[Lecture Five] Founders of Western Philosophy: Thales to Hume

by Dr. Leonard Peikoff

Total Time: 2 hours, 51 minutes

Course summary: Presented as two complementary twelve-lecture courses—Founders of Western Philosophy: Thales to Hume and Modern Philosophy: Kant to the Present—The History of Philosophy covers the whole of western philosophy from its discovery in Ancient Greece to the twentieth century, including Objectivism. Dr. Peikoff argues that philosophy is the means by which we can understand any human culture and, more broadly, the history and changing course of a civilization. Read more »

In this lecture: This lecture begins with a review of Aristotle’s metaphysical account of change and its implications for his teleological approach. Dr. Peikoff presents Aristotle’s argument for the Prime Mover and how it arises from the form/matter and potential/actual distinctions. Peikoff the presents Aristotle’s ethical system, beginning with his theory of the three types of soul, the concept of eudaimonia, the doctrine of the golden mean, and the role of pride. Peikoff offers some criticisms and analysis of Aristotle’s system before a brief consideration of his political writings.

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Study Guide

This material is designed to help you digest the lecture content. You can also download below a PDF study guide for the entire course.

How does the account of four causes of change apply to human beings?

Why is Aristotle’s teleology unable to deal with all kinds of change? How does this impact the understanding of accidents?

Using the doctrine of form and matter, explain how the Prime Mover is essential to Aristotle’s view of change.

What is Aristotle’s unique perspective on the paradoxes of Zeno?

Contrast Aristotle’s vision of the “psyche” to that of Plato.

How does Aristotle answer the skeptics on the evidence of the senses?

What method does Aristotle use to arrive at ethical principles?

What are the preconditions Aristotle gives for a theory of the ultimate good? What does he think that good is?

What differentiates the two types of reason according to Aristotle? What are each type’s characteristic virtues?

Why does Dr. Peikoff think that Aristotle’s ethics contains an error since it came before the Industrial Revolution?

What is Aristotle’s method for understanding the nature of the state?

Q&A Guide

Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.

2:21:44	Would you please go into more detail with regards to Aristotle’s view of infinity with reference to space and time?
2:24:27	Does Objectivism hold that man is metaphysically the highest form of existence?
2:26:23	Could you briefly describe and indicate what gave rise to Aristotle’s theory of intellectual intuition?
2:26:49	Is it the fallacy of reaffirmation through denial to hold the primacy of consciousness premise? If not, how does one answer a proponent of this doctrine so as to point out its falsehood?
2:28:07	What do you mean by an “invalid question”?
2:29:26	You said that no concept of utilitarian knowledge was possible prior to the industrial revolution. Do you believe that there was equivalent or partial approach to the industrial revolution prior to the late 18th/early 19th centuries in other cultures?
2:31:10	When in thinking, the mind takes in the form of the object. Wouldn’t that leave the object unformed, just matter?
2:38:44	Is there any respect in which Objectivism would disagree that the means to achieve happiness is to actualize one’s distinctive potentialities?
2:40:29	You say that Aristotle is the first influential empiricist in the Western world. Does this mean that there was one before him?
2:40:57	Would a universal genius such as Aristotle be possible today?
2:41:30	What is the Objectivist view of Aristotle’s distinction between essences and properties, leaving aside the fact that Aristotle considered essences to be intrinsic rather than objective?
2:44:31	Would you give again Aristotle’s definition of soul in terms of potentiality and actuality?
2:45:06	Does Aristotle consider the possession of self-awareness essential to or a defining characteristic of consciousness?
2:46:11	Does the acceptance of existence as an axiom say anything about its primacy? Consciousness is also an axiom, after all.
2:47:12	Is believing in something so strongly as to exclude everything that might stand against it a vice according to Aristotle?
2:47:58	Would you review why it’s invalid to search for a principle of individuation?
2:48:42	Is Aristotle’s concept of active reason as an impersonal spark introduced to avoid the charge that a personal motive controlling the intellect would make all cognition biased?
2:49:21	Did Aristotle distinguish for himself between epistemology and metaphysics?
2:50:33	When do you expect your book to be published?