PHIL 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Peripatetic School, Political Philosophy, Episteme
3 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
History of Ancient Philosophy
10.24.17 Lecture Notes – Aristotle
Some history on Aristotle:
- Plato covered so many topics that you could just look at all of Western philosophies as a response to
Plato
- Plato is the driig fore ehid Aristotle’s philosophy, but in addition, Aristotle exerts significant
philosophical influence on the natural sciences (more so than Plato) in terms of his views about how
science should be conducted (in particularly, physics)
- Plato is born in 428 BC and dies in 347 BC, while Aristotle is born in 384 BC
- Aristotle born in Stagira, father was named Nicomachus and also had a son named Nicomachus
- Life divided into 4 distinct chapters:
o 1) Early years in Macedonia
o 2) Education in Greece/Athens when he is 18 years old – joins Plato’s Aadey util Plato’s
death (stays there for 20 years)
▪ Platonic ideas are very deeply ingrained in him
▪ When Plato dies, his nephew takes over the Academy
o 3) Return to Macedonia
▪ Accepts an invitation from Hermias (a ruler in some parts) to be a teacher in Assos
▪ Receives invitation to tutor the son of King Phillip of Macedonia (his son is Alexander the
Great) and he did tutor for two years
▪ Aristotle leaves after Alex takes the throne
o 4) Returns to Athens – founds his own school called the Lyceum
▪ Spends mornings going on walks, followers would ask him questions alongside him
▪ Later in afternoon, Aristotle gives lectures about different topics
- Aristotelian philosophy sometimes referred to as peripatetic school (because peripateo meant walking)
- Wrote some early material during his time in the Academy, wrote similarly in the form of dialogues;
soon begins to branch out of this style
- A lot of the orks of Aristotle are leture otes of Aristotle or the leture otes fro Aristotle’s leture
of students (since information is so dense, incomplete, some jumps of logic)
- Costat reisio of his ork sie he did’t really pulish stuff
- Aristotle was the first to take biology seriously – first in the Western tradition to include a large
amount of observations
- Because of the places named in these biological works were carried out before he returned to Athens
- What Aristotle eas y siee: body of knowledge with essential organizing principles
o This definition seems to also account for subjects in the humanities, such as tragedy, rhetoric,
nature, happiness, being (in general, general features of existence)
- Three major types of science (Latin: scientia; Greek: episteme) for Aristotle
o Practical (ethical and political philosophy) – aim at good statesmanship, achieving the good life;
second to most knowable
o Theoretical (mathematics, theology, metaphysics, natural sciences) – satisfy curiosity, pure
knowledge; most knowable
o Productive (literature, rhetoric, and other arts) – lead to something beautiful; least knowable
o Guiding questions for the distinction: What do you with the product of the knowledge? How
certain are you about the knowledge?
o This distinction becomes consensus for hundreds of years
o Begins to die out in the late 1500s and early 1600s
o By the 1800s, Aristotelian physics is completely dead, but the general word for science still kind
of around
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Plato covered so many topics that you could just look at all of western philosophies as a response to. Plato is the dri(cid:448)i(cid:374)g for(cid:272)e (cid:271)ehi(cid:374)d aristotle"s philosophy, but in addition, aristotle exerts significant philosophical influence on the natural sciences (more so than plato) in terms of his views about how science should be conducted (in particularly, physics) Plato is born in 428 bc and dies in 347 bc, while aristotle is born in 384 bc. Aristotle born in stagira, father was named nicomachus and also had a son named nicomachus. Aristotelian philosophy sometimes referred to as peripatetic school (because peripateo meant walking) Wrote some early material during his time in the academy, wrote similarly in the form of dialogues; soon begins to branch out of this style. A lot of the (cid:449)orks of aristotle are le(cid:272)ture (cid:374)otes of aristotle or the le(cid:272)ture (cid:374)otes fro(cid:373) aristotle"s le(cid:272)ture of students (since information is so dense, incomplete, some jumps of logic)
