Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

structure, organization, or form is a basic ontological and explanatory principle. Some individuals consist of materials that are structured or organized in various ways. Human beings are not mere collections of physical particles; we are collections of physical particles (matter or body) with a certain organization or structure (form or soul). The structure or organization that distinguishes living things form non-living ones is what Aristotle called the soul. Aristotle insisted that living things were composed of the same materials as non-living ones, and that what distinguished the former from the later was the way those materials were structured or organized. Entelechy is one of the core concepts Aristotle bases his entire philosophy on and it is the creative drive or inner urge that impels all things to achieve their purpose in life-everything in the universe has its own unique purpose to fulfill. Aristotle believed each person has a potential to fulfill in people the formal element is the soul which gives shape and purposeful direction to the body, for every part of the living body is an organ the soul. The soul is not immortal, as it ceases to exist once the matter in which it is embedded (the body) stops functioning. Aristotle believes that there is a good life for each of us to aspire to and achieve a life of balance, fullness, and happiness. They are described below: • The four causes: A complete understanding for why something happens. It entails addressing all of these causes which he explains in his metaphysics: material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, and final cause. • Material cause: The matter of which a thing is made, which is the basic “stuff” of the universe. Matter requires form in which to shape it into something useful and purposeful. • Formal cause: The embedded form that gives shape and purpose to the matter. • Efficient cause: The triggering action that sets the thing in motion or the cause that initiates change, transforming a potential into an actuality. • Final cause: The ultimate purpose for which a thing exists its reason for being, its final goal. Aristotle extends the concept of final cause to the universe as a whole that he refers to as first final cause, prime mover, pure thought, and thinking thought by stating, “This is not a God as a creator but rather an impersonal principle that permeates the universe as a whole.” To avoid infinite regress, which is a kind of philosophical argument, intending to show that a thesis is defective because it generates an infinite series when either no such series exists, or were it to exist, the thesis would lack the role (or justification) it is supposed to play Aristotle needed to put forward the first final cause concept. Aristotle was devoted to the idea that the nature of reality is best apprehended through close and careful attention to, and the study of sense experiences, making him an empiricist. Whereas Plato believed in a changing and ultimately mortal human body that was inhabited by an unchanging and immortal soul, Aristotle argued that the soul cannot be separated from the body that we, as humans, are entirely creatures of nature. In Aristotle’s metaphysical system, there are two categories of things: matter (the physicality of a thing) and form (the essence of a thing). All things contain within themselves their potential or entelechy (creative drive or inner urge).

Page 52 of 125

©2017

www.achievetestprep.com