All posts filed under: Aristotle

Family contra the State: Problematizing Aristotle and Confucius

Thursday, October 9, 2008
by Taylor Adkins
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Aristotle / ontology / Politics

“..for the relationship between people and government is the most pervasive ideal relationship upon which commerce between teacher and pupil, lord and servants, father and family, general and soldier, master and apprentice have unconsciously been modeled.”—Friedrich Nietzsche.  For centuries, the history of philosophy has explored the general opposition set up between Occidental and Oriental philosophy, especially concerning their respective “origins.” Generally speaking, it has been assumed that Western and Eastern philosophies differ over the metaphysical […]

Friendship and the State

Monday, September 29, 2008
by Taylor Adkins
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Aristotle / friendship / justice / Politics

 In chapter 9 of book III of the Politics, Aristotle discusses the general relation between justice and the state. In the course of examining the relation of equality and inequality, Aristotle proposes that the state “exists for the sake of a good life, and not the sake of life only” (1279b31-32). Notice that the good is already predicated of the state in this statement, and it is because of this bias that Aristotle will conclude: […]

From a Melancholy Science to a Negative Diale(c)t(h)ics

Friday, May 2, 2008
by Taylor Adkins
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actualization / Adorno / Aristotle / contradiction / freedom / freud / identity / image of thought / Minima Moralia / minor ethics / Negative Dialectics / Negativity / Normativity / psychoanalysis

Everyone will agree that it is of the highest importance to know whether we are not duped by morality. Emmanuel Levinas—Totality and Infinity It is a question of attaining this will that the event creates in us…It is a question of becoming a citizen of the world—Gilles Deleuze, Logic of Sense [1] From a Melancholy Science towards a Negative Diale(c)t(h)ics Adorno’s ethics is a “melancholy science” because it has grown weary of the subject. In […]

Aristotle and Light

Friday, March 7, 2008
by Joseph Weissman
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activity / Aristotle / contemplation / God / happiness / idealism / materialism / philosophy / reason / virtue

Aristotle and Light Contemplation, Activity and Happiness in the Nicomachean Ethics For while the whole life of the gods is blessed, and that of men too in so far as some likeness of such activity belongs to them, none of the other animals is happy, since they in no way share in contemplation. Happiness extends, then, just so far as contemplation does, and those to whom contemplation more fully belongs are more truly happy, not […]

Happiness or Justice? Ethics and the Politics of Friendship

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
by Joseph Weissman
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Aristotle / difference / ethics / ethnology / friendship / happiness / humanity / justice / light / Plato / Politics / science / society / spiritual evolution

No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world. Aristotle In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds. A true friend is one soul in two bodies… ibid There is […]

The Distance of the Gods : A Note on Aristotle and Friendship

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
by Taylor Adkins
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Aristotle / distance / equality / ethics / friendship / Greek philosophy

In one of the more singular passages of the Nicomachean Ethics (Book VIII, Chapter 7), Aristotle makes several claims about the nature of friendship.  One of these claims is that friendship arises out of (or, we shall say, strives for) equality. Similarly, friendship has a reciprocal nature insofar as the more useful or better of the friends (a father in relation to his son) deserves more love and thus owes less, so to speak. It […]

Outline of Aristotle’s Ethics

Thursday, January 17, 2008
by Joseph Weissman
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Aristotle / character / classical philosophy / ethics / eudamonia / happiness / justice / law / Plato / Politics / virtue

“We make war that we may live in peace.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics — 1177b (Book X, Chapter 7) Let’s try to understand this work first through the method by which its project is assembled, the way the text functions. In general Ta Ethika has three phases or stages of development: (a) a general, in-depth study of the “good” and the “good life”; (b) an analysis of moral virtue or excellence; and (c) an investigation into […]

Expression and Essence: The Metaphysics of Writing

Saturday, January 12, 2008
by Joseph Weissman
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alterity / Aristotle / blueprint / break / essence / eyes / form / hallucination / hands / heidegger / Interpretation / language / limit / parasite / universal / univocal / writing

A verb is that which, in addition to its proper meaning, carries with it the notion of time. No part of it has any independent meaning, and it is a sign of something said of something else… Verbs in and by themselves are substantival and have significance, for he who uses such expressions arrests the hearer’s mind, and fixes his attention; but they do not, as they stand, express any judgment, either positive or negative. […]