Aristotle – Background

 

1.       Describe Aristotle’s relationship with Plato.  Did they know each other?  How? (32)

 

 

                              

2.     What fundamental idea of Plato’s did Aristotle object to? (32)

 

 

 

3.      How did this difference of opinion lead Aristotle to “map out of many of the basic fields of enquiry?”  What were those “fields of inquiry (learning & knowledge)?”  (34)

 

 

4.     In the 14th century, why did Dante, long after Aristotle’s death, refer to Aristotle as, “The teacher of those who know?” (34)

 

 

 

5.      What did Aristotle mean when he said that a thing is what it is by “virtue of its form?” (35)

 

 

6.      List Aristotle’s “Four Becauses.” (36)

 

 

7.      What does Magee (the author of your textbook) mean when he writes, “Aristotle always saw the true essence of any object as consisting not in the matter of which it is made but in the function it performs?” (37)

 

 

8.     How are Plato and Aristotle the two “archetypes of the main conflicting approaches that have characterized philosophy throughout its history?” (38)

 

 

 

9.      Outline Aristotle’s concept of the “Golden Mean.”  Give an example from your life at school of how you could achieve the “Golden Mean.” (38)

 

 

10.  As if he hadn’t done enough, Aristotle also gave us “Rules of Drama.”  Explain what they are. (39)