Aristotle

Aristotle was ingenious when presenting philosophical concepts that changed, shaped, and rattled the philosophical minds of the western world. Being considered the greatest “intellect”, he impacted his generation and those who succeeded him by leaving his mark in the history books. In the following reflection I will be commenting on Aristotle’s influence in education when it comes in the form of his concepts of “realism”, the “great chain of being”, the “unmoved mover”, and the “four causes”.

Aristotle introduced the concept of “Realism” when his speculations lead him to believe that “It would seem impossible for the substance and that which is the substance to exist in separation”. This notion was contrary to Plato’s belief of idealism and the theory that knowledge was infallible, eternal and could not be determined through the senses. Aristotle argued that reality is based on the things you do see, and that its full function and form is interrelated and even predetermined in the matter in which it exists. This rattled the minds of many during this time period, and still challenges the concepts of whether tangible things have a direct contact with the intangible things.

In the concept “The Great Chain of Being”, the great philosopher Aristotle tried to classify or categorize the relationship among living things and the universe. His idea was that all species could be placed in an order beginning with the “lowest” to the “highest”, and that they are all interrelated. In this Great Chain of categorization, worms were found at the bottom and man at the top. His concept of the universe was that it was ultimately perfect, and therefore the Great Chain was perfect. With no room for speculation, everything had form and function and no species or link was missing or meaningless.

The “Unmoved Mover” was another concept that rattled the minds of philosophers during Aristotle’s time, and which holds today. In view of the Gods, Aristotle viewed the universe as having a mediator or force which transforms and transcends the shape of a substance into its ultimate form or function, this force is not necessarily a deity. In other words, that by which something is changed is the considered the “mover”, that which is changed is the “matter”, and that into which it is changed is the “form”. Having introduced this concept Aristotle was questioned about how many possible “movers” were there? He concluded that the total amount of movers is proportional to the total amount of movements. This in today’s religious terminologies could be considered polytheism, even though Aristotle made no notion of that, he did mention that the force was perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and un-contemplateable.

Finally, the “Four Causes” happens to be one of the most famous philosophical concepts introduced by Aristotle. In his view, there are Four Causes of nature which are interrelated; the Material Cause, the Formal Cause, the Efficient Cause, and the Final Cause. The Material Cause is the actual matter of which something is composed; this could be understood as a gold necklace being made from a precious metal. The second would be the Formal Cause, this is understood to mean that the idea could be conceived in the mind of a sculptor, but also intrinsic and embodied in the matter from which it is formed. The third would be the Efficient Cause, which is the mediator or driving force that produces the form. In conclusion we have the Final Cause, this concept focuses on the actual purpose or function of why the matter was formed, the understanding that everything is made from something, and for something.