Greatest Collected Works
- Ethica Nicomachea
- Ethica Nicomachea or simply Nicomachean Ethics is one of the widely read and widely known piece of Aristotle's work. Comprised of ten books, it starts off simply defining what people consider to be good, on what they value, cherish and progressively expands
on this notion to discuss: morals, virtue, intelligence, and friendship.
- In an excerpt from Book One, chapter one, Aristotle describes his observations and documentations about people. "EVERY art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit,
is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim. But a certain difference is found among ends; some are activities, others are products apart from the
activities that produce them. Where there are ends apart from the actions, it is the nature of the products to be better than the activities."
Aristotle is saying that we are defining our sense of morality, ethics and value systems based on essentially goodness and our definitions of it, of which; its a starting point or a high mark to shoot for on an individual basis, family basis and in
a greater sense on the level of our society as a whole.
- Aristotle also effectively able to classify the types of virtue into moral and intellectual in an excerpt from Book II chapter one. " VIRTUE, then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual virtue in the main owes both its birth
and its growth to teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time), while moral virtue comes about as a result of habit, whence also its name (ethike) is one that is formed by a slight variation from the word ethos (habit). From this it is also plain that none of the
moral virtues arises in us by nature; for nothing that. Aristotle classifies intellectual virtue as being: scientific knowledge ,artistic knowledge, intuitive reason , practical wisdom, and philosophic wisdom. He classifies the moral virtue of people as being:
courage, temperance, self-discipline, moderation, modesty, humility, generosity, friendliness, truthfulness, honesty, justice. He concludes that moral virtue is learned innately and that its acquired through our interactions with our society, our families and our environment.
"Again, of all the things that come to us by nature we first acquire the potentiality and later exhibit the activity (this is plain in the case of the senses; for it was not by often seeing or often hearing that we got these senses, but on the contrary we had them before we used them, and did not come
to have them by using them); but the virtues we get by first exercising them, as also happens in the case of the arts as well."
- Lastly, Aristotle distinguishes pleasure and pain from goodness, he exclaims that pleasure is simply the measure of self-imposed and implied goodness while conducting an activity, such is why morality is acquired through our daily encounters with others and ourselves.
- Metaphysics
- One of the first books in history that is considered philosophy is Metaphysics, which translated means, beyond or across the physical. It is comprised of fourteen individual books which stipulate that there are forces in this world that can not be contained, and categorized and are beyond us.
Aristotle discussed the very nature of fundamental truths, universiality and higher truths. Aristotle also ascertains that in order to discover and uncover the universal truth one must use truth to find the reality and to greater define it, outside of the usual logical, structural borders, boundaries and models unto which we form our lives under and operate with.
- In an excerpt from Book one, chapter one, Aristotle defines the very nature of man, by describing the things that connect all of life to each other. "ALL men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves;
and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer seeing (one might say) to everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things". He basically says that our sense have always been
our key aspects to our survival. Prehistoric man and animals operated and continue to operate in this way, Aristotle recognized this and develops his theories and theorems about the universe around them.
- The basis of Metaphysics lies in the aspect of beings (being qua beings) ;Aristotle divides them into ten distinct categories, of which, the first is Substance, among others such as: substance, quality, quantity, and relation, but substance is giving precedence. In an excerpt from Book one, Chapter one, Part seven; Aristotle describes his vision
"The essence, i.e. the substantial reality, no one has expressed distinctly. It is hinted at chiefly by those who believe in the Forms; for they do not suppose either that the Forms are the matter of sensible things, and the One the matter of the Forms, or that they are the source of movement
(for they say these are causes rather of immobility and of being at rest), but they furnish the Forms as the essence of every other thing, and the One as the essence of the Forms.
"That for whose sake actions and changes and movements take place, they assert to be a cause in a way, but not in this way, i.e. not in the way in which it is its nature to be a cause. For those who speak of reason or friendship class these causes as goods; they do not speak, however, as if anything that exists either existed or came into being for the sake of these,
but as if movements started from these. In the same way those who say the One or the existent is the good, say that it is the cause of substance, but not that substance either is or comes to be for the sake of this. Therefore it turns out that in a sense they both say and do not say the good is a cause; for they do not call it a cause qua good but only incidentally.
All these thinkers then, as they cannot pitch on another cause, seem to testify that we have determined rightly both how many and of what sort the causes are". He classifies substance into four sub-groups: essence, universal, genus, and subject The essence is the definiton of what something is to be. It is the very thing that identifies an object in relation to another. the basis. the low down.
