Aristotle's Metaphysics Overview

Actuality is the realization of potentiality; a thing must exist in actuality to be fully known and realized.

Matter has the potential to accept a form and be actualized into a specific entity.

The first mover is the ultimate cause of all actuality and represents the beginning of all movement and existence.

<p>Aristotle believes that knowledge comes from experience, while Plato thinks that knowledge is drawn out from preexistent ideas.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Plato's theory posits that Forms exist separately from substances, while Aristotle argues that universals do not exist apart from substances.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aristotle values actuality because it reflects the purpose or end for which things exist, guiding the understanding of reality.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas describes substances as pure substances, composite substances, and necessary substances.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas's view emphasizes the essence of substances, which includes both existence and essence, while Aristotle focuses on substances as individual entities with form and matter.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<ol> <li>God, 2) Immaterial substances, 3) Substances composed of matter and form.</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aristotle defines substances as composites of matter and form, where matter is in potency to form's act.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas introduces the idea of the actus essendi, positing that the essence of a substance comes to be when actualized.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>There is something rather than nothing because the first mover moved, which is the necessity of existence.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas agrees with Aristotle but adds that God is not only the first mover but also the giver of being.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>God is indefinable because He is not just another being among beings, but being Itself.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas states that God creates from nothing, demonstrating His role as the origin of existence.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aristotle views God as the first mover and highest being, while Aquinas sees Him as the essence of being, continuously giving existence.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The essence of humanity is the substantial form (soul) combined with the body, forming the totality of human existence.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Creation is the act of bringing all existing things into existence from nothing, while change implies the transformation of pre-existing matter.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>It signifies that time itself was created by God and did not exist prior to creation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Theology requires a proper understanding of creatures because our understanding of God is derived from His creation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Metaphysics serves as the highest study of creation, providing the necessary foundation for understanding being and comparison to God.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>'Creation ex nihilo' means that God brought all creatures into existence out of nothing.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Negative theology is important because it helps us grasp God’s essence by reflecting on the limitations of our knowledge through His creation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Josef implies that misunderstanding creation can lead to erroneous beliefs about God and detract from a true understanding of Him.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The analogy of creatures helps us understand God by drawing similarities while recognizing greater differences, preventing Him from being viewed as either too remote or too anthropomorphic.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The Big Bang is an event within time and cannot be the 'beginning,' as it is an effect of the act of creation that involves time and motion, which are also creations.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The concept of an eternal universe implies an infinite regress of motion, which is deemed impossible and fails to account for the necessity of a creation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>God's Creation is characterized as bringing something from nothing, whereas order from chaos merely suggests a reorganization of pre-existing matter.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Atheists cannot satisfactorily explain a source separate from physical reality that brings about the existence of being itself, which preexists all beings.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Deism suggests a God who can disengage from Creation, which contradicts the classical Christian view of God who sustains all existence and is intimately involved with creation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>In classical theism, God is continually present and sustaining all things, while Deism posits a distant God who sets creation in motion and steps away.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>God is closer to us than ourselves because He holds all things in existence, knowing and loving what He creates, thereby being fundamentally intertwined with our very being.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Wisdom is the understanding of why things are as they are, focusing on the science of first causes and principles.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The two types of analogy are analogy of proportion, which relates two things in the same way, and analogy of relation, where two things relate to the same term.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The principle of non-contradiction states that a thing cannot simultaneously be and not be in the same respect.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He defends it by demonstrating that those who deny it still act within its framework in real life, thus revealing its inherent truth.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Actuality is prior to potentiality in that it represents the realized state of a being, and without actualization, potentiality cannot be said to exist meaningfully.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>This discovery was important because it distinguished between what exists in reality and what exists only as a possibility, shaping Aristotle's understanding of being.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Particulars serve as specific instances that lead to understanding universals, which are general truths about being.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The analogy of relation supports this claim by showing that all beings are connected through a shared term, emphasizing the unity of metaphysical study.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas argues that universals (Genus/Species) cannot belong to essence when expressed as a part or existing apart from individuals, as they are described in relation to individual determinate things.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas suggests that if universals exist separately, they cannot provide knowledge about particular individuals, as individuals cannot be understood apart from the universals that define them.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>'Esse' is not a thing but rather signifies existence, representing the act of actualization that allows things to come into being.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas views the human person as a unified composite of body and soul, where the soul actualizes the matter of the body.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>In Aquinas's view, essence is determined by both matter and form, where form actualizes the potentiality of matter, revealing its intrinsic nature.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Hylomorphism posits that substances are composed of matter and form, and 'esse' serves as the act or gift that actualizes this composite nature.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas posits that God is 'being itself' and the source of 'esse' for all things, emphasizing God's role in the existence and actualization of creation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Aquinas argues that universals cannot be conceived as existing independently since they lose their relevance in describing individual entities, thus failing to assist in knowing anything specific.</p> Signup and view all the answers