Questions tagged [aristotle]

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, famous for his prolific writings on a vast array of subjects, including logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, politics, and even the natural sciences. He is widely considered a "founding figure" in Western philosophy.

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a philosopher in Ancient Greece, who studied under Plato. Many consider him to be one of the "founding figures" of the comprehensive system of modern Western philosophy.

A marble bust of Aristotle

Modern research has estimated that he was responsible for writing over 150 philosophical treatises on a vast array of subjects, including logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, politics, and even the natural sciences like biology and physics. While many of his contributions to natural science were later roundly discredited, his writings on philosophy and metaphysics have shaped many centuries of later philosophical thought, from the Late Antiquity through the Renaissance, and even into modern times.

His prolific writings and wide range of interests conspire to make it exceptionally difficult to categorize or classify Aristotelian scholarship. Saint Thomas Aquinas, in fact, referred to him simply as "The Philosopher". However, all questions with this tag should have a direct relation to Aristotle's philosophical thought.

Also see: and

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What can be skipped in Aristotle?

I plan on reading through some Aristotle, and I was wondering if there are any books by him that people consider a waste of time to read. I would like to read through everything eventually, but I know the Greek philosophers in particular can have…
Sketchyfish
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What is the best order to read Aristotle's thought?

Even though there is no strict chronology of Aristotle's writings, what is the best order to read him if one wants to become acquainted with overall philosophical project. I read somewhere that Aristotle's system is built around four broad…
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What is the best order to read Aristotle in?

A question similar to this was asked, but mine is a little more specific. In any given writing of Aristotle I find concepts which it seems he explores in other places. Is there an order in which the more fundamental concepts will be introduced…
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What philosophical reason did Al-Jahiz give for preferring Aristotle to the Qur'an?

Al-Jahiz is one of the philosophical superstars of Arab literature. Not only did he write an enormous number of books, but his output was remarkably diverse. Besides a great number of satires, he wrote books on rhetoric and philosophy. And he is…
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Why was Aristotle almost like the only Greek philosopher studied during the Middle Ages?

Reading about scholasticism, medieval natural philosophy, liberal arts, it appears to me that, of all the Ancient Greece philosophers, only Aristotle was studied. For instance, this passage (Blair 2006): Rather than singling out the Renaissance as…
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Understanding Aristotle's "Politics"

I'm having a difficult time understanding this passage: Last paragraph in part III of book 1, Further, the state is by nature clearly prior to the family and to the individual, since the whole is of necessity prior to the part; for example,…
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Where are the words "potential infinity" and "actual infinity" originally from?

I just read Aristotle: The Physics, Books I-IV, and found nowhere the words "potential" and "actual" combined with "infinity", even if the principle is described. Now I feel these definitions are not originally from Aristotle. Does anyone have any…
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Is *aition* rendered better as "cause" or "explanation"?

This is part of an assignment, but I find myself stumped on how to even approach the question. Perhaps someone could steer me in the right direction. In regard to the Four Causes, Aristotle's aition can be translated as either "explanation" or…
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What does Aristotle mean by showing fear in times of boldness?

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defines courage as the midpoint between boldness and fear, and to show boldness in times of fear is courage as well as showing fear in times of boldness is also courage. What are some example of showing fear in…
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Please contrast Aristotle's 'material' vs 'formal' aitia

Source: The Four Causes by Univ. of Washington Prof S. Marc Cohen PhD in Philosophy (Cornell). I Import from Ancient Greek aition (plural aitia), to avoid the polysemous noun 'cause'. The picture is Aristotle’s, but the names of the causes are…
user8572
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Where does Aristotle mention Aesop's fables?

I have read most of Aesop's fables. (I liked some of them, though for more of the same with twice the punch, I prefer Sa'di's Gulistan.) I have read the Poetics from cover to cover, but I don't remember the fables of Aesop being mentioned. Maybe I…
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Which work by Aristotle features the most references to Euclidean geometry?

I have dipped into the Metaphysics pretty extensively, and I know that he uses a number of fascinating methods for decomposing arguments in that book. No wonder St. Thomas Aquinas read it while he was imprisoned. The book is a cerebral tour de…
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What does Aristotle mean by contemplation?

In Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle writes about contemplation and it being a kind of good of mankind, an ultimate good etc. But what actually is contemplation? What would be a good example of contemplation?
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How do we construe ‘holding his breath for several days’ & understand the suicide of Diogenes?

Diogenes Laërtius says of Diogenes of Sinope ‘others, of whom Cercidas, a Megalopolitan or Cretan, is one, say that he died of holding his breath for several days’ in the midst of a bundle of accounts another almost right after tells of his sudden…
user2133
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How does Aristotle reconcile the claim that contemplation is the chief good when clearly not all things aim at it?

In this Ethics, he starts with the explanation that the chief good is "that at which everything aims". He furthers that it is "want we want for its own sake," everything else "we want is for the sake of this end." Clearly, this is not contemplation,…
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