History of Western Ideas Course- Allied Iv

Aristotle (Rationalism)
Previous Year Short Notes
Courtesy- 53rd Batch, Department of English,
University of Chittagong

 The Unmoved Mover-

 For Aristotle the Unmoved Mover is the ultimate cause of all changes in the natural
world. However, this notion is not the same thing as a first mover as though notion
could be traced back to a time when notion began. Nor did he consider the
unmoved mover to be a creator in the sense of later theology. From his previous
distinction between potentiality and actuality, Aristotle concluded that the only
way to explain how motion or change can occur is to assume that something actual
is logically prior to whatever is potential. The fact of change implies the existence
of something purely actual without any mixture of potentiality. The heart of
Aristotle’s notion of the Unmoved Mover is all of nature is full of things that strive
toward fulfilling their particular purposes. To explain this general notion Aristotle
referred to the Unmoved Mover as the ‘reason for’ or the ‘principle of’ notion.
Form the point of view of his four causes the unmoved mover being a final cause
becomes an efficient cause of the world. Through the power of attraction, it
inspires things to strive toward their natural ends. Although Aristotle’s Unmoved
Mover functions as a scientific principle of motion and immanent form of the
world, it nevertheless carries some religious overtones. Centuries later especially
at the hands of Aquinas in the 13th century this notion was transformed into the
philosophical description of the God of Christianity.

 Prepared by- Jiaor Rahman

 The syllogism-

 Aristotle develops a system of logic based on the syllogism which he defines as a

discourse in which certain things being stated something other than what is stated
follows of necessity from their being so. The classic example of syllogism is this:
 Major premise- All humans are mortal.
 Minor premise- Socrates is a human.
 Conclusion-Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
 The first two statements are premises which serve as evidence for the third
statement which is the conclusion. Although Aristotle’s theory of the syllogism is
an effective tool for determining valid relationships between premises and
conclusions, his aim was to provide an instrument for scientific demonstration. For
this reason, he emphasized the relation between logic and metaphysics-between
our way of knowing and what things are and how they behave. Aristotle
distinguished between three kinds of reasoning each of which might use the
instrument of the syllogism, but with different results. These are 1) dialectical
reasoning 2) eristic or contentious reasoning and 3) demonstrative reasoning

 Prepared by- Jiaor Rahman

 Ethics-

 Aristotle’s Theory of Morality that is Ethics concentrates his belief that people, like
everything else in nature, have a distinctive end to achieve and function to fulfill.
He begins his Nicomachean Ethics by saying that “Every art and every inquiry,
and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good.” If this is
so, the question for ethics is, “What is the good at which human behavior aims?”
For Aristotle, the principle of good and right was embedded within each person.
Moreover, this principle could be discovered by studying the human nature and
could be attained through actual behavior in daily life which is completely averse
to Plato’s ethical view. Aristotle emphasizes the role of habit in conduct in his
ethical dogma. It is commonly thought that virtues, according to Aristotle, are
habits and that good life is a life of mindless routine. More explicitly, an action
counts as virtuous, in accordance with Aristotle, when one holds oneself in a stable
 equilibrium of the soul, in order to choose the action knowingly and for its own
sake. This stability of the soul is what constitutes character. Virtue is a mean by
which all the powers of the soul are at work in concert. For Aristotle, moral virtue
is the only practical road to effective action. Hence, the virtuous person sees truly
and judges rightly since beautiful things appear as they truly are only to person of
good character. Achieving good character is process of clearing away the obstacles
that stand in the way of the full efficacy of the soul. Aristotle gave a try to discover
the basis of morality in the structure of human nature.

 Prepared by- Mohammad Sabetul Islam

 Inspired by- Nur Islam Biplob Vai

ALL IS WELL THAT ENDS WELL

(-: HATS OFF FOR YOUR PATIENCE ;-)