CHAPTER VII.

THE SYSTEMATIC PHILOSOPHY OF ARISTOTLE pages 330-402

I. Homogeneity of Aristotle’s writings, 330—The _Metaphysics_, 331—What are the causes and principles of things? 331—Objections to the Ionian materialism, 332—Aristotle’s teleology a study of functions, 332—Illegitimate generalisation to the inorganic world, 333—Aristotle’s Four Causes, 334—Derivation of his substantial Forms from the Platonic Ideas, 335—His criticism of the Ideal theory, 336—Its applicability to every kind of transcendental realism, 338—Survival of the Platonic theory in Aristotle’s system, 338.

II. Specific forms assumed by the fundamental dualism of Greek thought, 339—Stress laid by Aristotle on the antithesis between Being and not Being, 339—Its formulation in the highest laws of logic, 340—Intermediate character ascribed to accidents, 340—Distinction between truth and real existence, 341—The Categories: their import and derivation, 341—Analysis of the idea of Substance, 343—Analysis of individuality, 345—Substitution of Possibility and Actuality for Matter and Form, 346—Purely verbal significance of this doctrine, 347—Motion as the transformation of Power into Act, 347.

III. Aristotle’s theology founded on a dynamical misconception, 348—Necessity of a Prime Mover, 349—Aristotle not a pantheist but a theist, 350—Mistaken interpretation of Sir A. Grant, 351—Inconsistency of Aristotle’s metaphysics with Catholic theology, 352—and with the modern arguments for the existence of a God, 353—as well as with the conclusions of modern science, 353—Self-contradictory character of his system, 354—Motives by which it may be explained, 354—The Greek star-worship and the Christian heaven, 356—Higher position given to the earth by Copernicus, 356—Aristotle’s glorification of the heavens, 357—How his astronomy illustrates the Greek ideas of circumscription and mediation, 358.

IV. Aristotle’s general principle of systematisation, 359—Deduction of the Four Elements, 360—Connexion of the Peripatetic physics with astrology and alchemy, 361—Revolution effected by modern science, 361—Systematisation of biology, 362—Aristotle on the Generation of Animals, 363—His success in comparative anatomy, 364.

V. Antithetical framework of Aristotle’s psychology, 365—His theory of sensation contrasted with that of the Atomists, 365—His successful treatment of imagination and memory, 366—How general ideas are formed, 366—The active Nous is a self-conscious idea, 367—The train of thought which led to this theory, 368—Meaning of the passage in the _Generation of Animals_, 369—Supposed refutation of materialism, 370—Aristotle not an adherent of Ferrier, 371—Form and matter not distinguished as subject and object, 373—Aristotle rejects the doctrine of personal immortality, 374.

VI. Aristotle’s logic, 375—Subordination of judgments to concepts, 376—Science as a process of definition and classification, 377—Aristotle’s theory of propositions, 378—His conceptual analysis of the syllogism, 379—Influence of Aristotle’s metaphysics on his logic, 380—Disjunction the primordial form of all reasoning, 381—How it gives rise to hypothetical and categorical reasoning, 382.

VII. Theory of applied reasoning: distinction between demonstration and dialectic, 383—Aristotle places abstractions above reasoned truth, 384—Neglect of axioms in comparison with definitions, 384—‘Laws of nature’ not recognised by Aristotle, 385—He failed to perceive the value of deductive reasoning, 387—Derivation of generals from particulars: Aristotle and Mill, 387—In what sense Aristotle was an empiricist, 390—Examination of Zeller’s view, 391—Induction as the analysis of the middle term into the extremes, 393—Theory of experimental reasoning contained in the _Topics_, 394.

VIII. Systematic treatment of the antithesis between Reason and Passion, 395—Relation between the _Rhetoric_ and the _Ethics_, 395—Artificial treatment of the virtues, 396—Fallacious opposition of Wisdom to Temperance, 397—Central idea of the _Politics_: the distinction between the intellectual state and the material state, 398—Consistency of the _Poetics_ with Aristotle’s system as a whole, 399.

IX. Aristotle’s philosophy a valuable corrective to the modern glorification of material industry, 399—Leisure a necessary condition of intellectual progress, 400—How Aristotle would view the results of modern civilisation, 401.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Die Philosophie der Griechen_, III., a, pp. 5 f.

[2] If I remember rightly, Polybius makes the same observation, but I cannot recall the exact reference.

[3] _Sophist_, 243, A.

[4] See especially the interesting note on the subject in his recent work, _Die wirkliche und die scheinbare Welt_, Vorrede, pp x. ff.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES.

Transcriber’s Note: These have been marked up as footnotes in the text, using alphabetic coding. This identifies the page and line number rather than any precise text.

[A] Page 9, line 18. Plutarch (_ut fertur_), _Plac. Phil._, I., iii., 4.

[B] Page 15, line 26. Xenophanes, _Fragm._ 19 and 21, ed. Mullach.

[C] Page 41, line 25. Diogenes Laert., IX., 34. The words ‘in the Eastern countries where he had travelled,’ are a conjectural addition, but they seem justified by the context.

[D] Page 43, line 11. Plutarch, _Pericles_, iv.

[E] Page 65. For the story of Glaucus, see Herodotus VI., lxxxvi.

[F] Page 77, line 21. Plato, _Protag._, 315, D.

[G] Page 78, line 1. _Ibid._, 341, A.

[H] Page 103. For the opinion of Socrates respecting the Sophists, see Xenophon, _Mem._, I., vi., 11 ff.

[I] Page 114, line 4. Xenophon, _Mem._, I., iv., 1.

[J] Page 194, line 28. _Repub._, 493, A; _ibid._, line 33. Gorgias, 521, E.

[K] Page 195, line 23. _Theaetêt._, 175, A and 174, E. Jowett’s Transl., IV., p. 325.

[L] Page 233, last line. _Sophist._, 246, D.

[M] Page 294, line 7. For Plato’s preference of practice to contemplation, see _Repub._, 496, E.

THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS.