![]() Joe is the substance, which is independent of all else–all other qualities. Substance is the thing referred to by a noun the subject of a sentence. For example, individuals are more real than species.Īristotle gives four definitions of substance. While Plato holds that the more abstract Forms are the most real, Aristotle thinks that the more concrete things are most real. Form is not a separable realm as it was for Plato it must exist with matter. The substance is the matter and the secondary categories or properties are form. How does matter + form relate to substance?įor Aristotle, a substance is a particular thing and its properties. Something we make cannot exist without a human being and, as such, have a lower existence. Things that we make (artifacts) are not primary beings because primary beings have their own natures. For example, without a substance like Joe there is no condition of the thing being older or healthy. This means Joe can exist without the other categories but the other categories cannot exist without substance. Joe is primary or most basic and the others are secondary (ibid.). So, Joe (substance) is…or has all of the above qualities. It is that which all of the other categories refer to. Substance is a unique category: it is basic. Other categories are action (cutting or burning), affection (is cut or burned), and substance (table or human being). Joe is 2 years older than Jill: relation. Joe has brown eyes and brown eyes: quality. He began by asking some basic questions: what is real, what types of things exist, what is the world made of, is the table more or less real than squareness? His solution was to examine all of the things that could be said about the table and to classify these statements into categories, of which there are 10: He was Plato’s student so his rejection of Plato’s Forms was gradual. I would exist even if I didn’t have hair, but my hair could not exist without me, so hair is not a substance. Hence, substance is that which stands alone or first. This is the substance.Īll other things are said to be because they are quantities or qualities of that substance (6 feet, or good). For example, when I say that a person is good or that a person is 6 feet tall, we are referring to that person. The primary type of being is the “what,” which indicates the substance of the thing. Metaphysics is the study of being qua being, which is, first, the study of the different ways the word “be” can be used. In this sense he brings metaphysics to this world of sense experience–where we live, learn, know, think, and speak. Metaphysics, for Aristotle, was the study of nature and ourselves. He agreed with Plato that knowledge must be universal and concerned with what things have in common, but he rejected Plato’s view that Forms could be separated from particular things. Aristotle believed that this world is our world. The eternal nature of the Forms made them useless for understanding how particular things could change.Īlso, Aristotle wanted to determine the nature of reality, but Plato had argued that reality was something transcendent–beyond our experiences. Plato’s Forms are degrading to the particular things we experience in the world Specifically, the idea that an object “participates” with a Form is vague and tells us nothing about how these things truly interact. Plato’s Forms fail to explain the relationship between the Forms and the particular things. his notion that there is a higher reality that is only graspable by the mind).Įxplain the objections that Aristotle raised regarding Plato’s Forms: He rejected Plato’s transcendentalism (i.e. Aristotle believed that it is the physical world that is observable. This applies to ethics, politics, art, and the natural world (ibid.).Īccording to Plato’s theory of Forms, all else is an imperfect copy-an illusion in comparison. Everything has a function or purpose and its essential nature is to grow and achieve its purpose. Another difference is that modern science sees the world as a machine whereas Aristotle sees it as an organism. He believed that philosophy could find answers to things through observation. While modern science emphasizes laws, Aristotle emphasizes the search for accurate definitions of things in terms of their essential properties. Aristotle’s concepts are function, classification, and hierarchy he uses these concepts to explain everything. ![]() ![]() Modern science is grounded by a few basic concepts: mass, force, element, evolution and the like. He tries to find the basic principles that reveal the underlying pattern in all of the changing and conflicting aspects of our world. Aristotle sees philosophy as an extension of science, which means that he is attempting to understand the whole-the universe, humanity, and culture.
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