The summary of Aristotle's Metaphysics Book 1 consists of knowing that there are causes of everything and that all men desire to know. Knowledge is made up of two things. Truths that we learn through experience and the common truths of art and science. There are four kinds of cause or explanations for why things are. The first one is material cause, which explains what something is made of, the formal cause, which explains the form a thing assumes, the efficient cause which explains the process, by which it came into being. Finally, the final cause, which explains the purpose that thing what was created for.
The differences between Plato and Aristotle are the way they approached the notion of acquiring virtue. Plato believed that to know the good is to do the good, meaning that all the virtues come down to the foundation of wisdom. Plato believed in the unity of virtues. Also Plato believed that virtue was suffficient for happiness. Aristotle's views differed with Plato's on each point to a great extent. Aristotle doesn't believe that knowing good is good enough, instead one must live out their virtues in order to truly know the meaning of virtue. He also denies the unity of virtues. Finally Aristotle also believes that virtue is imperative to living a happy and good life, but that does not satisfy him. Rather he believes that one can be virtuous and still unhappy.
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ReplyDeleteThe summary of Aristotle's Metaphysics Book 1 consists of knowing that there are causes of everything and that all men desire to know. Knowledge is made up of two things. Truths that we learn through experience and the common truths of art and science. There are four kinds of cause or explanations for why things are. The first one is material cause, which explains what something is made of, the formal cause, which explains the form a thing assumes, the efficient cause which explains the process, by which it came into being. Finally, the final cause, which explains the purpose that thing what was created for.
ReplyDeleteThe differences between Plato and Aristotle are the way they approached the notion of acquiring virtue. Plato believed that to know the good is to do the good, meaning that all the virtues come down to the foundation of wisdom. Plato believed in the unity of virtues. Also Plato believed that virtue was suffficient for happiness. Aristotle's views differed with Plato's on each point to a great extent. Aristotle doesn't believe that knowing good is good enough, instead one must live out their virtues in order to truly know the meaning of virtue. He also denies the unity of virtues. Finally Aristotle also believes that virtue is imperative to living a happy and good life, but that does not satisfy him. Rather he believes that one can be virtuous and still unhappy.