Guns: Artistotle's History Of Animals
Aside from philosophy and the more psychological arts, Aristotle's greatest contribution to modern science is probably his writings on zoology. Indeed, the philosopher's powers of observation were keen and in many cases startlingly accurate when the knowledge base of the time is considered. Many of his conclusions regarding the nature, habits and evolution of animals were indeed conducive to the conclusions that led to the science we know today.
In the nine books of his History of Animals then, Aristotle observes animals in their habitat, and uses dissection to discover the mysteries inside the animal body as well. He begins his description in Book I of the physical properties of the animal body, and distinguishes various genera of animals. These are the main types of animals, such as fish, birds, etc. He furthermore goes on to describe the habits, habitat and social structure of groups of animals. This is also described in terms of food processing, reproduction and the senses that animals possess.
Throughout his work, Aristotle takes considerable time to distinguish between animals and human beings. Human beings for example experience the faculty of memory differently and in a much more complex manner than do animals. Aristotle explains that animals do not recall the past at will, but assimilate their experiences to make them part of instinct. A similarity...
But the view of Aristotle is more critical, rather than seeing the philosopher as a great prognosticator. Aristotle is presented as a great patriarch, occasionally overly venerated, as quite often his word was assumed to be 'gospel' during the heyday of the Catholic Church and scholasticism, although the website makes clear he should still be regarded as a worthy creator of the inklings of the modern scientific method. The agenda
Aristotle v. Plato Compare and contrast the metaphysical position of Aristotle and Plato. Does Aristotle's work constitute a sharp break with the position laid down by his teacher? Or is the old saying true that he apple does not fall far from the tree? Although their positions are often elided, the focus of Aristotle and Plato's metaphysical emphases is quite different. Ironically, given that one of his most famous works is called
But the home was very important for other reasons, again overshadowing the economy. Now people buy homes based on where they can find jobs, or even experience forced moves from their jobs -- this would have been unthinkable then. A third interesting factor of early economies is the goal of self-sufficiency that individuals had. Large amounts of wealth were not really attainable, and the basic goal of the time was
This, according to Aristotle, may well militate against reason, and Aristotle would therefore find fault with the utilitarian's conclusion. Aristotle also insists on excellence of character and being of great soul (magnanimous), which is the level deserving of highest praise. A person also has to be just (Bostock, 2000). Utilitarianism can come into difficulties in that it may, paradoxically, be harmful when it focuses on the influence of pleasure or
What distinguishes man from animals or plants is his capacity to reason. Animals seek pleasure for pleasures sake while human beings have the capacity to reason and, therefore, determine what pleasures to seek that are appropriate. This process of seeking the appropriate pleasures such as heath, wealth, knowledge, etc. allows a human being to enrich his life and lead eventually to a state of happiness. Reasoning allows one to
While these are some of the more famous elements of rhetorical theory, they do not require extensive discussion here for two reasons. Firstly, they are fairly well-known. Secondly, and more importantly, they actually do not provide much insight into the uses of rhetoric, because Aristotle implicitly inserts an ethics into his discussion of rhetoric that precludes it from having as robust an application to the real world as would
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