Aristotle: The Philosopher of Common Sense

Historical Background:

If asked to give an account of the two most influential people of the western tradition I
would first name Jesus of Nazareth, and right behind him would be Aristotle.

Aristotle was a veritable wealth of information. There was nothing that he did not study
and write about. Biology, psychology, astronomy, politics, ethics, literature, rhetoric. The
basic categories of our thought and our taxonomical divisions in the sciences are derived
from Aristotle. Further, he codified basic syllogistic logic on his own.

Those who look back an laugh at Aristotle’s inaccuracies in certain of the physical
sciences forget the lack of instruments he had to work with. He measured time without a
clock, heat without a thermometer, the heavens without a telescope, the weather without a
barometer. He developed theories of psychology and sense perception without brains
scans or optical instruments.

The field of inquiry he was interested in was limitless. He loved to investigate everything
from the existence of God to sea crustaceans. He developed classifications of animals
from throughout the known world (and beyond) of his time.

Many of his specimens were sent to him from afar from one of his former students.
Anyone know who? (Alexander the Great).

Aristotle: Virtue Ethics

In Mill we spoke of utility and the GHP to attempt to determine the moral worth of
actions.
In Kant we looked at action from duty and respect for the moral law.
These theories left us to talking about “permissible” and “obligatory” actions.
In Aristotle we will be speaking of “virtue” and “vice” as we attempt to find principles tat
should govern how we live.