Aristotle is an ancient Greek philosopher who lived in the classical period. His teacher is Plato. Aristotle - tutor of Alexander the Great.
Aristotle's philosophy is complex and useful. The great philosopher asked himself not only questions of world order, but also of man himself. He devoted a lot of time to the art of speaking - rhetoric.
From the age of seventeen, the great thinker worked and studied at the Academy of Plato. Plato was his immediate teacher. After spending twenty years at the Academy, he moved to the city of Pele, where Alexander the Great became his pupil. Then he founded his own school, where he worked until his death. This school was called Likey.
The most famous works of this philosopher:
- "Rhetoric";
- "Metaphysics";
- "Politics";
- "Poetics";
- The Organon.
Aristotle's Philosophy
He left a lot of works that helped this science not only develop, but also move to a higher level. Aristotle's philosophy can be divided into three types:
- theoretical - it studies the problems of being, its various spheres, the causes of various kinds of phenomena, the origin of things;
- practical - studies the structure of the state, as well as human activities;
- poetic.
Also distinguish the fourth type - logic.
Aristotle's philosophy has much in common with the philosophy of Plato. Often the first criticized his teacher. This was especially true of questions of being - Aristotle was against pure ideas, since he believed that things directly depend on the state of the world, and also believed that everything is unique in the world, but nothing like that exists.
Aristotle said that there are no pure ideas that are not connected with the world around us, it is only possible the existence of single, specifically defined things, a specific thing - an individual - it exists only in a particular place at a particular time.
Asking questions about being, the philosopher deduces its categories:
- essence;
- attitude;
- quantity;
- a place;
- position;
- time;
- act;
- state;
- suffering;
- quality.
Aristotle's philosophy gives the following definition of being: an entity that has the properties of quantity, action, suffering, and so on.
Everything except the essence, here is the properties of being - that is, that which a person is able to perceive.
Aristotle's philosophy also deals with the problems of matter. Matter is potency, which is limited in form. Thinking about matter, the philosopher comes to the conclusion that everything on earth possesses potency and form, reality is a sequence of transition from matter to form and vice versa, potency is a passive principle, and form is active. He also came to the conclusion that God is the highest form of everything. God has being outside of any entity.
The soul is a carrier of consciousness. It can be plant, animal, intelligent. The plant soul is solely responsible for nutrition, reproduction, and also for growth. Thanks to the animal soul, we can feel as well as desire. The rational soul helps to generalize everything and draw conclusions - only it distinguishes a person from the animal world.
Aristotle's social philosophy argues that man is a highly organized animal that has speech, as well as thinking, has a tendency to live with oneself like himself. The need for their own kind made man what he is. Man is an extremely social being. His sociality would not be so strong without language.
The political philosophy of Aristotle is also known. The philosopher identified six types of states :
- tyranny
- monarchy;
- aristocracy;
- extreme oligarchy;
- ochlocracy;
- politics.
He divided all types of state into "bad", as well as "good." It is worth noting that he considered politics to be the best form of state.