Introductory Philosophy

Aristotle
(384-322 BC)

Aristotle
Student of Plato
Philosophical Problem
Form-matter
Forms are not apart from things, but inherent in them;
they are not transcendent, but immanent.

Arguments against idea of idea

The ideas are mere abstractions and as such cannot account
for the existence of concrete things.
Forms are static and eternal, and are thus unable to explain
the motion and change of concrete things.
Ideas are posterior rather than prior to particular things, and
cannot therefore be used to explain them; in short, ideas are
copies of things, not their causes.

Arguments against idea of idea

The ideas are unnecessary reduplications of things and not
explanations of them.

The Four Causes

The Material Cause
The Formal Cause
The Efficient Cause
The Final Cause