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Aristotle and Aristotelianism

Aristotle was one of the chief philosophers of ancient Greece. His system of thought, known as Aristotelianism, had a great influence on Renaissance scholarship. Aristotle sought to explain what knowledge was, what fields it included, and how to develop it. Renaissance Aristotelianism influenced many areas of study and provided a foundation for modern science and philosophy in the 1600s.

ARISTOTLE'S WORKS AND TEACHINGS

Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) was a student of PLATO, another famous Greek thinker. After attending Plato's Academy for 20 years, Aristotle founded his own school of philosophy, the Lyceum. Although his works were copied and recopied many times during antiquity*, many were later lost.

Aristotle's works fall into three categories. Some were notes to aid memory and prepare for further work. None of these works still exist. Others were texts for the general reading public, such as On Philosophy and On Justice. Only fragments of these survive, but comments made by later Greek and Roman scholars give some idea of their contents. The third category included works that Aristotle intended for school use. For these, he used a terse, concise style. All of Aristotle's surviving writings belong to this category. Because Aristotle may have changed these texts throughout his teaching career, modern scholars cannot be certain of exactly when he wrote them or in what order.

Philosophy and Logic. Philosophy had a much wider range in ancient Greece than it has now. Aristotle dealt with several topics that are still a part of philosophy today, such as logic, metaphysics*, and ethics*. However, he also discussed subjects that are now independent fields, such as mathematics, natural and political science, poetics (the formal discussion of poetry), and rhetoric (the art of speaking or writing effectively). Within each area, he sought to identify the universal truths that were essential to understanding the subject.

Aristotle referred to logic as a science, but he did not regard it as a specific field. Rather, he saw it as tool used in other sciences. Its basic function was "analytics," an untangling of the complicated processes of human thought. Aristotle invented several elements of logic that are still in use today, such as the proposition (a statement to be proven true or false) and the syllogism (a method of formal argument).

The Sciences. Aristotle classified thought and activity into three realms. The first was the theoretical sciences, which aimed at knowledge alone. He called natural philosophy the first theoretical science. This field was concerned with nature—the world of physical objects that the senses could observe. Aristotle investigated topics such as motion, time, living things, and even the human soul in his study of natural philosophy. The second theoretical science was mathematics. Related to mathematics were the "mixed sciences," such as astronomy and optics, which applied mathematics to the study of natural things. The third theoretical science was metaphysics, which Aristotle regarded as the study of the divine.

Aristotle used the term practical sciences for fields related to human conduct. The practical sciences were ethics and politics, which together made up moral philosophy. The goal of these sciences was to achieve what is good for people and for society. Aristotle viewed the good as an ever-changing midpoint, or mean, between extremes. To locate that midpoint, a person had to possess the moral virtues of moderation*, courage, and justice. Aristotle believed that these virtues enabled a person to live a life of contemplation, or reflective thought, which he saw as the sole source of happiness. He taught that true forms of government helped their citizens to achieve happiness in two ways: by promoting the moral virtues and by working for the common good, rather than that of a particular class.

The productive sciences, in Aristotle's view, were concerned with creating things. He developed his ideas about productive science in Poetics, focusing on tragic drama, and Rhetoric, exploring the persuasive use of language.

RENAISSANCE ARISTOTELIANISM

The Aristotle familiar to Renaissance scholars was different from the Aristotle known in late antiquity. Over the centuries, scholars and philosophers had preserved and commented on Aristotle's writings. Often they tried to unite his ideas with those of Plato. In the 1000s and 1100s, Aristotelian studies expanded to include the writings of Arabic scholars.

Scholars first began to create Latin translations of nearly all of Aristotle's works in the mid-1100s. Then, after the eastern city of CONSTANTINOPLE fell to the Turks in 1453, Greek scholars from this region moved to the West. The shared their rich knowledge of Greek texts with Latin humanists*, expanding the study of both Plato and Aristotle. New translations and interpretations of Aristotle's thought reshaped Aristotelianism in the Renaissance.

Renaissance Views of Aristotle. Aristotle's logical and theoretical works made up the core of university teaching during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Scholars took a variety of different approaches to Aristotle's works. Some humanists focused on the historical and cultural references in Aristotle's works. Others used Aristotle to help them find answers to difficult philosophical questions. Aristotle's thought also strongly influenced the work of some natural scientists who laid the groundwork for modern science, including Galileo GALILEI and William HARVEY.

Two Aristotelians who taught in Padua, Italy, show the variety in Renaissance approaches to Aristotle. Jacopo Zabarella (1533–1589) used observation to determine the truth about nature. His colleague Cesare Cremonini (1550–1631) was content to find truth in the text of Aristotle alone.

The End of Renaissance Aristotelianism. Early historians of the Renaissance believed that humanism had replaced Aristotelianism in the 1400s and 1500s. Scholars today, however, believe that humanism did not have a particular philosophical framework. Instead, its main elements were Greek and Latin grammar, history, rhetoric, and literature. Some humanists were Aristotelians, just as some were followers of Plato or other ancient thinkers. Nonetheless, Aristotelianism ceased to develop after the end of the 1500s. Aristotle's complex system of thought fell out of favor, and its influence steadily declined over the next two centuries.

(See also Drama; Humanism; Logic; Philosophy; Political Thought; Rhetoric; Science.)

* antiquity

era of the ancient Mediterranean cultures of Greece and Rome, ending around A.D. 400

* metaphysics

branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of reality and existence

* ethics

branch of philosophy concerned with questions of right and wrong

* moderation

an attitude of avoiding extremes

* humanist

referring to a Renaissance cultural movement promoting the study of the humanities (the languages, literature, and history of ancient Greece and Rome) as a guide to living

Plato Versus Aristotle

Both Aristotle and his teacher Plato have been extremely influential in the Western world. Early Christian thinkers favored Plato because of his teachings on the soul and creation. Aristotle gained importance when his long-lost teachings on arts and sciences became available in the 1100s and 1200s. Then, in the early Renaissance, interest in Plato increased. Historians once considered Plato the major philosopher of the Renaissance, but modern scholars realize that Aristotle had a greater influence on Renaissance thinkers.