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Aristotelianism (/ˌærɪstəˈtiːliənɪzəm/ARR-i-stə-TEE-lee-ə-niz-əm) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work ofAristotle, usually characterized bydeductive logic and ananalytic inductive method in the study ofnatural philosophy andmetaphysics. It covers the treatment of the social sciences under a system ofnatural law. It answers why-questions by a scheme offour causes, including purpose orteleology, and emphasizesvirtue ethics. Aristotle and his school wrote tractates onphysics,biology,metaphysics,logic,ethics,aesthetics,poetry,theatre,music,rhetoric,psychology,linguistics,economics,politics, andgovernment. Any school of thought that takes one of Aristotle's distinctive positions as its starting point can be considered "Aristotelian" in the widest sense. This means that different Aristotelian theories (e.g. in ethics or inontology) may not have much in common as far as their actual content is concerned besides their shared reference to Aristotle.
In Aristotle's time, philosophy includednatural philosophy, which preceded the advent ofmodern science during theScientific Revolution. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of thePeripatetic school and later on by theNeoplatonists, who produced manycommentaries on Aristotle's writings. In theIslamic Golden Age,Avicenna andAverroes translated the works of Aristotle intoArabic and under them, along with philosophers such asAl-Kindi andAl-Farabi, Aristotelianism became a major part ofearly Islamic philosophy.
Moses Maimonides adopted Aristotelianism from the Islamic scholars and based hisGuide for the Perplexed on it and that became the basis of Jewishscholastic philosophy. Although some of Aristotle's logical works were known towestern Europe, it was not until theLatin translations of the 12th century and the rise ofscholasticism that the works of Aristotle and his Arabic commentators became widely available. Scholars such asAlbertus Magnus andThomas Aquinas interpreted andsystematized Aristotle's works in accordance withCatholic theology.
After retreating under criticism from modern natural philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea ofteleology was transmitted throughWolff andKant toHegel, who applied it to history as a totality. However, this project was criticized byTrendelenburg andBrentano as non-Aristotelian, Hegel's influence is now often said to be responsible for an important Aristotelian influence uponMarx.
Recent Aristotelian ethical and "practical" philosophy, such as that ofGadamer andMcDowell, is often premised upon a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy. From this viewpoint, the early modern tradition of politicalrepublicanism, which views theres publica, public sphere or state as constituted by its citizens' virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly Aristotelian.
Alasdair MacIntyre was a notable modern Aristotelian philosopher who helped to revivevirtue ethics in his bookAfter Virtue. MacIntyre revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest temporal goods, which are internal to human beings, are actualized through participation in social practices.
The original followers of Aristotle were the members of thePeripatetic school. The most prominent members of the school after Aristotle wereTheophrastus andStrato of Lampsacus, who both continued Aristotle's researches. During theRoman era, the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work.[1] The most important figure in this regard wasAlexander of Aphrodisias who commentated on Aristotle's writings. With the rise ofNeoplatonism in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end. Still, the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within their own system and produced manycommentaries on Aristotle.
Byzantine Aristotelianism emerged in theByzantine Empire in the two decades after 1118 through the initiative of the princessAnna Comnena who commissioned a number of scholars to write commentaries on previously neglected works of Aristotle.[2]Michael of Ephesus wrote commentaries on the works of Aristotle's animal biology, on theSophistical Refutations, the only work of theOrganon not to have a commentary and thePolitics, completing the series of commentaries on Aristotle's extant works. Byzantine philosophers also filled in the gaps in the commentaries that had survived down to their time; Alexander of Aphrodisias' commentary on the Metaphysics, of which only the first five books survived, was completed by Michael of Ephesus, who, along withEustratius, compiled a number of fragmentary commentaries on theNicomachean Ethics which they supplemented with their own interpretations.[3]
In theAbbasid Empire, many foreign works were translated intoArabic, large libraries were constructed, and scholars were welcomed.[4] Under thecaliphsHarun al-Rashid and his sonAl-Ma'mun, theHouse of Wisdom inBaghdad flourished. Christian scholarHunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873) was placed in charge of the translation work by the caliph. In his lifetime, Ishaq translated 116 writings, including works by Plato and Aristotle, intoSyriac and Arabic.[5][6]
With the founding of House of Wisdom, the entire corpus of Aristotelian works that had been preserved (excluding theEudemian Ethics,Magna Moralia andPolitics) became available, along with its Greek commentators; this corpus laid a uniform foundation forIslamic Aristotelianism.[7]
Al-Kindi (801–873) was the first of the MuslimPeripatetic philosophers and is known for his efforts to introduceGreek andHellenistic philosophy to theArab world.[8] He incorporated Aristotelian and Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic philosophical framework. This was an important factor in the introduction and popularization of Greek philosophy in the Muslim intellectual world.[9] In the 9th century, Persian astrologerAlbumasarl'sIntroductorium in Astronomiam was one of the most important sources for the recovery of Aristotle for medieval European scholars.[10]
The philosopherAl-Farabi (872–950) had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries, and in his time was widely thought second only to Aristotle in knowledge (alluded to by his title of "the Second Teacher"). His work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy andSufism, paved the way for the work ofAvicenna (980–1037).[11] Avicenna was one of the main interpreters of Aristotle.[12] The school of thought he founded became known asAvicennism, which was built on ingredients and conceptual building blocks that are largely Aristotelian and Neoplatonist.[13]
At the western end of theMediterranean Sea, during the reign ofAl-Hakam II (961 to 976) inCórdoba, a massive translation effort was undertaken, and many books were translated into Arabic.Averroes (1126–1198), who spent much of his life in Cordoba andSeville, was especially distinguished as a commentator of Aristotle. He often wrote two or three different commentaries on the same work, and some 38 commentaries by Averroes on the works of Aristotle have been identified.[14] Although his writings had an only marginal impact in Islamic countries, his works would eventually have a huge impact in theLatin West,[14] and would lead to the school of thought known asAverroism.