The universal aspect is divided into three principles: i) substance is form, ii) form is universal, iii) no universal is a substance. which is contradictory and has caused some debate throughout history about what it means and its interpretations. The genus is defined as inter-related species. Species defined. The subject lies in the quality and possibly the connotation and implication of a thing.
- Towards the end of the novel, Aristotle tightens his beliefs on substance, and says that form or actuality is the natural end to all things as well as the beginning of them. That it is final, efficient and formal in itself and that is what defines the soul. And actuality is defined then a person's sense of personal potential is realized and that is true freedom.
- Ethica Nicomachea or simply Nicomachean Ethics is one of the widely read and widely known piece of Aristotle's work. Comprised of ten books, it starts off simply defining what people consider to be good, on what they value, cherish and progressively expands on this notion to discuss: morals, virtue, intelligence, and friendship.
- In an excerpt from Book One, chapter one, Aristotle describes his observations and documentations about people. "EVERY art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim. But a certain difference is found among ends; some are activities, others are products apart from the activities that produce them. Where there are ends apart from the actions, it is the nature of the products to be better than the activities." Aristotle is saying that we are defining our sense of morality, ethics and value systems based on essentially goodness and our definitions of it, of which; its a starting point or a high mark to shoot for on an individual basis, family basis and in a greater sense on the level of our society as a whole.
- Aristotle also effectively able to classify the types of virtue into moral and intellectual in an excerpt from Book II chapter one. " VIRTUE, then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual virtue in the main owes both its birth
and its growth to teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time), while moral virtue comes about as a result of habit, whence also its name (ethike) is one that is formed by a slight variation from the word ethos (habit). From this it is also plain that none of the
moral virtues arises in us by nature; for nothing that. Aristotle classifies intellectual virtue as being: scientific knowledge ,artistic knowledge, intuitive reason , practical wisdom, and philosophic wisdom. He classifies the moral virtue of people as being:
courage, temperance, self-discipline, moderation, modesty, humility, generosity, friendliness, truthfulness, honesty, justice. He concludes that moral virtue is learned innately and that its acquired through our interactions with our society, our families and our environment.
"Again, of all the things that come to us by nature we first acquire the potentiality and later exhibit the activity (this is plain in the case of the senses; for it was not by often seeing or often hearing that we got these senses, but on the contrary we had them before we used them, and did not come
to have them by using them); but the virtues we get by first exercising them, as also happens in the case of the arts as well."
- Lastly, Aristotle distinguishes pleasure and pain from goodness, he exclaims that pleasure is simply the measure of self-imposed and implied goodness while conducting an activity, such is why morality is acquired through our daily encounters with others and ourselves.
- One of the first books in history that is considered philosophy is Metaphysics, which translated means, beyond or across the physical. It is comprised of fourteen individual books which stipulate that there are forces in this world that can not be contained, and categorized and are beyond us. Aristotle discussed the very nature of fundamental truths, universiality and higher truths. Aristotle also ascertains that in order to discover and uncover the universal truth one must use truth to find the reality and to greater define it, outside of the usual logical, structural borders, boundaries and models unto which we form our lives under and operate with.
- In an excerpt from Book one, chapter one, Aristotle defines the very nature of man, by describing the things that connect all of life to each other. "ALL men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer seeing (one might say) to everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things". He basically says that our sense have always been our key aspects to our survival. Prehistoric man and animals operated and continue to operate in this way, Aristotle recognized this and develops his theories and theorems about the universe around them.
- The basis of Metaphysics lies in the aspect of beings (being qua beings) ;Aristotle divides them into ten distinct categories, of which, the first is Substance, among others such as: substance, quality, quantity, and relation, but substance is giving precedence. In an excerpt from Book one, Chapter one, Part seven; Aristotle describes his vision "The essence, i.e. the substantial reality, no one has expressed distinctly. It is hinted at chiefly by those who believe in the Forms; for they do not suppose either that the Forms are the matter of sensible things, and the One the matter of the Forms, or that they are the source of movement (for they say these are causes rather of immobility and of being at rest), but they furnish the Forms as the essence of every other thing, and the One as the essence of the Forms. "That for whose sake actions and changes and movements take place, they assert to be a cause in a way, but not in this way, i.e. not in the way in which it is its nature to be a cause. For those who speak of reason or friendship class these causes as goods; they do not speak, however, as if anything that exists either existed or came into being for the sake of these, but as if movements started from these. In the same way those who say the One or the existent is the good, say that it is the cause of substance, but not that substance either is or comes to be for the sake of this. Therefore it turns out that in a sense they both say and do not say the good is a cause; for they do not call it a cause qua good but only incidentally. All these thinkers then, as they cannot pitch on another cause, seem to testify that we have determined rightly both how many and of what sort the causes are". He classifies substance into four sub-groups: essence, universal, genus, and subject The essence is the definiton of what something is to be. It is the very thing that identifies an object in relation to another. the basis. the low down. The universal aspect is divided into three principles: i) substance is form, ii) form is universal, iii) no universal is a substance. which is contradictory and has caused some debate throughout history about what it means and its interpretations. The genus is defined as inter-related species. Species defined. The subject lies in the quality and possibly the connotation and implication of a thing.
