According to Aristotle everything has a purpose or an aim towards which it is moving. All associations, physical objects, and human beings are moving towards that end, which is to achieve the perfection in its nature. Thus the aim of all actions and all things is to attain perfection. The aim of a physician, for example, is to be the perfect physician, the aim of a carpenter is to be the perfect carpenter. The aim of a human being is to be the perfect human being, which is to be a virtuous human being. Virtue, according to Aristotle is a state of character that one acquires in a flourishing polis under a virtuous leadership through hard work. A virtuous human being is one whose rational part controls his irrational parts, so that each part is acting according to what it should do. Further, a virtuous person is one who knows the mean or medium between extremes, that is can act in the right way at the right time in the place. Further, for Aristotle, the aim of a polis (or State) is happiness, which is flourishing and where the leadership is virtuous and others cultivate and learn virtue. The smallest association in the polis is the household, whose primary function is economic, that is production of food, shelter, clothing, and everything needed for the daily lives. The secondary function of the household is wealth gathering and wealth management. Within the household there are some "natural pairs", such as Master and slave, husband and wife, parent and child. These are "natural pairs" because they cannot live without each other. In each pair there is a "ruling" and a "ruled" element, depending on the presence and absence of "rationality", Thus, for Aristotle the Master is rational and hence independent, while the slave, being irrational have to be subordinate to the Master, in order to be guided, for he cannot be independent as he has no rationality. Nonetheless, the slave is needed for his great manual strength. The Greek woman has confused rationality and must be subordinate to the husband who has rationality and can guide her. The Greek woman is needed for the propagation of the Greek species. Amongst the "barbarians" there are no "natural" Masters, as there are no "ruling" elements. Further, for Aristotle the POWS or Prisoners of War are also "natural slaves" as they have been defeated by the Greeks and hence "naturally inferior" to the Greeks. According to St. Anselm the atheist is illogical, for we have the idea of an infinite being in our mind, who also possesses all the positive attributes. Since non existence is a negative attribute, this perfect being cannot be non existent, hence the perfect being exists necessarily, that is existence is not contingent but a necessary feature of the perfect being, unlike the existence of the things in the external world, which are all temporal and have contingent existence.
ALso need a short summary in own words about Aristotle.
According to Aristotle every thing has a
purpose and the purpose and an excellence towards which the things are moving. The excellence of
human existence is to reach perfection, which is to be a virtuous human being. A virtuous human being is
one whose rat
ional part guides his irrational or contingent parts. Further,
human being must live within an
association, the smallest of which is the household or the oikos. The primary function of the household is
economics and within the household there is a system o
f hierarchy, such that the Master is in command
due to his higer rationality and he gives directions to the women, slaves, and children. This hierarchy,
according to Aristotle is based on the presence and absence of rationality, the Master has rationality
and
hence he can be the "natural ruler", while the Greek woman has confused and the slave has no
rationality. Nonetheless, they are needed for the propagation of the Greek species. Further, according to
Anslem only that which is necessary has existence, ev
erything else is non existent.
Weekly summaries: A brief summary of what you learned during the week will be due every
Sunday by midnight. Summaries should briefly describe everything the student learned during
the week. Upload the summary in the “assignment” area, not the “comment” are
a. A sample
summary will be provided on which the students can model their summaries.
Week
2:
Review/
Summary
According to Aristotle everything has a purpose or an aim towards which it is moving.
All associations,
physical
objects, and human beings
are moving towards that end, which is to achieve the perfection in its nature. Thus the
aim of all actions and all things is to attain perfection. The aim of a physician, for example, is to be the perfect
physician, the aim of a carpenter is to be the per
fect carpenter. The aim of a human being is to be the perfect human
being, which is to be a virtuous human being. Virtue, according to Aristotle is a state of character that one acquires
in a flourishing polis under a virtuous leadership through hard work.
A virtuous human being is one whose rational
part controls his irrational parts, so that each part is acting according to what it should do. Further, a virtuous person
is one who knows the mean or medium between extremes, that is can act in the right way
at the right time in the
place. Further, for Aristotle, the aim of a polis (or State) is happiness, which is flourishing and where the leadership
is virtuous and others cultivate and learn virtue. The smallest association in the polis is the household, who
se
primary function is economic, that is production of food, shelter, clothing, and everything needed for the daily lives.
The secondary function of the household is wealth gathering and wealth management. Within the household there
are some "natural pairs
", such as Master and slave, husband and wife, parent and child. These are "natural pairs"
because they cannot live without each other.
