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THE PHILOSOPHY of ARISTOTLE Richard Mckeon THE PHILOSOPHY OF ARISTOTLE Richard McKeon TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 The Influence of Aristotle 1 2 The Life and Times of Aristotle 7 3 The Works of Aristotle 13 4 Aristotle and His Predecessors 18 5 The Method of the Sciences 26 6 First Philosophy and the Organization of the Sciences 33 7 The Natural Sciences 42 8 Moral and Political Philosophy 60 9 Rhetoric and Poetic 77 10 The Interpretation of Aristotle 95 M{E PHTrcSOPHTOF ARISTOTLE by Rlchard McKeon 1. Ti{ii IIFLU${CE 0F AF:IST0TIE lvi:en Boetl:ius, in the sixth century A.D., filled in theleieure of a politlcal career luhich had carrieci i:ir:r to the hlghest offices of the i)rnan S.,rpire rrriilr plans to translate the works of Plato and Aristotle into lratin, he combineo practical with philosophic itrterests in a fashioil'familiar to the Romar:s. An erirperor and the sect:etary of an €mpeTor had rrritten philosophy, and senatorslliiCi translated Arisiotle, had furtl:er elaborated the iniricate art of rhetclic, an<i had latrored over learned and phi1o1o5;1ca1pro-blens through the centuries since Cicero turned his involuntary retire- ment f roru i:ublic life to the servLce of his countrymen by t Tying to express ther ideas of the Greek philosophers in intellig;ible Latin. Tne character of tiie task and tire rireaugfor carrying it out, hcurever, hacl changed irr the lnterin. Cicero sought io a*.:riipt Greek pnilosophy '0o Romar:needs and problerne, and rrotwithstanding ltis cor*plaints coneerning the ciiffi.culty of frnding' the worcls to ex-press philosophic id.eas, hG cr.rulcrassurfle some lpotvleclgerd Greek in the cultivated Roman 6entlemen r;uhospeak j-n his dialogues and tol.rhoni in turn his philosopiiic treatisee anci dialogues are addressed, a,s,;ue11as sone acquaintance r,rith the 11&rir€Eor even the doctrines of ihe Greek philosophers. Boethius, on the other hand, s.lught i:ot to interpret a culture lyhich still livecl after a fashion, brtt to preser?e soriie rer$nante of an irrtelLectual tra- dition rvhiclr rvas in danger of dying in the llest, for knonled6e of Greeli was ln his tirne beginning to be a rare acconplishment anci tire period Vrhich follcxred close on krls cieath wa,sat one tlne described blr historians as the trDatk A;es.tl Tirere is roor.,:for differer:ce of opinion ccncerning' the degrere of cultu:ral obscurity that descended on Europe no less than ccn- cerning; iire marrner and tirne of 1ts tcrsit',*tioij, r'rhethe'rin the Renaissance, when the nel','ligi:t cane in part ai least l'ron the reirelved sluriy of Grc,ek, ,Jr durinfi tiie liiddlei Aiies, when intel- lectual iirquiry r:uasstimulated by' tire renel'reclstud.y of ancieirt writers, pai:ticularly ATistotl"e. iThatever our moTe recent sources of illumination, inodern cullure has been built rnore or less con- ociously on founciations laLd in one'or the orher of those two peuiods, and. we have learneci fr<.rr"irthern a reflected &orrli.rati,Jn f ;r aii'Liquity. Yet by the crrteria of the cLorninantlnterrests o f either period, r,relive a..airi in an age of darkness, for Greek and Latin writers nculd scarcely'be rcad too.ay'if an atm-riof schoLats, takirlg up the tasli of i3clethius, had riot treinslated them into i'nodenl languagesl eind t}:e tecirnical competeince',rith details of the pliilclsophy of ATistotle, sucil ei,slirould fiave been essential io ecientif 1c or philosopiric iriquiry in ine Ii{iddle A;;cg, iB litt}e esteenred and le ss cultivated by' c;rutempoTary scientists and philoeophers, even in the rare instances wi:eu tiiey look to medieval philosophy for inspiration. The question of value - lrhetlier we are better ox norge off for the ciiari.ge- is not necessa'':ily'invr"llved in the recclgnition of sirnilarities in our sltuation iriih tha.t of other Dark Ages, for t,he his'r.Jriai: is quicker to recoi;nize tire temnants of a decaying culture ihair to remarlc the signs of a synchronous insurgent 1ife.. -6- ii'hat is involved indisputai:Ly is ai cleepenini; cultural breai',,l,,hich 1s maklng novelties of a fund of custona-ry tale and legend, re- tnovinS- the tradiiional rlr:g from faumiliar rvords and quotations, breaking a corninon background of history and ideas such aF rnen need for the expressioir. ot understanciing of common aspirations. A;cistotle in particular has fer,red bacily, and v're have fared badly to tire 6ame cregree in these ciranges wl:ich have all but rele6ated the study of Arlstotle to the college classrooni, for felr readers aTe led to iris works toclay in even a br.o.id. ciicle of casual reao.ing, and fer;u serious invesigators even in the sciences lrlricir