Especially Prepared for BA (Hons) Students Semester V at Hindu College, University of Delhi.

Meant strictly for

Private Circulation

By Dr. Chandrachur Singh

Aristotle

Plato vs. Aristotle

1. The difference in Plato and Aristotle’s ideas on individual-society-state relationship could be traced to
their different approaches on the Form matter debate.

2. Whilst Plato believed in the existence of a perfect and unchanging Form (in the invisible world) and
thought of it to be the standard on which matter(existing objects/matter) were to be judged and
perfected, Aristotle looked to change as evolution, where in the process of becoming, the potentialities
of a thing are actualized.

3. The form of an object changes when it evolves into another thing. For example, In the process of the
seed evolving into a tree, different forms design the matter in different ways in each stage of its
evolution. Matter remains more or less the same. Aristotle thus concludes that change is not blind or
meaningless, but is purposeful and hence teleological.

4. Aristotle was critical of Plato’s transcendentalism and argued that Ideas do not exist apart from things.
Instead, idea is inherent or immanent in the thing by being its form and hence cannot be separated
from it.

5. Reality according to Aristotle consists of all the three: form, matter and movement. Forms are
inherent in things, and constitute the matter as well. Movement also cannot exist by itself. In other
words, form, matter and movement have no real existence independent of each other. Reality consists
of all these taken as a whole.

Teleology

1. According to Aristotle, everything that happens in the world is guided by a purpose. Hence in order to
understand anything one needs to understand this purpose.

2. Teleology comes from the Greek word ‘telos’, meaning end or goal. According to Aristotle the final
goal or endpoint of a thing is also its formal cause, through which we can understand its purpose.
Focusing on the goal of a thing offers us a way to understand its nature.

3. The distinction between the concepts of Form and matter could be understood with the help of the
distinction between the concepts of potentiality and actuality. Matter is potentiality and develops
towards Form or actuality. Just as Acorn is Potential and the Tree is actual.

4. Aristotle holds that bare matter is potentiality of form. Different forms shape the matter differently in
change. At every stage of evolution, matter has more form than before. In other words, it is then more
actual, a more advanced stage of existence. For example, when a seed evolves into a tree, it necessarily
happens through several stages; seed sapling----tree---fruit.
 5. Aristotle’s theory of causation explains how during change, an object changes its form. But form itself
does not change and become anything different than what it is. In this sense, forms are also changeless.
Here he agrees with Plato who considers forms as essences.

6. In the process of evolution matter evolves into what it is potential of. For example, the seed into the
tree, the wood into chair. The potentiality represents its purpose.

Purpose of Man’s Life: Eudaemonia

1. According to Aristotle man is special and different from other living creatures. Man is a rational social
and ethical animal. What makes man different is the presence of a soul which can rationalize and
conceptualize.

2. Aristotle’s teleological outlook makes him believe that all human actions have some goal, which itself
is a means to a still higher goal and so on and on. In other words, there is a supreme end or purpose,
which is the ultimate good for the sake of which every other good is sought.

3. Unlike Plants and animals, man’s life is a life of reason, the attribute that distinguishes man from the
rest of the creatures. Therefore, the highest good of man is the realization of this life of reason. In this
context Aristotle introduces the concept of eudaemonia, which according to him is the highest good for
man.

4. Eudaemonia consists in the experience of a better life or the best life itself. To elaborate this Aristotle
explicates a tripartite conception of the human soul. The soul has nutritive or vegetative functions
which cause nutrition and growth. This aspect of the soul is irrational. The other function of the soul is
appetitive, which is attentive to reasoning. But the third part, which is intellectual, is rational in itself.
Eudaemonia presupposes a life of reason as it is superior to the other two and the distinguishing feature
of man.

5. Virtues also play a crucial role in this process. Aristotle asserts that virtues are to be sought for
attaining eudaemonia. A virtue is a mean between two vices and hence it consists in the avoidance of
excess as well as deficit. It is a trait that contributes to a person functioning well as a human being. In
other words, a trait that engages him in a life of reason.

On Human Nature: Man is a Political Animal

1. According to Aristotle Man is by nature a social or Political animal.

2. Humans are sociable, as they are found to be living together in a society. This is because of two very
basic tendencies (a) Instinctive resulting in Conjugal relationship between Men and women resulting in
reproductive activities and (b) Racial (domination) resulting in the relationship between master and
slave for self-preservation – with the natural master using his intellect to rule, and the natural slave
employing his body to labor. Together these tendencies result in the creation of the family. The needs
of Familial life result in coming together of families or the community/village.

3. Second, human beings are by nature political animals, because nature, which does nothing in vain, has
equipped them with speech, which enables them to communicate and deliberate on moral concepts
such as justice (living well) which in turn is the basis on which rules regulations frameworks public
institutions etc. are set-up.
 4. Additionally, according to Aristotle man alone have the characteristics of the sense of good and evil, of
just and unjust. In other words man by nature is also an ethical being. For human beings a natural life
is a life of Justice.

5. For Aristotle good is something that is aimed at, which means that a life of justice represents the good
of man. This is the ultimate end towards which all human beings do strive and to which they ought to
strive. This is the very essence of being Human.

6. Only by living justly could humans satisfy the requirements of their own nature and thereby become
human beings in the proper sense.

7. According to Aristotle, the ultimate aim of Politics is to enable the process of personal development
and it is a political society that makes it possible for individual human beings to live a good life. To
fulfill one’s potential as a human being is what Aristotle calls Eudaimonia (flourishing/fulfillment)

8. The achievement of Eudaimonia necessarily requires that there be rules or laws which serve as a
standard of right and wrong for individual moral agents. An ehical life is thus possible only in a
political society.

State: Prior to Man

1. According to Aristotle, the state (polis) is a natural association as it is a natural
progression/development of other forms of associations like family and the community. The polis grew
naturally out of simpler communities such as the family, the household and the village. Family is the
first natural association to serve everyday needs. The household is the simplest form of association and
meets the simplest necessities. But man’s necessities are various and naturally it is beyond the capacity
of the family to meet those demands. Several families come together to form villages to fulfill the
greater demands and necessities. The village, although higher than the family, cannot cope with the
growing demands of its members.

2. When several villages are conglomerated that gives rise to a Polis or State. For all practical purposes
the process is now complete as self-sufficiency is reached or a good life is secured. On the basis of
teleological reasoning Aristotle argued that since the nature of everything is not its first but its final
condition, the city-state is a perfectly natural, most valued and the end point of social evolution. The
state is natural not simply because it is the final stage of historical evolution, but also because it alone
meets all the needs of man. It is alone self-sufficient.

3. According to Aristotle’s the fulfillment of necessities of life is can not to be detached from the
conception of the attainment of ethical values. Accordingly for the sake of good life the exercise of
both ethical and intellectual virtues is very much essential and the former requires the easy availability
of sufficient amount of external goods. Only the state with an adequate size and sufficient population
can ensure the smooth supply of external goods.

4. It is only in the State that individuals can best develop Eudemonia, - excellence or flourishing or
fulfillment. The state as such is the agent of cultivating talent and exists for the good life. The good life
is either contemplative or practical. While the first is achieved in solitude, the second is achieved by
actively engaging in the polis. According to only by actively contributing to the common good can one
achieve one’s potential as a human being. The good life for man results therefore from making full use
of his natural function and the polis exists for the sake of the good life.
5. At the foundation of Aristotle’s philosophy is his belief in teleological reasoning, under which things
have to be reasoned from the end or purpose. The state is by nature clearly prior to the family and to the
individual, since the whole is of necessity prior to the part.