ARISTOTLE - THE ANSWERS

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>ARISTOTLE</FONT><BR> THE REALIST</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>All is Revealed</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>KNOWLEDGE THROUGH RESEARCH</B></FONT><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE>All scientific truths are necessarily and universally true and deal with the general not the particular. Human knowledge of these scientific truths is based on repeated sense experiences which reason allows a universal to form in the mind."<P> ("Posterior Analytics")</BLOCKQUOTE> Where Plato sought knowledge of an ideal world through reason, Aristotle applied logical reasoning to experience. For Aristotle, all life was permeated with meaning and his encyclopaedic mind undertook objective, scientific study of every major field of knowledge. The sheer breadth of the material encouraged him to be a systematiser, a classifier. Modern science and logic owe much to this side of his work.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>CORPUS ARISTOTELICUM </B></FONT><BR> LOGIC<BR> <I>Categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics,Topics, On Sophistical Refutations</I><BR> PHYSICS<BR> <I>Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption,Meteorology</I><BR> BIOLOGY<BR> <I>History of Animals, On the Parts of Animals, On the Progression of Animals, On the Generation of Animals</I><BR> PSYCHOLOGY<BR> <I>On Dreams, On Prophesying by Dreams</I><BR> METAPHYSICS<BR> <I>Metaphysics, On the Soul</I><BR> ETHICS<BR> <I>Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics</I><BR> RHETORIC<BR> <I>Rhetoric</I><BR> DRAMA<BR> <I>Poetics</I><BR> POLITICS<BR> <I>Politics</I><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>METAPHYSICS - THE FIRST PHILOSOPHY</B></FONT><BR> The breadth of Aristotle's knowledge was matched by the depth of his analysis. While Nature was his inspiration and he studied it with clinical and careful observation, his aim was not simply to describe it. What he dubbed The First Philosophy, was <A HREF="../t03/g032.html" TARGET="_top">Metaphysics</A>, the very science of being, that aimed to reconcile the changing patterns and permanent features of nature into a single theoretical framework.<P> Aristotle's metaphysical speculation is important because it acknowledges that the reality of a particular thing is not just a matter of its present substance and form. It is related to agents in the past that have produced it and goals in the future towards which it moves; both of which are part of its reality. Every object has its natural potentiality. If not interfered with, it goes through a series of changes to reach its natural goal or end, that is, the change process is always directed not haphazard. The basic goal of everything is rest and permanence. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>