Aristotle

Aristotle (Attic Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, romanized: Aristotélēs; 384–322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.

Little is known about Aristotle’s life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At around eighteen years old, he joined Plato’s Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty seven (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.

Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.

Aristotle’s views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.

Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as “The First Teacher”, and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply “The Philosopher”, while the poet Dante called him “the master of those who know”. He has been referred to as the first scientist. His works contain the earliest known systematic study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and Jean Buridan. His influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, has gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.

wikipedia/en/Aristotle

Aristotle defines moral virtue as a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess, which are vices. We learn moral virtue primarily through habit and practice rather than through reasoning and instruction.

Aristotle’s ten categories are a classification system for all possible ways to speak about a subject: substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action, and passion. Substance is what a thing is fundamentally, while the other nine are accidents that can be predicated of a substance. For example, a particular “man” is a substance, while “humanity” is a secondary substance. Other categories describe its “quantity” (e.g., two cubits long), “quality” (e.g., white), “relation” (e.g., double), “place” (e.g., in the marketplace), “time” (e.g., yesterday), “position” (e.g., sitting), “state” (e.g., shod), “action” (e.g., cutting), and “passion” (e.g., being cut).

• Substance: What a thing is essentially (e.g., a man, a tree).
• Quantity: The extension of an object, such as length or number (e.g., two cubits long, five liters).
• Quality: The character or nature of an object (e.g., white, hot, grammatical).
• Relation: The way one object relates to another (e.g., double, half, master of).
• Place: Where the object is located (e.g., in the marketplace, in the Lyceum).
• Time: When an event occurs or an object exists (e.g., yesterday, last year).
• Position: A state of rest resulting from an action, such as posture (e.g., sitting, standing).
• State (or Condition): A condition of rest from an affection or being acted upon (e.g., wearing shoes, being armed).
• Action: The production of a change in another object (e.g., to heat, to cut).
• Passion: The reception of a change from another object (e.g., to be heated, to be cut).

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://stgb.substack.com/p/aristotles-ten-categories-of-being

[2] https://classicalliberalarts.com/classical-trivium/classical-logic/what-are-aristotles-ten-categories/

[3] http://www.logicmuseum.com/authors/arsvetus/boethiuscategories.htm

[4] https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/aristotle/section2/

[5] https://study.com/academy/lesson/video/categories-by-aristotle-summary.html

[6] wikipedia/en/Theory_of_categories

Natural slavery

In his work Politics, Aristotle defended the institution of slavery with his concept of “natural slavery”. 

• The argument: He argued that some people are inherently suited for slavery due to their limited rational capacity, while others are “natural masters” with the intellectual ability to rule. He suggested that a person’s lack of rational deliberation made them more like an animal, and therefore, being ruled by a master was in their best interest.
• Controversy and impact: This idea is now considered abhorrent and indefensible. Aristotle’s concept of a “natural slave” provided a deeply flawed philosophical justification for the practice, and it was used by later proponents of slavery, including during the period of American slavery, to rationalize their exploitation of others. 

The inferiority of women

Aristotle’s views on women are also seen as deeply misogynistic and controversial. 

• The argument: He positioned women as inferior to men, describing them as “deformed males” and biologically passive in procreation. He claimed women had a less developed “deliberative faculty” in their soul, which, though not completely absent, was insufficient to grant them political authority.
• Controversy and impact: These views helped to justify the subjugation of women in ancient Greece and influenced centuries of misogynistic thought in Western philosophy. Modern critics reject his biological and metaphysical justifications for female inferiority, arguing they reflect the patriarchal biases of his time rather than objective truths. 

Flawed physics and teleology

Aristotle’s theories of the natural world, based on deductive reasoning rather than experimentation, were foundational for nearly 2,000 years but were later proven wrong. 

• Teleology: He believed that all natural things, like living organisms, move toward a specific purpose or final end (telos). This teleological view is at odds with modern science, particularly the theory of evolution by natural selection, which posits a purposeless process driven by random mutation.
• Physics: His laws of motion were intuitive but scientifically inaccurate. He claimed that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones and that objects in motion require a continuous force to keep moving. These ideas were overturned by Galileo and Newton, who used observation and mathematics to demonstrate the principles of inertia and gravity. 

The unmoved mover

In his metaphysics, Aristotle proposed the concept of an “unmoved mover”—an eternal, primary cause of all motion in the universe that itself is not moved. 

• The argument: He argued that an infinite regress of movers was impossible, so there must be an ultimate, unmoved source of motion. This unmoved mover inspires change as a final cause, “being loved” or “desired” by the celestial spheres.
• Controversy: The idea relies on a rejection of infinite causal chains, an assumption that some philosophers find questionable. With the rise of modern physics, which explains motion differently, the physical necessity of the unmoved mover has been challenged.