ARISTOTELIAN

ARISTOTELIAN,something that relates to Aristotle—Thus we say the Aristotelian Philosophy, an Aristotelian Dogma, etc.

The Philosopher from whom the Denomination arises, the Son of Nicomachus, born in the Year of the World 3670, at Stagira, a Town of Macedonia; whence he is also called the Stagirite.

At 17 Years of Age he entered himself a Disciple of Plato, and attended in the Academy 20 Years. See ACADEMY.

Being then sent on an Embassy from the Athenians to King Philip, he found, at his Return, that Xenocrates, during his Absence, had put himself at the Head of the Academic Sect; upon which he chose the Lyceum for the future Scene of his Disputations. See LYCEUM.



It being his Practice to philosophize Walking, he got the Appellation Peripateticus; whence his Followers were also called Peripatetics—Though others will have him to have been thus named from his attending on Alexander at his Recovery from an Illness, and discoursing with him as he walked about. See PERIPATETIC.

He was a Person of admirable Genius, and of great and various Learning: Averroes makes no Scruple to call him 'the Genius of Nature, the Limit of human Understanding'; and declares him 'sent by Providence to teach us all that may be known'—He is accused of a too immoderate Desire of Fame, which led him to destroy the Writings of all the Philosophers before him, that he might stand singly and without Competitors. And hence, in the Schools, Aristotle is called The Philosopher.

Laertius, in his Life of Aristotle, enumerates his Books, to the Number of 400; of which scarce above 20 have survived to our Age: They may be reduced to five Heads; the first, relating to Poetry and Rhetoric; the second, to Logics; the third, to Ethics and Politics; the fourth, to Physics; and the fifth, to Metaphysics. In all which, as there are many Things excellent and invaluable, particularly what relates to Poetry, Rhetoric, and the Passions; so there are others, in the other Parts, which the Improvements of later Ages have taught us to explode and despise. —See ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY.

Aristotelian Philosophy, the Philosophy taught by Aristotle, and maintained by his Followers. See PHILOSOPHY.

The Aristotelian is otherwise called the Peripatetic Philosophy; the Rise and Fate whereof, see under the Article PERIPATETIC PHILOSOPHY.

ARISTOTELIANS, a Sect of Philosophers, otherwise called Peripatetics: See ARISTOTELIAN and PERIPATETIC. The Aristotelians and their Dogmas prevail to this Day, in the Schools; malgré all the Efforts of the Cartesians, Newtonians, and other Corpuscularians. See SCHOOL, NEWTONIAN, CARTESIAN, CORPUSCULARIAN, etc.

THE PRINCIPLES OF ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHY, the Learned agree, are chiefly laid down in his four books de Caelo; his 8 Books of Physics, belonging rather to Logics, or Metaphysics, than to Physics.—To give an Idea, then, of Aristotelianism, the reigning System of many Ages; and show Aristotle’s Method of Philosophizing; we cannot do better than produce a Specimen of the Work.

Those four Books he entitles, De Caelo, because the Heavens are the chief of the simple Bodies he treats of. He begins with proving that the World is perfect, which he does thus—All Bodies, says he, have three Dimensions; they can’t have more, for the Number three, according to Pythagoras, comprehends all: Now the World is the Assemblage of all Bodies, therefore the World is perfect. In the second Chapter, he lays down certain Peripatetic Axioms; as—that all natural Bodies have of themselves a Power of moving; that all local Motion is either Rectilinear; Circular, or composed of the two; that all simple Motions are reducible to three, the Motion of the Centre, the Motion towards the Centre, and the Motion about the Centre: That all Bodies are either simple or compounded; simple are those which have some Power within themselves, whereby they move, as Fire, Earth, etc. Compounded are such as receive their Motion from those others whereof they are compounded.