- Towards the end of the novel, Aristotle tightens his beliefs on substance, and says that form or actuality is the natural end to all things as well as the beginning of them. That it is final, efficient and formal in itself and that is what defines the soul. And actuality is defined then a person's sense of personal potential is realized and that is true freedom.
| Interesting-Profound Quotations from Ethica Nicomachea | Interesting-Profound Quotations from Metaphysics | Interesting-Profound Quotations from Politics |
|---|---|---|
| "It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen". | "All men by nature desire knowledge". | "It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it". |
| "To be conscious that we are perceiving or thinking is to be conscious of our own existence". | "The animals other than man live by appearances and memories, and have but little of connected experience; but the human race lives also by art and reasonings". | "A state is not a mere society, having a common place, established for the prevention of mutual crime and for the sake of exchange...Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship". |
| "Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends". | "The whole is more than the sum of its parts". | "He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god". |
- Politics
- Aristotle's Politics, follows suit behind Ethica Nicomachea in saying that, people establish themselves in city-states for the self- enriching aspect of goodness and the need to provide it unto others to fit in closer to what people define as humanity, order, structure, clarity, form and existence of ourselves. Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good; for mankind always act in order to obtain that which they think good. But, if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good. This view provides a very interesting perspective on a notion which we accept and embrace without question.
- A shift towards defining the art of wealth and community is seen, for wealth and honor are forces that all people desire. He concludes that community either has all things, nothing or some things in common. That the person who doesnt need a state, a country, a collective must either be of supernatural origin or an animal since we people derive and thrive on our personal relationships with each other.
- In an excerpt from Book Five; Part one, A discussion on what we deem free in terms of government is discussed "In the first place we must assume as our starting-point that in the many forms of government which have sprung up there has always been an acknowledgment of justice and proportionate equality, although mankind fail attaining them, as I have already explained. Democracy, for example, arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal" And through all these things we can see what it truly means to operate and function in this society based on how it treats us and vice versa. Book Five Part Seven "Democracy and oligarchy; in the latter, of the three elements, democracy, oligarchy, and virtue, but especially democracy and oligarchy. For to combine these is the endeavor of constitutional governments; and most of the so-called aristocracies have a like aim, but differ from polities in the mode of combination; hence some of them are more and some less permanent. Those which incline more to oligarchy are called aristocracies, and those which incline to democracy constitutional governments. And therefore the latter are the safer of the two; for the greater the number, the greater the strength, and when men are equal they are contented. But the rich, if the constitution gives them power, are apt to be insolent and avaricious; and, in general, whichever way the constitution inclines, in that direction it changes as either party gains strength, a constitutional government becoming a democracy, an aristocracy an oligarchy. But the process may be reversed, and aristocracy may change into democracy. This happens when the poor, under the idea that they are being wronged, force the constitution to take an opposite form. In like manner constitutional governments change into oligarchies. The only stable principle of government is equality according to proportion, and for every man to enjoy his own". This quote reads like a U.S. History textbook and can be proved by solid facts from the past.
- The foundation for any government is based on these things, as outlined, in Book Seven, thirteen "There are three things which make men good and virtuous; these are nature, habit, rational principle. In the first place, every one must be born a man and not some other animal; so, too, he must have a certain character, both of body and soul. But some qualities there is no use in having at birth, for they are altered by habit, and there are some gifts which by nature are made to be turned by habit to good or bad. Animals lead for the most part a life of nature, although in lesser particulars some are influenced by habit as well. Man has rational principle, in addition, and man only. Wherefore nature, habit, rational principle must be in harmony with one another; for they do not always agree; men do many things against habit and nature, if rational principle persuades them that they ought. We have already determined what natures are likely to be most easily molded by the hands of the legislator. An else is the work of education; we learn some things by habit and some by instruction". Aristotle discusses the importance of education, of city defenses and of a strong ruling system based on virtue to uphold the principles and establish peace.
Aristotle Link |