Aristotle is, perhaps, the most celebrated and influential philosopher of all time. Student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle also provided a foundation for much of western philosophical thinking, particularly the scholastic tradition spearheaded by Thomas Aquinas.
But… what did he actually think? Why is he so well-regarded? What were his views? What did he write about? I have produced a few podcast episodes which serve as introductions to great thinkers or ideas, and think that one such investigation of the great empiricist is long past due.
I’m joined by John Sellars, a Reader in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, visiting Research Fellow at King's College London, and a Member of Wolfson College, Oxford. He is the author of Aristotle: Understanding the World’s Greatest Philosopher, and joins me today to provide an overview of Aristotelean philosophy.
Being, forms, animals, teleology, God, the soul, logic, ethics… and all in under ninety minutes.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - What’s So Great About Aristotle?
3:06 - Actuality and Potentiality
12:59 - Forms: Aristotle vs Plato
18:18 - The Four Causes
23:33 - Evolution and Final Causation
27:56 - Did Aristotle Believe In God?
30:55 - The Unmoved Mover
37:14 - The Soul (is Not What You Might Think)
47:07 - How Aristotle Invented Formal Logic
54:11 - The Nicomachean Ethics
01:14:12 - Ethics as Descriptive
01:19:21 - Where To Start With Aristotle
