Aristotle : Artificialistics And Natural Functions Of Aristotle

1. The function of each thing or object is what it alone can do or what it does better than anything

According to him, these are not the same theories. In fact, being right does not guarantee that a person is living a good life. In that sense, Aristotle has a theory that describes how to live a good life. His theory begins by explaining what makes something good. For example, if people want to know what a good king is, they need to define is the role of a king. If a king’s role is to govern his country and make citizens happy, a good king is the king that satisfies that role. This example leads to a certain conclusion. People can decide whether something is good or not by looking at its function, and what makes it to be good depends on what that object or concept is. Therefore, Aristotle thinks that if people can find the function of human life, they can figure out what a good human life looks like.

The good life for Aristotle means that humans can obtain happiness only if they are citizens within a self-sufficient city because the city, a political entity, aims at and is most successful at providing the good life for its citizens (1252b27). Aristotle supports this claim with two arguments. The first argument asserts that politics is a part of human nature and that humans posses the capacity to access their greatest potential. This means exercising their capacities to the fullest degree and becoming citizens within a polis so they can live the good life (1253a2). The second argument states that everything is defined by its function (1253a18) and that the whole (the polis) is prior to its parts (the citizens) meaning that humans need the city in order to properly function as citizens and to attain the good life. Therefore politics is an elemental part of the good life because the nature and function

Aristotle defines the function of a human being as an activity of the rational soul. He argues that most functions of humans, such as being alive or having sense perception, are shared with plants and animals and cannot be distinct functions of human beings. The only remaining possibility which is not shared with things other than human beings, according to Aristotle, is the part of the soul that has reason. Human function, therefore, is an “activity of the soul in accord with reason or requiring reason.” But further qualification must be made when referring to the something’s function in the context of a greatest good; in this case, it is not sufficient for something to simply function, it must also function well. For example, the function of a pianist is to play the piano, but the function of a good pianist is to play a piano well. According to Aristotle, adding a function’s best virtue to it will work without qualification to make something excellent in every case. So, the function of a human being is an activity of the rational soul and the greatest good for a human is activity of the rational soul in accordance with its virtue.

The eudemonia can be achieved by pursuing the chief good of human life, which is an activity of the soul. So if different parts of the soul are well trained, people can achieve virtue and therefore live an excellent life. People fall into four groups based on how well they trained their soul. And people who lack training in soul can train themselves through finding the mean and habituating themselves to the good acts.

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle describes that an object’s or efforts’ end purpose is what can be defined as good. Good can be defined in many ways and can determine the value of certain objects. This can be used to determine whether things in nature are present for the better or worse. When isolating nature from human interactions, there are many different ends to why certain things are present. Those ends can be used to determine whether or not certain objects are considered good in terms of Aristotle’s writing. Given this, it is possible that things in nature can be better or worse independently of human interests.

Aristotle begins his exploration into the most outstanding life by attempting to figure what the highest possible good achievable is for human beings. He comes to the conclusion that most people will agree that happiness is the most sought after good. Happiness is self-sufficient and is the complete end of things pursued. However, they cannot seem to agree how to achieve happiness and what happiness is. In order to figure out what happiness is, Aristotle must evaluate the true function of human beings. This true function, as seen by Aristotle, is the key to achieving happiness. Aristotle describes happiness by saying:

Perhaps now I need to introduce one of Aristotle’s suppositions: “living well and doing well are the same as being happy” (1.4.1095a19). But what does it mean to live well? A good example is that of the harpist. If the function of a harpist is to play the harp, then the function of a good harpist is to play the harp well (1.7.1098a9-12). It is this “superior achievement (of the function) that expresses virtue”(1.7.1098a10). When we apply this example to human beings it can be seen that the good human’s function to do well is completed “when its completion expresses the proper virtue”(1.7.1098a14-15). We have already determined that “the human function is the soul’s activity that expresses reason” (1.7.1098a8), since the human function is reason and “we must take [a human being’s special function to be] life as activity”

Aristotle was a very wise man. He was smarter than most teenagers his age, and doing more things than most kids his age. Plato, Aristotle's biggest influence, was very into human nature. Finding out what humans are, who one is, and how one should live was what Plato had done. This caught Aristotle’s attention and he soon wanted to do what Plato had been doing, but switch it up a little.

Actuality and potentiality are important aspects of a polis and its people to create the political environment that humans need to thrive in according Aristotle. When the right circumstances, virtue, and nature of a person come together, then the potentiality can convert into actuality. Aristotle establishes his belief that every person in the polis has potential in Nicomachean Ethics and continues to build upon potential of character Politics. He believes that the potentiality can be achieved through movement and habitual practice to reach the actuality of purpose in one’s life: happiness. His belief of such is presented in many forms, from the acorn’s potential to become an oak tree to a human’s potential to become happy in their polis. Happiness

Aristotle enquires the best benefits for human beings. First, he starts by saying that everything in natures has its own function. For example: the hammer’s function is to hammer the nail, or a tree’s function is to grow effectively. Human being is not an exception. The unique function of ours is the ability to reason. As long as we are engaged in these rational activities, they will bring us the good. One may ask what is the good that Aristotle is

The Greeks and their emphasis on rational thinking is a turning point in human civilization. Greek philosophers were men that devoted their lives to the study of nature, the reason things are the way they are, and even questioned why we exist. The Greek philosophers are historically significant because they dared to question traditional beliefs and would intellectually challenge those with prejudice opinions. In this paper, we will be taking a closer look at three of the most influential of the philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Aristotle claims that the principle of non-contradiction [(PNC) - the principle that the same attribute cannot at the same time belong and not belong to the same subject and in the same respect” (Metaphysics, Aristotle, Part 3)] is the most certain of all principles. He further explains that this is employed in all proofs, on any subject and therefore is the most basic, and the first principle as it “is not derived from anything more basic”. Aristotle also claims, unlike Socrates, that the forms exist on the same level as becoming. Therefore, you can logically assume Socrates’ metaphysics is hierarchical in this regard. It is important to note that Aristotle does have a focal point with regards to metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics - goods. Not goods as in products, but goods as in moral goods. The reason this idea trickles down into other areas of his philosophy is because this is where he fundamentally disagrees with Socrates on the forms. He even goes as far as to say “This sort of inquiry is, to be sure unwelcome to us, because those who introduced the Forms (Socrates) were friends of ours; still, it presumably seems better, indeed only right, to destroy even what is close to us if that is the way to preserve the truth” (Nicomachean Ethics, Part 6, The Platonic Form of the Good). Aristotle also believes in 3 ideas of substance: changeable and perishable (organisms), changeable and eternal (souls/heavenly bodies), and

Aristotle, is a man that wants to investigate the premises of truth. Truth for Aristotle has a conclusion; it is defining and is tangible. Therefore, if truth gives us knowledge we will need to provide an explanation of existence or why a statement is true. Aristotle thinks the work of epistemology and empirical observation allows him to analyze the answer to questions of what is truth, the purpose of why something exists and how we can identify truth. Some empirical questions are how things are made, who makes it and from where does it originate. He saw that there was a cause and effect for everything separating facts from mere opinions. His concepts become clearer as he understands the world around him and the purpose of why things exist. We see his success in his descriptive epistle entitled “Four Types of Explanation” and “Demonstrative Knowledge".

Aquinas derived his philosophy from his views of christianity and the works of artsophile. This can be seen in his views of how to achieve knowledge, he states that “ “ ( ) God according to him has created the universe and has omnestent, overseeing all actions by humans.