PHL 3305 Lecture 9

« previous | Wednesday, September 18, 2019 | next »

Aristotle, Metaphysics

First paragraph makes a statement: "All men by nature desire to know"

• stated as a fact
• the rest of the paragraph supports this claim, but does not demonstrate (irrefutably prove) the statement
• primacy given to sight, which seems natural

Trajectory of obtaining knowledge:

1. Sensation
2. Memory (basic recall)
3. Experience (association)
   • synthesis of memory and sensation
   • experience and art: experience tends toward mastery of a field
4. Reason
   • identifies beyond simple, natural groupings to understand why they are grouped
   • identifies "forms"

Aquinas on Aristotle

• "there are two operations of the intellect" . . . "there is also a third operation" which is it, Aquinas?
  1. understanding simple objects
  2. composing and dividing
  3. reasoning
• Each progresses from one to the other so naturally we don't even think of them as separate (Aquinas is good at doing this)