Aristotelian Philosophy Course

Lesson 1 • The Corpus Aristotelicum Overview

Surveys the range and organization of Aristotle's surviving texts. Students understand which works are authentic, which are disputed, and how they are grouped.

Lesson 2 • Aristotle's Relationship with Plato

Examines agreements and departures between Aristotle and his teacher. Clarifies how Aristotelian philosophy defines itself against Platonic idealism.

Lesson 3 • Aristotle's Life and Historical Context

Covers Aristotle's biography, his relationship with Plato, and the Macedonian court. Grounds later doctrines in the social and political world that shaped them.

Lesson 1 • Demonstration and Scientific Knowledge

Covers the Posterior Analytics account of demonstrative proof. Shows how syllogism grounds scientific explanation through necessary first principles.

Lesson 2 • Propositions and the Square of Opposition

Examines how propositions are formed and how they relate logically. Students map contradictory, contrary, and subaltern relationships.

Lesson 3 • Dialectic, Rhetoric, and Fallacies

Distinguishes dialectical from demonstrative argument and surveys common fallacies. Prepares students to evaluate real-world reasoning critically.

Lesson 4 • Categories and Predication

Analyzes the ten categories as the fundamental kinds of being that can be predicated. Establishes the ontological basis for all logical analysis.

Lesson 1 • The Unmoved Mover

Presents Aristotle's theological argument for a first cause of all motion. Students evaluate the logical structure and cosmological implications.

Lesson 2 • Potentiality and Actuality

Explores the act-potency distinction as the key to change and existence. Students use this framework to explain motion, growth, and generation.

Lesson 3 • The Science of Being as Being

Introduces the Metaphysics as the study of being qua being and its first causes. Distinguishes this inquiry from the special sciences.

Lesson 4 • Essence, Definition, and Universals

Examines what it is to be a thing and how definitions capture essence. Addresses the problem of universals without Platonic Forms.

Lesson 1 • Teleology in Nature

Examines Aristotle's claim that nature acts for an end without conscious design. Contrasts teleological with mechanistic explanation.

Lesson 2 • Time, Infinity, and Continuity

Analyzes Aristotle's definitions of time as the measure of motion and his rejection of actual infinity. Develops precision in reasoning about continuous quantities.

Lesson 3 • Cosmology: The Heavens and Elements

Surveys Aristotle's geocentric cosmos and the theory of four terrestrial elements. Situates his physics within his broader metaphysical commitments.

Lesson 4 • The Four Causes in Natural Explanation

Applies material, formal, efficient, and final causes to biological and physical examples. Students construct complete causal explanations.

Lesson 1 • Sense Perception and Its Objects

Examines the five senses, their proper and common sensibles, and the medium of perception. Students distinguish veridical from illusory perception.

Lesson 2 • The Soul as Form of the Body

Defines the soul as the first actuality of a natural body with the potential for life. Establishes the hylomorphic framework for all psychological inquiry.

Lesson 3 • Imagination, Memory, and Dreams

Covers phantasia as the faculty bridging perception and thought. Students trace how images persist in memory and appear in dreams.

Lesson 1 • Weakness of Will and Moral Psychology

Analyzes akrasia as acting against one's better judgment. Students evaluate Aristotle's solution to the Socratic paradox of weakness of will.

Lesson 2 • Eudaimonia as the Highest Good

Establishes eudaimonia as the final and self-sufficient end of human action. Students distinguish it from pleasure, honor, and wealth as ultimate goods.

Lesson 3 • Moral and Intellectual Virtues

Distinguishes the twelve moral virtues from the five intellectual virtues. Students analyze courage, justice, and practical wisdom in depth.

Lesson 4 • Virtue as a Stable Disposition

Defines virtue as a hexis acquired through habituation and aimed at the mean. Students apply the doctrine of the mean to specific moral virtues.

Lesson 1 • The Best Regime and Political Stability

Examines Aristotle's ideal constitution and the causes of political revolution. Students assess the role of the middle class in sustaining stable government.

Lesson 2 • Slavery, Household, and Gender

Critically examines Aristotle's arguments for natural slavery and household hierarchy. Students evaluate these positions against his own ethical principles.

Lesson 3 • The Polis as Natural Community

Argues that humans are political animals and the polis exists by nature. Establishes the teleological basis for Aristotle's entire political theory.

Lesson 4 • Political Justice and Distributive Principles

Analyzes distributive and corrective justice as the basis of political order. Students apply proportional equality to resource and honor allocation.

Lesson 1 • Tragedy: Structure and Function

Analyzes the six elements of tragedy and the role of catharsis. Students apply the Poetics framework to classical and contemporary dramatic works.

Lesson 2 • Rhetoric, Ethics, and Civic Life

Situates rhetoric within Aristotle's political and ethical framework. Students evaluate the relationship between persuasion, truth, and democratic deliberation.

Lesson 3 • Rhetoric: Modes of Persuasion

Covers ethos, pathos, and logos as the three artistic proofs. Students construct rhetorically effective arguments using Aristotelian principles.

Lesson 4 • Mimesis and the Nature of Art

Defines mimesis as productive imitation that generates knowledge and pleasure. Distinguishes Aristotle's view from Plato's condemnation of imitative art.