PODCAST · science
The Aristotle Project
by Adam Voight
Lively discussion of any topic you can imagine informed by the work of Aristotle. In most issues, I try to focus on how his thought might cohere with or relate to Darwinian evolution. I think that there is a fundamental agreement and that this podcast is the best way to explain this. For more on this look at my blog "Zoon Echon Blogon"" at "adamvoight.wordpress.com".
Episodes
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The Refutation of Hedonism - "Nicomachean Ethics" III.4
Here Aristotle deals with the opinion that the ultimate goal of action is the experience of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. This will take us back to the doctrine that the soul has three parts or faculties and to a discussion about how they relate.
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What is Deliberation? - Nicomachean Ethics III.2-3
In these chapters, Aristotle discusses what sort of thinking goes into a moral decision. Socrates and other thinkers have claimed that science and morality are fundamentally the same sort of reasoning, but Aristotle differs. Even though deliberation does use universal principles, these are of a...
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Moral Responsibility - Nicomachean Ethics III.1
We discuss how someone doing something results in moral blame or praise.
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The importance of virtue - Nicomachean Ethics II
A crucial part of complete eudaimonia is being the right kind of person rather than merely following rules. The right kind of person has "vitrue" or in Greek "arete".
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"Eudaimonia" cannot be translated, rather only habituated - "Nicomachean Ethics" I.8-9
In this episode we focus on how eudaimonia is different from many of the assumptions we make about "happiness", for there is no proper way to translate the Greek word into English. I addition, Ada and Adam debate whether habituation rather than nature or theoretical learning a la Socrates is the...
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What is the good for human action? - "Nicomachean Ethics" Book I.1-7.
In this series was ask about the good; not the good of the cosmos or of living creatures, but the good life for humans in so far as it results from our deliberate life decisions and our character. This is a very different sort of study, but one that shares a lot with the metaphysics. However, our...
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A Darwinian View of the "Metaphysics".
In this episode we summarize all that we have discussed thus far as ask really difficult questions about how the science of First Philosophy coheres with the Darwinian worldview. What sort of study is it? Is it empirical (like phyiscs), formal (like math) or neither? Where exactly does he go…
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What makes the world go 'round. - "Metaphysics" Book L.7
In this episode we try to understand an answer what is the fundamental sort of change that ultimately drives all changes whatsoever all the way up to the most large-scale stages of cosmic evolution. The answer we get (such as we can manage it) is surprising similar to that given us by Aristotle…
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The First Substance: Eternal, Moving, Circular, Actual, Necessary. - "Metaphysics" Book L.6
While much of the "Metaphysics" seems to deal with something that one might need to understand our own cognitive architecture, in the last half of Book Lambda Aristotle crosses over into cosmology. Is he really right in doing so? Does the science of being qua being really have authority over the...
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Ultimately, it's all about "substance". - "Metaphysics" Book Lambda.1-5
Book Lambda of Aristotle's "Metaphysics" takes the concept of substance and uses it in a cosmological "Theory of Everything". Based on the idea that substance is most real, he then goes on to explain how substance makes the world go around, as in how it happens that planets go in circles and…
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Empedocles in Aristotle's "Metaphysics" Books A and B
Now that we've got an idea on how Empedocles thought, now we can go back and see how Aristotle approaches him the the early portion of the "Metaphysics". Aristotle likes how Empedocles has a primitive idea of substance that is not a universal or abstract but which makes sense for living creatures...
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Empedocles' Theory of Evolution ep.3
The Cosmic Cycles of of Empedocles are unique in all of Greek philosophy. Indeed their only parallel are the Hindu "Kalpas" and modern geological epochs. The cosmic cycles are implied the the laws of physics discussed in our last episode, the Four Element and the Twin Forces of Love and Strife....
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Empedocles' "Physics", ep. 2
In addition to his religious and magical doctrines, Empedocles was a major figure in the development of natural science. Surprisingly enough, he took a rather reductionistic view that the entire cosmos was nothing but the material elements and the forces of nature. However, these principles were...
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Empedocles on Rebirth and Karma
We shall now take a short break from the core books of the metaphysics and spend a few episodes on Empedocles, who lived about 200 years before Aristotle and whose work mixes elements from yoga, Big Bang cosmology and evolutionary biology. After we learn about this curious philosophy, we shall…
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Universals are not Substance. - "Metaphysics" Book Z.13-17
The last few chapters of Book Z are famously difficult, but a reasonable interpretation can make them defensible in the modern context, especially if we think in terms of DNA and other related forms of biological information.
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Nature, Art, Chance and Substance - "Metaphsyics" Book Z.7-8
According to Plato, the "really real" could never be destroyed or created. Aristotle holds that they can be created from previously existing form and matter, and that this can happen by nature. His arguments for this are pretty subtle, and are necessary for refuting idealism and asserting the...