Although some knowledge of Aristotle seems to have lingered on in the ecclesiastical centres of western Europe after the fall of the Roman empire, by the ninth century, nearly all that was known of Aristotle consisted ofBoethius's commentaries on theOrganon, and a few abridgments made by Latin authors of the declining empire,Isidore of Seville andMartianus Capella.[15] From that time until the end of the eleventh century, little progress is apparent in Aristotelian knowledge.[15]
Therenaissance of the 12th century saw a major search by European scholars for new learning.James of Venice, who probably spent some years inConstantinople, translated Aristotle'sPosterior Analytics from Greek intoLatin in the mid-twelfth century,[16] thus making the complete Aristotelian logical corpus, theOrganon, available in Latin for the first time. Scholars travelled to areas of Europe that once had been under Muslim rule and still had substantial Arabic-speaking populations. From centralSpain, which had returned to Christian rule in the eleventh century, scholars produced many of theLatin translations of the 12th century. The most productive of these translators wasGerard of Cremona,[17] (c. 1114–1187), who translated 87 books,[18] which included many of the works ofAristotle such as hisPosterior Analytics,Physics,On the Heavens,On Generation and Corruption, andMeteorology.Michael Scot (c. 1175–1232) translatedAverroes' commentaries on the scientific works of Aristotle.[19]
Aristotle's physical writings began to be discussed openly. At a time when Aristotle's method was permeating all theology, these treatises were sufficient to cause his prohibition forheterodoxy in theCondemnations of 1210–1277.[15] In the first of these, inParis in 1210, it was stated that "neither the books of Aristotle on natural philosophy or their commentaries are to be read at Paris in public or secret, and this we forbid under penalty ofex-communication."[20] However, despite further attempts to restrict the teaching of Aristotle, by 1270, the ban on Aristotle's natural philosophy was ineffective.[21]
William of Moerbeke (c. 1215–1286) undertook a complete translation of the works of Aristotle or, for some portions, a revision of existing translations. He was the first translator of thePolitics (c. 1260) from Greek into Latin. Many copies of Aristotle in Latin then in circulation were assumed to have been influenced by Averroes, who was suspected of being a source of philosophical and theological errors found in the earlier translations of Aristotle. Such claims were without merit, however, as theAlexandrian Aristotelianism of Averroes followed "the strict study of the text of Aristotle, which was introduced by Avicenna, [because] a large amount of traditionalNeoplatonism was incorporated with the body of traditional Aristotelianism".[22]
Albertus Magnus (c. 1200–1280) was among the first medieval scholars to apply Aristotle's philosophy to Christian thought. He produced paraphrases of most of the works of Aristotle available to him.[23] He digested, interpreted and systematized the whole of Aristotle's works, gleaned from the Latin translations and notes of the Arabian commentators, in accordance with Church doctrine. His efforts resulted in the formation of a Christian reception of Aristotle in the Western Europe.[23] Albertus did not repudiatePlato. In that, he belonged to the dominant tradition of philosophy that preceded him, namely the "concordist tradition",[24] which sought to harmonizeAristotle withPlato through interpretation (see for examplePorphyry'sOn Plato and Aristotle Being Adherents of the Same School). Albertus famously wrote:
"Scias quod non perficitur homo in philosophia nisi ex scientia duarum philosophiarum: Aristotelis et Platonis." (Metaphysics, I, tr. 5, c. 5)(Know that a man is not perfected in philosophy if it weren't for the knowledge of the two philosophers, Aristotle and Plato)
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the pupil of Albertus Magnus, wrote a dozen commentaries on the works of Aristotle.[25] Thomas was emphatically Aristotelian, he adopted Aristotle's analysis of physical objects, his view of place, time and motion, his proof of the prime mover, his cosmology, his account of sense perception and intellectual knowledge, and even parts of hismoral philosophy.[25] The philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work of Thomas Aquinas was known asThomism, and was especially influential among theDominicans, and later, theJesuits.[25]
Using Albert's and Thomas's commentaries, as well asMarsilius of Padua'sDefensor pacis, 14th-century scholarNicole Oresme translated Aristotle's moral works into French and wrote extensivelycomments on them.
