Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle used empirical observations and inductive reasoning to rationalize everything in the world in relation to its telos, a process known as teleological thinking. He also reasoned that intellectual analysis can never cause that which does not exist to exist. Reality consists of the natural world, and everything in the natural world must have discoverable laws, order, and purpose. In order to seek the natural order of things, Aristotle broke down existence of all things into four causes: material, formal, efficient, and final. A material cause refers the substance that something comes from. The formal cause refers to that which the matter is shaped, or into what it is changed. An efficient cause explains what triggers change, or a thing’s existence. The final cause references the ultimate reason for a thing’s existence, which links to what the thing is meant to be, or become – its entelechy. Since existence cannot be explained without both a material and a formal cause, Aristotle reasoned that form cannot be separated from matter. Similarly, a person’s material existence cannot be separated from the existence of his soul. Therefore, the soul is a person’s entelechy. In order to reach eudaimonia, or ultimate happiness, a person must realize his function, which is his entelechy. Because all things want to reach eudaimonia, they must achieve their entelechy, which is the ultimate “good” that all things aim for. So, in order for something to be ethically “good”, it must be fully functioning, or achieving its entelechy wholly. Aristotle believed that there were three types of souls: the vegetative, the sensitive, and the rational. The vegetative soul is the lowest form, unable to produce life on its own, absorbing matter from other things. The second highest form is the sensitive soul, which possesses the ability to register information, but cannot become that which it absorbs. Rational souls are the highest form because they include the lower...