he ir:itj.ated or acivanced find it necessary to uo back of the repeated truisms that pass f.lr jrrs doctrine to the study of his works. Iir general, tl:e rrritln;,s of ancient r.rxiters are no longet tead as a iaatter of course or as accustorned accid.ent in intellectual developrneirt and educarion, but i:eaders are attracteci t<.t the classics ciiiefly by e1:isodes retolci iir the long record of men lrliro harre profiteci by leesons leiarnecl froin thenr clr r,vhohave simply enjoyecL thrarn. Horner and tire Greell dleii:ratists, Plato and t he historians irave lef t thelr traces tirrrrugh tire a{ies in t}ie lvorks of tirose l,rit-t souirirt insig'l:t in"io ncl,ir10e11 have liveci ancl thclui;irt arrd spoken, a.ltctany of a vast nunber of echoin6'lilord.s, refurbished thouglttB or unforgotten ideals fir$t encounteired in ilore recent literaturer irriSi:'b leaci back to the rlraD or the F.Epudlrc. Eut AriStOtle, vtrirenlie ha,s been eeteene6l i:ios't, hag been tead aS a scientist, arid even tne recogr:ition that ire ori;inated nany of the basic terns and ciisiinctic.riis of our scientific voc&bu1ar;r is balaiiced b;i a loiq3-lngtained biaus concerning the infl-uence of his scientific doctrines. The readeu lriro has learned frorir irisior:ies of piiilosophy and of science tirat eristotle enslaveo menrs minds and delaiied the advanoe of science for a thousando r, in the ilore entl:usias'cic versions of the history, fi1'teen hundred o:,1even ttro tirouLsand ]/ears, is not likely to be inspireo to study the philOsophlr 6,116{science ."lf ti:e map 1rhclmD;lnte calleg.tlthe rnaster of tirose iltho know.ll The cirang'es in out c..rnceptiorrs of scihnce are not sufficient to acc';unt for wirat has haopened to tlie Teputation and infLuence of Aristotle, for if ii t,'ei-6 a questicn of'thoeries and inethocls of obsetv&tir;ri anci ueraonstration, tire discussion rirould probably have irad a closerr irelation to the',trOr}i$ <.rf Aristotle anci the dis- coveTl/, frequer.rtly irio,de, thar there is r,rucii in his scientif ic lroti:s wiricit is corni;lerida)le and su3i;estivcr ini;ht helve been made rnore l)erltane 'chr:ui;h tire abes to thc: proi.;ress of science and the state;oeirt ot' scieniif 1c problerns. Tire 1:henoineri&of Aristotle t s influence ancl or tlie xeaciion ai;ainsi; hii-ri eire inte1li5'ib1e only in lcroade r perspectiver. Dc.spite the adi,iiration r)xpxirssed by rrlany 5'rerat scientists wiro professe.d to irtllo.r iris nretirocl aricl.to uge ilis cciiclu.siitns, Aristotle lias i:eeir c::iticizea, since the F.enaissance, &s ai: unsound lnflirer:ce in science; derspite the ef'forts of sor,le li' ti:e 5greatest ti:eologians to na.lie ]ris doctrine an eie,hir.ir:tilf Chrls'r,ian il]rilosclyti:3, 1:e l,ri:rscenrjuTed, 'i;i:rrruoh a11 tirc ci n'cuties of earlie'r: Ci:ristian uhuui;ht f r':ln: ,lrpologists to lJartin Luther du.riii,; irrhicir relii;ir:ir supplieci a rotrchstone for in-ce}lectua1 cloctrincs, as er,s\)urce o1'a,11 or r.*ost of the ttreo- logical i:eresies I ai:d despiic trr€, te iiipt re cL praise of mr:n Like Cicero, ire was scarcely more foriunate iii i.oiil&ir trrnes, for the practical F,,oiaans- lvho were fcnci of uri,ini., the irnpor:tance of !)- - philosopiry at least to prepare the spirit for labors, to fortify it against terros, and to corisole it aEainst despairs, and wiro, to accoiuplish such ends, became Stoics anci trlpicureans in great numbers- thought of the Peripatetlcs as a meliiculous and learned sect, but one without tl:e spiritual scope or practical application of their favorite philosophiee. If ,Arlstotle enslaved nenrs minds, there- fore, it was fur a conparatively si:orc time. For long periods his doctrines lrtete all but unkitotvn, and his r..rorksall but unread, alwaye because ihe effort necessary to inaster his difficult ian- guag'e and his technicall"y elaborated thought was great, while the doctrinee thernselves i,rere popularly thou5lht to be sonetimes iilpractical, sometimes unorthodo:r, scrrietines unscientif ic. But f or at least oiie period of eorner'/hatmore than a. hiirici.red)rears extend- ing frorn tne iaicidle of the thirteenth century, his j.iifiuence was one of the cl:ief forces that v'ient lnto the making of a great civili- zation aad the founolng of sciences in ri-rhicirthe narli of iiis doc- trine has survivr:ti that age unrecobnizeql. Aristotle has been reiner,ibexed,sir:ce the idlddle Ages, chiefly in teri'ns borrowed from the Romans to express the mox'eviolent reaction of n:en of the Renaiseance against the impracticality, inele5;ance and tecirnical specif icity of the scholasticisr't mitir wliicit they lurirpecithe philosophy of Aristotle.
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