After retreating under criticism from modern natural philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea ofteleology was transmitted throughWolff andKant toHegel, who applied it to history as a totality.[citation needed] Although this project was criticized byTrendelenburg andBrentano as un-Aristotelian,[citation needed] Hegel had an exceptional admiration for Aristotle who often served as an exemplar in key passages of Hegel’s work.[26]
Hegel's influence is now often said to be responsible for an important Aristotelian influence uponMarx.[27]Postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianism's claim to reveal important theoretical truths.[28] In this, they followHeidegger's critique of Aristotle as the greatest source of the entire tradition of Western philosophy.
Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato's theories.[dubious –discuss][29] Some recentAristotelian ethical and 'practical' philosophy, such as that ofGadamer andMcDowell, is often premised upon a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy.[citation needed] From this viewpoint, the early modern tradition of politicalrepublicanism, which views theres publica, public sphere or state as constituted by its citizens' virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly Aristotelian.[citation needed]
Mortimer J. Adler described Aristotle'sNicomachean Ethics as a "unique book in the Western tradition of moral philosophy, the only ethics that is sound, practical, and undogmatic."[30]
The contemporary Aristotelian philosopherAlasdair MacIntyre helped to revivevirtue ethics in his bookAfter Virtue. MacIntyre revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest temporal goods, which are internal to human beings, are actualized through participation in social practices. He opposes Aristotelianism to the managerial institutions of capitalism and its state, and to rival traditions—including the philosophies ofHume,Kant,Kierkegaard, andNietzsche—that reject its idea of essentially human goods and virtues and instead legitimizecapitalism. Therefore, on MacIntyre's account, Aristotelianism is not identical with Western philosophy as a whole; rather, it is "the best theory so far, [including] the best theory so far about what makes a particular theory the best one."[31] Politically and socially, it has been characterized as a newly 'revolutionary Aristotelianism'. This may be contrasted with the more conventional, apolitical, and effectively conservative uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell.[32] Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists includeFred D. Miller, Jr.[33] in politics andRosalind Hursthouse in ethics.[34]
Neo-Aristotelianism inmeta-ontology holds that the goal ofontology is to determine which entities are fundamental and how the non-fundamental entities depend on them.[35] The concept of fundamentality is usually defined in terms ofmetaphysical grounding. Fundamental entities are different from non-fundamental entities because they are not grounded in other entities.[35] For example, it is sometimes held that elementary particles are more fundamental than the macroscopic objects (like chairs and tables) they compose. This is a claim about the grounding-relation between microscopic and macroscopic objects.
These ideas go back to Aristotle's thesis that entities from different ontological categories have different degrees of fundamentality. For example,substances have the highest degree of fundamentality because they exist in themselves. Properties, on the other hand, are less fundamental because they depend on substances for their existence.[36]
Jonathan Schaffer's priority monism is a recent form of neo-Aristotelian ontology. He holds that there exists only one thing on the most fundamental level: the world as a whole. This thesis does not deny our common-sense intuition that the distinct objects we encounter in our everyday affairs like cars or other people exist. It only denies that these objects have the most fundamental form of existence.[37]
Theproblem of universals is the question of whether and in what wayuniversals exist. Aristotelians andPlatonists agree that universals have actual, mind-independent existence; thus they oppose thenominalist standpoint. Aristotelians disagree with Platonists, however, about the mode of existence of universals. Platonists hold that universals exist in some form of "Platonic heaven" and thus exist independently of their instances in the concrete, spatiotemporal world. Aristotelians, on the other hand, deny the existence of universals outside the spatiotemporal world. This view is known as immanent realism.[38] For example, the universal "red" exists only insofar as there are red objects in the concrete world. Were there no red objects there would be no red-universal. This immanence can be conceived in terms of the theory ofhylomorphism by seeing objects as composed of a universal form and the matter shaped by it.
David Malet Armstrong was a modern defender of Aristotelianism on the problem of universals. States of affairs are the basic building blocks of his ontology, and have particulars and universals as their constituents. Armstrong is an immanent realist in the sense that he holds that a universal exists only insofar as it is a constituent of at least one actual state of affairs. Universals without instances are not part of the world.[39]
Taking a realist approach to universals also allows anAristotelian realist philosophy of mathematics, according to which mathematics is a science of properties that are instantiated in the real (including physical) world, such as quantitative and structural properties.[40]
We have said already that the most interesting and important of the Arabian schools is that which was the simple expression of Alexandrian Aristotelianism, the school of Avicenna and Averroes; or, as the Arabians themselves called it par excellence, that of the 'philosophers.' In no material point did they differ from their master, and, therefore, an exposition of their doctrines would be useless to those who know anything of the history of philosophy; but, before the strict study of the text of Aristotle, which was introduced by Avicenna, a large amount of traditional Neo-Platonism was incorporated with the body of traditional Aristotelianism, so as to take them sometimes far astray from their master's track.
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