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Author: Carlos SelfCarlos Self Date: Jul 15, 2008 11:48
Aristotle is widely billed as one of the greatest philosophers of all
times. Not being an expert on the matter, I wonder whether this is
justified. The impression that I get time and again is that while he
wrote on a wide gamut of subjects, from biology to ethics to the
theory of poetry, he was often far off the mark. Some examples:
* theatre: a proper play should take place in only one location, and
cover a time frame of 24 hours max
* ethics: only male adult Greeks (no women, no dagos) are capable of
behaving ethically or morally
* biology: species do not change over time; life is created from
matter through some life force
* astronomy: earth is the center of the universe, which revolves
around it
* physics: there are four-five elements, namely fire, earth, water,
air (and aether)
Aristotle reminds me of one of these people who have a well-formed and
immutable but utterly erroneous opinion on everything. Personally,
I've come to think of him as one of the great brakemen of science. In
addition, most of his writings were notes on his lectures rather than
proper books, which further diminishes his validity. ...
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Author: ImmortalistImmortalist Date: Jul 15, 2008 11:54
On Jul 15, 11:48 am, Carlos Self gmx.net> wrote:
> What makes Aristotle a
> great philosopher in your book?
Well first off my definition of philosophy is not necessarily any
particular philosophy but an endeaver to set down a system of
explanations. Philosophy is just figuring out "a way" to talk about
something, whether what is talked about turns out be true or false. In
that case Aristotle is one of the greatest philosophers of all time
since he was one of the first people to systematize a way to speak
about many things and subjects.
He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western
philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science,
politics and metaphysics. Aristotle's views on the physical sciences
profoundly...
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Author: Pop FlyPop Fly Date: Jul 15, 2008 13:05
On Jul 15, 2:54 pm, Immortalist yahoo.com> wrote:> On Jul 15, 11:48 am, Carlos Self gmx.net> wrote:
>>> What makes Aristotle a
>> great philosopher in your book?
>
> Well first off my definition of philosophy is not necessarily any
> particular philosophy but an endeaver to set down a system of
> explanations. Philosophy is just figuring out "a way" to talk about
> something, whether what is talked about turns out be true or false. In
> that case Aristotle is one of the greatest philosophers of all time
> since he was one of the first people to systematize a way to speak
> about many things and subjects.
>
> He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western
> philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science,
> politics and metaphysics. Aristotle's views on the physical sciences
> profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended
> well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by
> modern physics. In the biological sciences, some of his observations ...
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Author: Malrassic ParkMalrassic Park Date: Jul 15, 2008 18:35
On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:54:55 -0700 (PDT), Immortalist
yahoo.com> wrote:
>He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western
>philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science,
>politics and metaphysics. Aristotle's views on the physical sciences...
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Author: C3C3 Date: Jul 15, 2008 23:25
On Jul 15, 11:48�am, Carlos Self gmx.net> wrote:> Aristotle is widely billed as one of the greatest philosophers of all
> times. �Not being an expert on the matter, I wonder whether this is
> justified. �The impression that I get time and again is that while he
> wrote on a wide gamut of subjects, from biology to ethics to the
> theory of poetry, he was often far off the mark. �Some examples:
> * theatre: �a proper play should take place in only one location, and
> cover a time frame of 24 hours max
> * ethics: �only male adult Greeks (no women, no dagos) are capable of
> behaving ethically or morally
> * biology: �species do not change over time; life is created from
> matter through some life force
> * astronomy: �earth is the center of the universe, which revolves
> around it
> * physics: �there are four-five elements, namely fire, earth, water,
> air (and aether)
> Aristotle reminds me of one of these people who have a well-formed and
> immutable but utterly erroneous opinion on everything. �Personally,
> I've come to think of him as one of the great brakemen of science. �In
> addition, most of his writings were notes on his lectures rather than ...
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Author: chazwinchazwin Date: Jul 16, 2008 03:57
On Jul 15, 7:48 pm, Carlos Self gmx.net> wrote:> Aristotle is widely billed as one of the greatest philosophers of all
> times. Not being an expert on the matter, I wonder whether this is
> justified. The impression that I get time and again is that while he
> wrote on a wide gamut of subjects, from biology to ethics to the
> theory of poetry, he was often far off the mark. Some examples:
> * theatre: a proper play should take place in only one location, and
> cover a time frame of 24 hours max
> * ethics: only male adult Greeks (no women, no dagos) are capable of
> behaving ethically or morally
> * biology: species do not change over time; life is created from
> matter through some life force
> * astronomy: earth is the center of the universe, which revolves
> around it
> * physics: there are four-five elements, namely fire, earth, water,
> air (and aether)
> Aristotle reminds me of one of these people who have a well-formed and
> immutable but utterly erroneous opinion on everything. Personally,
> I've come to think of him as one of the great brakemen of science. In
> addition, most of his writings were notes on his lectures rather than ...
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Author: bigfletch8bigfletch8 Date: Jul 16, 2008 08:14
On Jul 16, 8:57 pm, chazwin yahoo.com> wrote:> On Jul 15, 7:48 pm, Carlos Self gmx.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>>> Aristotle is widely billed as one of the greatest philosophers of all
>> times. Not being an expert on the matter, I wonder whether this is
>> justified. The impression that I get time and again is that while he
>> wrote on a wide gamut of subjects, from biology to ethics to the
>> theory of poetry, he was often far off the mark. Some examples:
>> * theatre: a proper play should take place in only one location, and
>> cover a time frame of 24 hours max
>> * ethics: only male adult Greeks (no women, no dagos) are capable of
>> behaving ethically or morally
>> * biology: species do not change over time; life is created from
>> matter through some life force
>> * astronomy: earth is the center of the universe, which revolves
>> around it ...
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Author: Carlos SelfCarlos Self Date: Jul 17, 2008 12:52
Well, we're probably not going to settle that question here and now,
but thanks to everyone who responded for taking the time to, and my
question seriously.
Watch out for my upcoming thread in sci.physics "Albert Einstein
--
vastly overrated and in dire need of a haircut".
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Author: Pop FlyPop Fly Date: Jul 17, 2008 15:33
On Jul 17, 3:52 pm, Carlos Self gmx.net> wrote:> Well, we're probably not going to settle that question here and now,
> but thanks to everyone who responded for taking the time to, and my
> question seriously.
> Watch out for my upcoming thread in sci.physics "Albert Einstein --
> vastly overrated and in dire need of a haircut".
How about a skeptics' series on the German philosophers?
It's probably no coincidence that Freud was German. With most of them,
I feel their works tell you 10%% about the human condition and 90%%
about their own personal neuroses.
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Author: Carlos SelfCarlos Self Date: Jul 20, 2008 03:14
> How about a skeptics' series on the German philosophers?
> It's probably no coincidence that Freud was German. With most of them,
> I feel their works tell you 10%% about the human condition and 90%%
> about their own personal neuroses.
Interesting point.
I think that the problem with Freud is that he expected to be taken
with a grain of salt, not as gospel.
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