From these Principles he draws several Consequences: A circular Motion, says he, is a simple Motion: But the Heavens move in a Circle; therefore the Motion of the Heavens is simple: But a simple Motion can only belong to a simple Body; i.e. to a Body which moves by its own Force. Therefore the Heaven is a simple Body, distinct from the four Elements, which move in right Lines.
This Proposition he likewise proves by another Argument, thus—There are two kinds of Motions, the one natural, the other violent; the circular Motion of the Heavens, therefore, is either the one or the other: If it be natural, the Heaven is a simple Body distinct from the four Elements, since the Elements don’t move circularly in their natural Motion: If the circular Motion be contrary to the Nature of Heaven, either that Heaven must be some of the Elements, as Fire, or something else: But Heaven cannot be any of the Elements; e.g. it cannot be Fire; for, if it were, the Motion of Fire being from below upwards, the Heaven would have two contrary Motions, the one circular, the other from below, upwards, which is impossible.

Again; If the Heaven be any other thing which does not move circularly of its own Nature,it will have some other natural Motion, which likewise is impossible; for if it move naturally from below upwards, it will be either Fire or Air; if from above downwards, it will be Water or Earth; ergo, &c.—A third Argument is this—The first and most perfect of all simple Motions, must be that of a simple Body, especially that of the first and most perfect of all simple Bodies: But the circular Motion is the first and most perfect of all simple Motions, because every circular Line is perfect, and no right Line is so: For if it be finite, something may be added to it; if infinite, it is not perfect, because it wants an End, τέλος, and Things are only perfect when they are ended, τελειωθή. Therefore, the circular Motion is the first and most perfect of all Motions; and therefore a Body which moves circularly is simple, and the first and most divine of simple Bodies.

His fourth Argument is—That all Motion is either natural or not;and every Motion which is not natural to some Bodies, is natural to others: Now the circular Motion is not natural to the four Elements; there must, therefore, be some simple Body to which it is natural: Therefore the Heaven, which moves circularly, is a simple Body, distinct from the four Elements.—Lastly, the circular Motion is either natural or violent to any Body; if it be natural, it is evident this Body is one of the most simple and perfect; if it be not, 'tis strange this Motion should last forever—From all these Arguments, therefore, it follows, that there is some Body distinct from the circumambient ones, and which is of a Nature as much more perfect than they, as it is more remote.

Such is the Substance of his second Chapter.

In the third Chapter, he asserts that the Heavens are incorruptible, and immutable;and the Reasons he gives for it, are—That they are the Abode of the Gods, that no Person has ever observed any Alterations in them, etc.

In the fourth Chapter, he attempts to prove, that the circular Motion has no Contrary:In the 5th, that Bodies are not infinite:In the 6th, that the Elements are not infinite:In the 8th, he shows that there are not several Worlds of the same Kind, by this very good Argument; that as Earth is heavy by Nature, if there were any other Earth beside ours, it would fall upon our Heads, our Earth being the Centre, to which all heavy Bodies tend.

In the 9th, he proves it impossible that there should be several Worlds, because if there were any Body above the Heavens, it must be either simple or compound, in a natural or a violent State; none of which is possible, for Reasons which he draws from the three Kinds of Motion above mentioned.

In the 10th, he maintains that the World is eternal, because it is impossible it should have had any Beginning; and because it endures forever.

He employs the 12th in explaining the Notion of Incorruptibility;and in the 13th endeavors to show that the World is incorruptible, because it could not have any Beginning, and because it endures forever: All Things, says he, subsist either during a finite, or an infinite Space: But what is only infinite one Way, is neither finite nor infinite; therefore nothing can subsist in this Manner.

The Reader, we are of Opinion, will find this Taste of Peripateticism sufficient; otherwise, it had been easy to have given him his Fill. If he requires more, let him have Recourse to the Articles Principium, Element, Form, Quantity, Accident, Sympathy, Fuga Vacui, Antiperistasis, etc. It were needless to point out the particular Defects in the Specimen here laid down; 'tis easy to observe that the Principles are most of them false and impertinent, and the Reasonings absurd and inconclusive; but that the greatest part has no distinct Meaning at all,Such is the Philosophy, and such the Method of philosophizing, of the Genius of Nature, the Prince of Philosophers, Aristotle.

ARISTOTELIAN