Aristotle’s Metaphysics

• Born at Stagira in northern Greece in 384 BC.• 367 – 347 BC Student at Plato’s Academy.• Was not named head of Academy when Plato died;

so, left Athens.• Went to Macedonia and became tutor of the

Alexander the Great when Alexander was 12 (343 BC).

• After Alexander became Emperor of all Greece, returned to Athens and founded his own school, the Lyceum in 335 BC.

• After Alexander died (323 BC), anti-Macedonian feelings in Athens forced Aristotle to leave, as he did not wish to suffer Socrates’ fate.

• Died one year later in Chalcis.• Only about one fourth of Aristotle’s writings have

survived. Most were lost when the Romans, accidentally, burned down the great library of Alexandria, Egypt in 47 BC.

• All the works Aristotle had polished for publication were destroyed, including many dialogues in the style of Plato but said to be infinitely superior in literary and philosophical quality.

• The works we have left are, essentially, the lecture notes Aristotle used for teaching at the Lyceum.

• Still, in the Middle Ages, Aristotle was called, simply, “The Philosopher.”

• In his Divine Comedy, Dante christened Aristotle “The Master of All Who Know.”

Aristotle’s Critique of Plato

• The Problem of Chorismos– Chorismos is Greek for separation.

– In Plato’s metaphysics, there is too much of a separation between the Forms and sensible objects for the Forms to be the sources of material objects.

– Plato’s attempts at explaining the relationship between the Forms and sensible objects are merely “empty words and poetical metaphors.”

• The Problem of Change

– Plato maintained that there is change in the World of Becoming.

– Plato, however, did NOT explain how this change occurs.

– Indeed, why should there be change in the World of Becoming anyway, since it’s supposed to be a copy of the changeless World of Being?

Hylomorphic Composition• From two Greek words

– hyle, meaning matter– morphe, meaning form

• There is only one world, the world of substances.

• Substance: A fundamental entity. It results from the union of matter and form.– Matter: That which gets organized

and structured.

– Form: That which organizes and structures.

• Plato maintained that the Forms are transcendent realities.

• Aristotle maintained that form is immanent in particular substances.

• Stuffed animal analogy

– Matter is like the stuffing.

– Form is like the outer skin.

• Matter and form are distinct but indivisible.• Neither pure form nor pure matter exists.

They exist only united to one another in particular substances.

• E. g. ‘tableness’ does NOT exist apart from particular tables in some fantastic World of Being. Tableness exists only in particular tables.

• While they are indivisible, matter and form are distinct because, if they were not, substantial change would be impossible.

Substantial Change• Substantial change is the corruption

(destruction) of one substance and the generation (production) of another.

• E. g. the formation of a water molecule.– In uniting, two atoms of hydrogen and one

atom of oxygen cease to be hydrogen and oxygen.

– These separate substances cease to be and a new substance, the water molecule, is generated (i. e. it starts to be.)

– In uniting, the matter of the hydrogen atoms and of the oxygen atom has been put into a new form, “waterness.”

– The matter’s being put into a new form destroys the previous substances, the hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and generates a new one, the water molecule.

– The water molecule is NOT a composite of three parts (two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen).

– The water molecule is one, unified substance.

– Direct analogy to biological generation.

• When sperm and ovum unite, the result, the zygote, is NOT a composite (one part sperm and one part ovum).

• The zygote is one unified substance. It was generated when the matter of the sperm and of the ovum was put into a new form, “zygoteness.”

Accidental Change• A substance’s losing or gaining a

characteristic (an accident) while remaining the same substance.

• Dismantling a table and using the wood to make a chair is an example of substantial change. The matter of the table has been put into a new form.

• Painting a brown table red is an example of accidental change. The table both loses an accident (browness) and gains one (redness) while remaining the same table.

An Important Distinction

• Prime Matter: The fundamental “stuff” out of which substances are generated. Aristotelian prime matter is not unlike modern physics’ “mass/energy.”

• Second Matter: The substance(s) from which a new substance is generated when the prime matter of the original substance(s) is put into a new form, e.g. wood is the second matter of a wooden table.

The Four Causes

• Material Cause: The second matter of a present substance.

• Formal Cause: The form the prime matter has taken in a present substance.

• Efficient Cause: Whatever generated a present substance.

• Final Cause: The purpose for which a present substance was generated.

What are the Four Causes?

A Statue of Socrates

Material Cause: Marble

Formal Cause: Statueness of Socrates

Efficient Cause: Sculptor

Final Cause: To honor Socrates

A Shirt

Material Cause: Fabric

Formal Cause: Shirtness

Efficient Cause: Shirt Maker

Final Cause: To keep someone warm.

A Wig

Material Cause: Real or synthetic hair

Formal Cause: Wigness

Efficient Cause: Wig Maker

Final Cause: To make someone look and/or feel better.