Aristotle's Philosophy

The primary way of being is substance. Aristotle states that substance is that which is neither said of a subject nor in a subject. The species in which the things primarily called substances are found are called secondary substances. Things that are not found in combination are either substances or quantity or qualification. Being itself is found in substance. Aristotle says that every substance seems to signify a certain "this":

As regards the primary substances, it is indisputably true that each of them signifies a certain "this"; for the thing revealed is individual and numerically one (6).

Secondary substances do not signify a "this" but instead signify a certain qualification. Substance, and so being, does not admit of a more or less but is a mean in itself. This is a statement of equality among men as among other substances endowed with being:

For example, if this substance is a man, it will not be more a man or less a man either than itself or than another man. For one man is not more a man than another, as one pale thing is more pale than another and one beautiful thing more beautiful than another (7).

The state of being is expressed through substance, and no man is more than any other man--all have being equally.

4. According to Aristotle, we have freedom of choice and are responsible for the choices we make. We are morally culpable even for unintended consequences. Acting unjustly is tantamount to wishing to act unjustly. The origin of action, sa

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r the sake of any of these other virtues. This makes happiness the final end. It is a good reached through the attainment of other goods, but it is also the final or supreme good which we seek for its own sake and not for the sake of any other good to come. 8. Aristotle equates virtue with excellence. He also says that human good is the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, and in this he is first of all placing the seat of human behavior and action in the soul--it is the soul that determines whether we do good or ill. Aristotle says that the function of the human being is a certain kind of life, defined by Aristotle as an action or actions of the soul implying a rational principle. This leads Aristotle to the conclusion that human good is activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, and he says that if there is more than one virtue, it is in accordance with the best and most complete virtue. He says that by human virtue is meant not only that of the body but that of the soul, and happiness is also an activity of the soul. The student of politics must therefore know something of the soul. Aristotle held that moral virtue is a state of character that is determined by a balance between rational principle on

Category: Philosophy - A