About Aristotle
“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference” - Aristotle
"Teaching is the highest form of understanding" - Aristotle
About :
NAME : Aristotle
OCCUPATION : philosopher
BIRTH DATE : 384 BCE DEATH DATE : 322 BCE
EDUCATION : Plato's Academy , Lyceum
PLACE OF BIRTH : Stagira , Chalcidice , Greece
PLACE OF DEATH : Chalcis , Euboea , Greece
BRIEF HISTORY :
• He was a Greek philosopher and polymath . Also a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great .
• His writings cover many subjects , including physics , metaphysics , poetry , theatre , music , logic , rhetoric , linguistics , politics , government , ethics , biology , and zoology .
• Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy , encompassing ethics , aesthetics , logic , science , politics , and metaphysics .
• Aristotle , whose name means " the best purpose " in Ancient Greek , was born in 384 BC in Stagira .
• His father Nicomachus was the personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon . Both of Aristotle's parents died when he was about thirteen , and Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian .
• At the age of seventeen or eighteen , Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Plato's " Academy . " He remained there for nearly twenty years .
• Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor .Aristotle divided his Metaphysics into three parts
• Ontology : The study of being and existence ; includes the definition and classification of entities , physical or mental , the nature of their properties , and the nature of change .
• Theology : The study of a God or gods ; involves many topics , including among others the nature of religion and the world , existence of the divine , questions about Creation , and the numerous religious or spiritual issues that concern humankind in general .
• Universal science : The study of first principles , such as the law of noncontradiction ( logic ) , which Aristotle believed were the foundation of all other inquiries .
Aristotle and Ethics :
• Ethics , also known as moral philosophy , is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing , defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct .
• Aristotle considered ethics to be a practical rather than theoretical study , i.e. , one aimed at becoming good and doing good rather than knowing for its own sake .
Logic and Aristotle:
• Logic
• The term " logic " came from the Greek word logos , which is sometimes translated as " sentence " , " discourse " , " reason " , " rule " , and " ratio " .
► logic as the study of the principles of correct reasoning
► actually quite a controversial matter .
Aristotle was the first to systematically study and catalogue the rules of correct logical reasoning
His logic is important because it dominated all western thought , including scientific thought , until the 19th century CE ; it also had enormous influence on the development of Jewish , Christian and Muslim philosophy . It is still influential today .
Although other types of logical systems exist , Aristotelian logic is still a powerful tool used to teach reasoning skills in numerous academic disciplines .
ARISTOTLE'S LIFE ( Summary )
Born in BC 384 in Stagira .
In 367 BC , Joined the famous ' ACADEMY ' of the greatest philosopher Plato at the age of 17 year .
In 347 BC left ACADEMY at the age of 37 year .
In 342 BC became the tutor of Alexander the Great at the age of 42 year .
In 335 BC established ' LYCEUM ' at the age of 49 year .
Died in 322 BC in Euboea at the age of 62 year .
ARISTOTLE'S ART AND POETICS
Art is defined by Aristotle as the realization in external form of a true idea , and is traced back to that natural love of imitation which characterizes humans , and to the pleasure which we feel in recognizing likenesses . Art however is not limited to mere copying . It idealizes nature and completes its deficiencies : it seeks to grasp the universal type in the individual phenomenon .
" Poetics " : six parts
• Introductory remarks on poetry and its classification
• Tragedy .
• Poetic diction
• Narrative poetry and tragedy
• Epic is compared with tragedy
• Objections are answered
THEORY OF IMITATION AND TRAGEDY :
• Theory of imitation Three ways of imitation
1. Means or medium of imitation ( serious action ) . sound , form , colour
2. Objects of imitation ( men in action ) .
3. Manner of imitation ( verse in dialogue ) .
➤ narrative
➤ dramatic
Plot :
• Plot should be whole
• It should have a magnitude
• Probability and Necessity
• Willing suspension of disbelief
• Organic unity .
Plot is the ordering of incidents :
Simple: Plot is simple when the change in the fortunes of the hero takes place without peripety and discovery .
Complex : Complex plots are those which have Peripety and Anagnorisis or Discovery or Recognition .
• Peripeteia : Peripeteia means that human actions produce results exactly opposite to what was intended : it is working in blindness to one's own defeat .
Anagnorisis : Anagnorisis or recognition is the realization of truth , the opening of the eyes , the sudden lightning - flash in the darkness
Character:
Characters are the agents for moving according to plot . Essential features of characterization .
• Characters should be good .
• Characters should be appropriate .
• Characters should be true to life .
• Characters should be consistent .
Superiority of Tragedy over Epic:
It has all the elements of an epic and has also spectacle and song which the epic lacks .
Unity of action only in a tragedy not in an epic .
Simply reading the play without performing it is already very potent . .
Tragedy is shorter that is more compact concentrated effect .
Ideal Tragic Hero:
He should not be an utter villain .
He should neither the perfectly good not utterly bad . He must be intermediary sort of person .
He must posses both qualities and weakness .
He must be a human being .
Hamartia ( tragic flaw ) .
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