- existwithoutform.

  8. Change Remembertheexample of waterchanginginto ice. Whenwaterchangesinto ice, somepart of thewateritselfremainswater, and some of thewaterchanges. Thebasicmatterstaysthesame, butitchangesform, as waterbecomesprogressivelycolder, thebehaviororproperties of themoleculesthatconstitutewaterchangefromliquidformtocrystallineform.

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