Lesson Objectives

Appreciate who Aristotle was in the history of Philosophical thought

Understand how Aristotle's metaphysics arrives at Four Causes

Understand why Aristotle argues for things having a telos — an end

Appreciate why Aristotle thought eudaemonia was our highest good

Appreciate how Virtue Ethics was the moral framework of the Classical World

Understand how Aristotle arrives at Ethics by contemplating the Golden Mean

Key Terms

The Lyceum

Ethics

Tragedy

Hylomorphism

The Four Causes

Teleology

Entelechy

Eudaemonia

Virtue Ethics

The Golden Mean

The Historical Aristotle

Aristotle in History

• Known to Medieval philosophers as "the Philosopher"

• Plato's most successful and famous student

• Mentor and friend to Alexander the Great

• Alexander's father, Philip II of Macedonia, takes over Greece

     • Alexander takes over the known world and sends it all to Athens

     • This raises Aristotle's image among the Athenian élite

Aristotle's Lyceum

• At 50, Aristotle returns to Athens (run by his Macedonians)

• He takes over a school called the Lyceum and creates his own curriculum

• Today, French secondary schools ("lycee") are named after it

• The Lyceum is student led and operated

     • the student-administration changes every ten days

     • each student of the Lyceum has a hand in its operation

• Aristotle's curriculum is research-based rather than Socratic-based

• Aristotle also establishes a very important philosophy library at the Lyceum

     • Aristotle's many "books" are actually the lecture notes of his students

     • About 1/5 of Aristotle's works have been lost