Aristotle was a student of Plato’s and studied at Plato’s academy. He also trained the boy who would become Alexander the Great. Aristotle formed The Lyceum, a school that generally stressed the importance of studying the physical world. This differed strongly from Plato and his Academy which stressed the absolute truth of the eternal world of forms.

As Soccio points out, Aristotle’s philosophy is complex and sometimes difficult to grasp. Thus, we will be studying only some of his ideas. Aristotle was the first true naturalist: one who believes that reality is made up of the natural world. You can see here his clear disagreement with Plato about the existence of a separate, eternal world. Where is the proof of this world, asks Aristotle. Reality is the world we experience everyday, the world we see, touch, hear, taste, and smell.

Aristotle acknowledged the existence of some form-like objects in thought, but not in reality. He thought that there were forms, or essences, of things themselves. So humans have humanness, cows have cowness, and pencils have pencilness. But, unlike Plato, Aristotle asserted that these forms cannot exist independently of the objects themselves—no separate, eternal world. Form is one half of reality, the other is matter. There is no form without matter. Asking about something entails asking about its form, and the particular instantiation of that form: the matter. What is significant about you as a student is not your humanness per say, but your humanness coupled with your particular matter—you.

How does change occur in this scenario? Change, for Aristotle, occurs in stages leading to a single goal. An acorn has the form of an un-materialized oak tree. What do you think a human has in this regard? What is an actualized, or materialized, human?

To better understand this idea of becoming, progressing in stages, it is useful to take a look at Aristotle’s account of causation. In order to understand something fully, one must understand the four causes: material, formal, efficient, and final.

The Four Causes

The material cause is the matter. But keep in mind that knowing this cause is only part of an understanding of some thing. An acoustic guitar is made of wood, but it clearly should be understood as more than woodness. This is why the second cause, formal, is important; it deals with the way something is actually shaped or formed. With the first two causes we can now understand formed matter. The third cause, efficient, accounts for the triggering affect, the thing that causes something to change. So the efficient cause of your existence was your parents getting together and conceiving you. The fourth cause, final, is the ultimate goal of a thing. Where is a thing ultimately headed? The acorn is completed or finished when it becomes a full oak. A song is finished or completed when the musicians feel like there is nothing else they can add. Aristotle thought that every thing has some sort of urge to fully realize itself. A bear has an urge to reach the final cause, to become a complete bear. Us humans have an urge to become fully realized humans.

Aristotle saw some sort of guiding principle in nature, something within everything that directs the causal process. This internal development of things Aristotle called “entelechy.” Of course, anything can be thwarted in its causal path. An infant may die in a car accident, preventing it from growing into a fully realized adult. A plant may not get enough sun, preventing it from fully realized planthood.

Aristotle had some interesting thoughts on the soul, categorizing three types of soul. But Aristotle did not see the soul as a detached, eternal, unchanging entity. Body and soul coexist.

The soul is more aligned with the notion of entelechy. The soul is, in a sense, the potential we have to become realized human beings, to follow the guiding principle of nature.

There were three types of soul for Aristotle ranging from low to high: vegetative, nutritive, and rational. The vegetative soul has little potential and is possessed by things like worms. The rational soul has the most potential and is possessed by humans.

Human Happiness

But how does a human become fully realized? Is this happiness? What is happiness? Soccio previously discussed the Greek word arête, meaning excellence of function. When a human functions excellently, she will be happy, right?

The word “happiness” conjures up some interesting ideas in our society. When was the last time you could say you were happy? Why were you happy? What does it mean to be happy? If you are laughing does that mean you’re happy? Or is that just momentary happiness, and, if so, how is that different from permanent happiness? Part of the problem is that many people don’t know what they mean by happiness.

But Aristotle had a clear idea of happiness. The Greek word that we translate as happiness is “Eudamonia” but there really is no English equivalent. Happiness for Aristotle was a complex process that depended on luck, looks, social standing, health, and more. It’s possible that a person could be almost fully realized, but because she has a fatal disease, she can never be fully realized, truly happy. This might seem insensitive, but our tendency to view it as insensitive could very well stem from the simplistic idea of happiness we have come to believe in America. Anyone can be happy, right? You can be what you want to be—you can be a basketball star someday, even if you’re only 4’5”.

Of course, Aristotle did acknowledge the importance of recognizing different possible routes to happiness. Happiness for George is not the same as happiness for Carol. Thus, Aristotle was not championing a universal truth, but a rough truth. Generally, his idea of happiness is applicable to everyone, but in practice the methods may vary.

Someone who indulges in simple physical pleasures is unlikely to be happy, but someone who learns an instrument, or a song, or a game in great detail is likely to be happy. A wealthy person who doesn’t know the right way to make use of his wealth may not be happy, but a poor person who enjoys each day of his life to the fullest (like Socrates) may be happy.

It’s important to emphasize the idea that Eudamonia was a process for Aristotle. A human must live life to the fullest, fully realize all three souls (since humans possess all three), and live in moderation. Happiness is not some ultimate stage. Happiness entails the process of realizing yourself, of reaching your final cause.