In each pair there is a "ruling" and a "ruled" element, depending on the
presence and absence of "rationality", Thus, f
or Aristotle the Master is rational and hence independent, while the
slave, being irrational have to be subordinate to the Master, in order to be guided, for he cannot be independent as he
has no rationality. Nonetheless, the slave is needed for his great
manual strength. The Greek woman has confused
rationality and must be subordinate to the husband who has rationality and can guide her. The Greek woman is
needed for the propagation of the Greek species. Amongst the "barbarians" there are no "natural" Mast
ers, as there
are no "ruling" elements. Further, for Aristotle the POWS or Prisoners of War are also "natural slaves" as they have
been defeated by the Greeks and hence "naturally inferior" to the Greeks. According to St. Anselm the atheist is
illogical, f
or we have the idea of an infinite being in our mind, who also possesses all the positive attributes. Since
non existence is a negative attribute, this perfect being cannot be non existent, hence the perfect being exists
necessarily, that is existence is n
ot contingent but a necessary feature of the perfect being, unlike the existence of the
things in the external world, which are all temporal and have contingent existence.
ALso need a short summary in own words about Aristotle. According to Aristotle every thing has a
purpose and the purpose and an excellence towards which the things are moving. The excellence of
human existence is to reach perfection, which is to be a virtuous human being. A virtuous human being is
one whose rational part guides his irrational or contingent parts. Further, human being must live within an
association, the smallest of which is the household or the oikos. The primary function of the household is
economics and within the household there is a system of hierarchy, such that the Master is in command
due to his higer rationality and he gives directions to the women, slaves, and children. This hierarchy,
according to Aristotle is based on the presence and absence of rationality, the Master has rationality and
hence he can be the "natural ruler", while the Greek woman has confused and the slave has no
rationality. Nonetheless, they are needed for the propagation of the Greek species. Further, according to
Anslem only that which is necessary has existence, everything else is non existent.
Weekly summaries: A brief summary of what you learned during the week will be due every
Sunday by midnight. Summaries should briefly describe everything the student learned during
the week. Upload the summary in the “assignment” area, not the “comment” area. A sample
summary will be provided on which the students can model their summaries.
Week 2: Review/ Summary
According to Aristotle everything has a purpose or an aim towards which it is moving. All associations, physical
objects, and human beings are moving towards that end, which is to achieve the perfection in its nature. Thus the
aim of all actions and all things is to attain perfection. The aim of a physician, for example, is to be the perfect
physician, the aim of a carpenter is to be the perfect carpenter. The aim of a human being is to be the perfect human
being, which is to be a virtuous human being. Virtue, according to Aristotle is a state of character that one acquires
in a flourishing polis under a virtuous leadership through hard work. A virtuous human being is one whose rational
part controls his irrational parts, so that each part is acting according to what it should do. Further, a virtuous person
is one who knows the mean or medium between extremes, that is can act in the right way at the right time in the
place. Further, for Aristotle, the aim of a polis (or State) is happiness, which is flourishing and where the leadership
is virtuous and others cultivate and learn virtue. The smallest association in the polis is the household, whose
primary function is economic, that is production of food, shelter, clothing, and everything needed for the daily lives.
The secondary function of the household is wealth gathering and wealth management. Within the household there
are some "natural pairs", such as Master and slave, husband and wife, parent and child. These are "natural pairs"
because they cannot live without each other. In each pair there is a "ruling" and a "ruled" element, depending on the
presence and absence of "rationality", Thus, for Aristotle the Master is rational and hence independent, while the
slave, being irrational have to be subordinate to the Master, in order to be guided, for he cannot be independent as he
has no rationality. Nonetheless, the slave is needed for his great manual strength. The Greek woman has confused
rationality and must be subordinate to the husband who has rationality and can guide her. The Greek woman is
needed for the propagation of the Greek species. Amongst the "barbarians" there are no "natural" Masters, as there
are no "ruling" elements. Further, for Aristotle the POWS or Prisoners of War are also "natural slaves" as they have
been defeated by the Greeks and hence "naturally inferior" to the Greeks. According to St. Anselm the atheist is
illogical, for we have the idea of an infinite being in our mind, who also possesses all the positive attributes. Since
non existence is a negative attribute, this perfect being cannot be non existent, hence the perfect being exists
necessarily, that is existence is not contingent but a necessary feature of the perfect being, unlike the existence of the
things in the external world, which are all temporal and have contingent existence.