SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
CHAPTER 6
THE NATURALIST: ARISTOTLE
Chapter 6 Key Concepts
Although Aristotle was Plato s most illustrious pupil, he
saw dangers in rationalistic idealism s failure to begin from a
Philosophical naturalism is the belief that reality consists
of the natural world and that the universe is ordered.
Everything follows consistent and discoverable laws of
nature and can be understood in terms of fundamental laws.
Nature does nothing without a purpose, and the key to
understanding anything lies in determining its essential
purpose. There is no separate supernatural order of reality.
Aristotle believed that having a clear understanding of
nature is necessary for developing any clear conception of
human behavior. Ethics and political (social) science must be
Aristotle claimed that complete understanding of a thing
required identifying its Four Causes. The Four Causes are the
Material Cause (the material the thing is made of); the Formal
Cause (the form the thing takes); the Efficient Cause (the
triggering motion that begins the thing); the Final Cause
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According to Aristotle, formless existence is not possible.
Things can exist only according to some pattern or form. For
Aristotle, soul is the form of the body. Soul is entelechy.
Aristotle taught that there are three kinds of soul and that
The vegetative, or nutritive, soul is the minimal level of
life (animate matter). The sensitive soul registers information
regarding the form of things but does not absorb or become
In Aristotelian terms, happiness is the state of actualizing
or realizing a thing s function, its entelechy. A good life is one
According to Aristotle, the good is that at which all
things aim. The good at which all things aim is their own
The word Aristotle used that is so often translated as
happiness is eudaimonia. Happiness is almost too bland,
however, for eudaimonia implies being really alive as
opposed to just existing.
According to Aristotle, the highest and fullest happiness
comes from a life of reason and contemplation. The good life
Chapter 6 Teaching Tips
1. Open discussions of Aristotle with Joseph Campbell s
warning: There is perhaps nothing worse than reaching the
2. Tie the issue of being your true self to attending college.
Discuss the problem of picking an academic major without
3. This is an excellent place to return to the Russell box about
practical men on page 8 of the Introduction and also for a
reassessment of Socrates quest to know thyself. How can
we determine which self ?
4. Tie discussions of the mean (moral virtue as moderation)
to traits manifested by some of our students most popular
5. Ask your students how many of them would characterize
their lives as eudaimonistic. Do they know of individuals
whose lives are eudaimonistic? Why is being fully alive so
rare? See if your classes agree that it is rare. If they do, ask
them what makes living fully so difficult.
6. Discuss and then expand on the table of Aristotelian
virtues and vices on page 181. Pay special attention to cases in
7. Consider the difference between being dull and living
moderately. In my experience, many students find it difficult
8. Ask the class to consider the photos on page 178 of the
female bodybuilders and on page 181 of the rock climber in
light of what is required to achieve, or approach, Aristotelian
moderation. Why do we seem to forgive obsessive devotion
to select pursuits physical activity, beauty, political,
business, or academic success yet condemn other forms of
obsessive devotion, such as overeating, drug addiction,
gambling, and playing video games, to name a few?
9. In relation to tip 8, raise the possibility that we have
difficulty recognizing and valuing Aristotelian moderation for
reasons Plato touched on in his critique of the excesses of