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What has essence? - "Metaphysics" Book Z.4
"Essentialism" has become a deragatory word in modern philosophy, but with Aristotle having an essence is something valuable and distinctive Aristotle considers only a very few beings to be "really real". As a result, we organisms have an essence in a much more real sense than colors and mere...
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Keeping it real - "Metaphysics" Book Z.1
With book Zeta, Aristotle gives a more details explanation about the "really real" , which we translate as "substance'. He looks into what is meant by "really real"and why his view differs from both materialism and idealism. The view in Book Zeta is quite "naturalistic" but thinks that nature...
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Concerning Heraclitus "the Obscure".
"You could not step twice into the same river." - As quoted in Plato, Cratylus, 402a Heraclitus of Ephesus is one of the most interesting of the Early Greek thinkers, appealing to people as different as Hegel and Nietzsche. In light of our discussion of his ideas in the last episode, we shall now...
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The Ultimate Truths or "Three Laws of Thought" - "Metaphysics" Book Gamma.3-4
In the modern world, people often wonder if our beliefs have some foundation. Descartes claimed this for his principle of "I think therefore I am.", but Aristotle had radically different foundational principles which many in his day claimed to disagree with - "The Three Laws of Thought".…
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The "Great Kinds"- Being, Unity, Contrary, etc.- "Metaphysics" Book Gamma.2
One of the things that the ontologist must study and which is assumed by the other special sciences are the "Great Kinds": Being, Unity, Contraries, Similarities, etc. All the special sciences must use them but none can really study them while remaining in their own field. Once again this field...
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What is the science of "Being qua Being"? - "Metaphysics" Book Gamma.1
In this episode Adam and Ada talk about what subject matter is studied in order to "know everything", i.e. learn *first* philosophy. How can you do this with out just studying all the special sciences? The answer lies in the strange phrase "being *qua* being". It's not that different from what...
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The Necessity of Ontology - Book A.8-10
In the final chapter of Book A, Aristotle gives us some foreshadowing of how he will build on previous science and philosophy with supreme science with perhaps less dictatorial powers than that of Plato's philosopher kings but a more valid claim to certainty.
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Criticisims of Materialism and Idealism - "Metaphysics" Book A.7-9
In this episode we review Aristotle's criticism of his predecessors and teacher, both materialist and idealist, staking out a middle ground between them.
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The Idealism of Plato - "Metaphysics" Book A.6
"The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (1929) In chapter six, Aristotle discusses and his teacher, Plato, perhaps the only philosopher…
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Early Mathematical Science and Philosophy - "Metaphysics" Book A.5
In contrast to the Naturalists who saw matter as the Ultimate Cause, other ancient thinkers preferred Numbers. Chief among these were the followers of Pythagoras. Math was such a new and powerful in this age that is almost seemed like magic. Aristotle takes these people seriously and his views…
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Early Naturalism and Materialism - "Metaphysics" Book A.3,4
In this episode. Adam and Ada look at ancient natural science, which focused on matter and energy as the "Arkhe", or primary cause. We review Aristotle's treatment of Thales, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Atomism and Empedocles.
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"What is the *Supreme* Science?" Book A.2
In this conversation Ada and Adam discuss the idea of how some knowledge is "deeper", "higher", or "wider" than another, especially the science of first philosophy which Aristotle claims is deeper or more primary than natural science, math or any other science. Our text will be chapter 2 of...
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"What is knowledge?"- "Metaphysics" Book A.1
The first episode of our first series, wherein Adam and Ada Voight discuss Aristotle's introduction the the fundamental problems of knowledge, reality, life, and the good. We are discussing chapter 1 of Book I of the "Metaphysics". If you have not read our text, don't worry, neither did Ada, but…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Lively discussion of any topic you can imagine informed by the work of Aristotle. In most issues, I try to focus on how his thought might cohere with or relate to Darwinian evolution. I think that there is a fundamental agreement and that this podcast is the best way to explain this. For more on this look at my blog "Zoon Echon Blogon"" at "adamvoight.wordpress.com".
HOSTED BY
Adam Voight
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Aristotle Project have?
The Aristotle Project currently has 29 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Aristotle Project about?
Lively discussion of any topic you can imagine informed by the work of Aristotle. In most issues, I try to focus on how his thought might cohere with or relate to Darwinian evolution. I think that there is a fundamental agreement and that this podcast is the best way to explain this. For more on...
How often does The Aristotle Project release new episodes?
The Aristotle Project has 29 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Aristotle Project?
You can listen to The Aristotle Project on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Aristotle Project?
The Aristotle Project is created and hosted by Adam Voight.
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