|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||
|
The Great Thinkers of Western Philosophy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cosmology as a science of nature (it was called physics by Aristotle) is connected with chemistry, physics and astronomy, sciences which were in a rudimentary state during the time of Aristotle. As a consequence Aristotle's cosmology is the weakest part of his philosophical system. We shall limit ourselves to giving a brief summary of this branch of his teaching. Aristotelian cosmology is based on the principle of the mover and the thing moved. It is dualistic: God, Pure Act, immovable Mover, who transcends cosmic reality; and cosmic reality, consisting of the heavens which rotate around the earth. Every sphere of the heavens is formed of incorruptible matter. God moves the highest sphere. The form of the sphere is round, and the spheres' movement is circular (the sphere is considered as the most perfect body). The earth, which is at the center of the universe (geocentric system), receives its movement from the heavenly spheres, but it has characteristics opposed to them. It is formed of the four essences of Empedocles, and its motion is from higher to lower or vice versa. Movement, which comes from the heavenly bodies, is the proximate cause of all the becoming in the world. In the cosmology of Aristotle there are some theoretical points that are worthy of consideration. Precisely because these points are theoretical they do not have essential dependence upon his physics. Change is the passage from potency to act and is of four kinds:
Space is defined as the immovable limit of the surrounding body with respect to the body surrounded. Time is the measure of movement, the aspect of "before" and "after." The so-called teleology (finality) of nature merits special consideration: nature does, as far as is possible, always that which is more beautiful. The end of nature is the realization of the form in matter, the development of potency into act; but this tendency will never be completely realized because, with the exception of Pure Act (God), the act must exist in potency.
Life is called soul by Aristotle, and is the form of organized matter, and the principle of immanent action. Consequently, living beings are distinguished from minerals, whose form is the principle of transient action. Corresponding to the three hierarchical grades of living beings there are three forms of psychic life:
Contrary to Plato, who affirmed that there are in man two distinct souls (one having two aspects) and that the union of the rational soul with the body is accidental, Aristotle vindicates the oneness of the soul, which is the form (entelechy) of the body and hence is immanent in it. The various functions proper to the vegetative and sensitive life are performed by the one soul, which also has the capability of performing superior operations, of gaining knowledge through concepts (intellectual cognition). Cognitive Activities There are two cognitive activities of the soul, and these give origin to two distinct types of knowledge: sensible and intellective. Sensible cognition, sensation, is objective and presupposes a physical fact, a contact of the object with an organ or sense of the subject, who then transforms the physical contact into a psychic act, or cognition of the object. There are five senses, each of which perceives its proper sensible; the eye, for example, apprehends light; the taste, sapidity. Aristotle calls common sensibles those qualities of the object that can be perceived by more than one sense organ -- size and shape, for instance, which can be perceived by the senses of sight and touch. To the sensitive faculties belong also the memory (the faculty which preserves images already perceived) and the phantasy or imagination (the faculty which revives such images and represents them in the absence of the object itself). The proper object of sensitive knowledge is the individual, the particular, the contingent and material thing. The intellect, on the other hand, has as its object the universal, the necessary, the immutable, the essences, the forms of things abstracted from their individuation. But for Aristotle the intellect does not possess innate ideas. Contrary to the innatism of Plato, Aristotle defends the theory of the tabula rasa (blank slate). In its first awakening the intellect possesses no beautiful and formed ideas; it has only the capacity for receiving ideas, and acquires them by abstraction from the data of the senses. Sensation contains the universal concept "in potentia"; the intellect has the power of enucleating the universal. We are now confronted with two potencies which of themselves cannot be the cause of the passage into act. Aristotle solves the difficulty by having recourse to an intellect which he calls poieticos, the agent intellect, in which the intelligible species is in act. This acts upon the so-called passive intellect (pateticos) and gives actuality to the concept contained in potency in the sensation. Analogous to cognitive activity, there are also two practical activities of the soul: the appetite and the will. The appetite is a tendency toward a good presented by way of sensitive cognition and is proper to the animal soul. The will is the impulse toward a good guided by reason, and is proper to the rational soul. The Immortality of the Soul The question of the immortality of the human soul is one of the most obscure in the doctrine of Aristotle. It appears in fact that he affirms the immortality of the active intellect, which is one for all human beings; and denies it for the passive intellect, which is individual and the immanent form of the body. On the other hand, Aristotle admits that the proper object of the soul is the knowledge of the universal, of the immaterial, of essences, and hence it is impossible to understand how the individual soul can perish with the body. The steps in Aristotle's reasoning on this point are not clear, and thus his interpreters have divided them into opposing opinions.
Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book... Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Magazine...
|
|
|
Main Page & Index |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
[Homepage] [Newsletter] [Search] [Support the Academy] [Link to Us] [Contact the Academy] [Citing Articles from Our Website] [Privacy Policy & Disclaimer]
Copyright 1998-99, 2000-01, & 2002-03 by The Radical Academy. All Rights Reserved.