Aristotle: The Greatest Thinker of All Time - Essay Sample

Introduction

As the greatest thinker of all time, Aristotle's writings continue to influence the way people think in the present society. In essence, Aristotle was a genius, which can be supported by all of his books. Aristotle is considered a genius, which lies in his concepts and ideas that he proposed thousands of years ahead of his time Aristotle was born at Stagira, Macedonia in 384 BCE. Following his likings of Plato's teachings, he decided to attend Plato's school at the age of seventeen in the academy in Athens, Greece. In the following twenty years, Aristotle remained at Plato's school as a student, where Aristotle later became a teacher. While working as a teacher, he became the mind of the school and always followed Plato's teachings. This paper shall mainly focus on Aristotle's claim that women are male manque'. In this context, before the existence of a woman, there indeed something.

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Aristotle moved to Assos, after discovering the demise of Plato. At Assos, Aristotle developed a personal point of view using persuasion, reasoning, and arguments. Aristotle claims that a person faces persuasion every day in the life. Persuasion takes different places and situations categorized in three sections, namely the appeal of a person's character, the appeal of reason, and the appeal of emotion. Aristotle's simplifies them as ethos, logos, and pathos. These aspects are essential and can be found outside various sources such as media, advertisement, and individuals striving to persuade others like candidates vying for election.

The entire Aristotle works cover every thematic area of thought, such as politics, ethics, metaphysics, science, and logic. In his time, Aristotle created a new non-Platonic theory, which resulted in deductive reasoning for existential and universal statements. The theory later produces mind, life, matter, and cosmos. Based on the ordered cosmos, in the ancient days, people had been briefed of cycles of events where they had specific expectations based on past expectations and experience. However, much of their expectations never materialized. In that regard, the belief in an orderly sequence in their society was modified to the belief that natural forces were the subject to their wishes. As a result, there was a decree of capricious and malevolent spirits where elucidation of the unexpected presupposed people's expectation. Aristotle argues that if bodies cease to exist, then the stops to be a place. However, he recommends the existence of a vacuum only when actual existing bodies contain it.

Natural philosophy does not focus on the existence and past experiences of man but also deals with the relationship between man and God. Such that, the world of intellect has more unity than it is today. In the world of intellect, there is a separate discipline that is explored, such as mathematics, natural science, ethics, epistemology, theology, and metaphysics. However, this discipline presents itself as a coherent whole and relatively unified. Natural knowledge is associated with the holistic view of unity, which purely works of God. An axiom derived from the medieval thinkers bases its argument that God favored human beings as His creatures. Such that, God made everything on earth to benefit human beings. Since creation was unity, man cannot be isolated from nature.

Medieval thinkers say that "an effect should resemble its cause." In this context, God is the cause of everything. In the medieval cosmos, the traces of divinity holds. Such that everything has to display the precise work of God. Arguably, everything have to bear a resemblance to everything else. The resemblance is a concealed or a simple copy by showing every painted portrait by a single painter.

From these arguments rose the principle of man, which was designed by a divine artificer. Aristotle argues that a man does not only live on earth but also in the universe. In this context, the universe refers to a common place for everything. However, the universe is not a place based on the fact that it lacks an outside container.

Woman Existence

Sex complementarily theory have emerged through the traditional work of Aristotle. The claim has always been that both males and females have equal dignity despite their differences. One of the philosophers, Lombard, also supports that a man and a woman have equal dignity. In this case, it does not display the natural inferiority of the female gender. Even though the females are beyond certain nature intention that acts in the seed that in turn produces offspring, a woman is not beyond the universal nature intention, which also true about death. In essence, if women cease, then it implies that perpetuity of generation may not preserve. Based on this fact, divine providence is needed for other women to be born with an equal number of males counterparts such that one man belongs to one woman.

Aristotle explains the occurrence of a woman generation in DE animalibus 18. However, the cause of impotence can happen in three dimensions. First, it may happen from an external source prompted by slight changes such as season or wind, which varies the sex. Aristotle further claims that the shepherds have proven that if the south wind blows during sex, a woman is conceived and when the north wind blows a man is conceived. In this context, a woman is conceived when there is greater moisture. Arguably, if during sex, women face the south or the north, the same incidence often occurs.

The second cause is from imaginative power, followed by the body. The reasoning lies in the fact that if a person thinks of something terrible, their body reacts through trembles and shaking. In this case, children are born based on the thoughts and imagination of their parents during intercourse. One of the philosophers Jerome supports the argument that one woman gave birth to a black kid based on what she thought of a black. In that regard, the cause of this generation could be underpinned in innocence state to determine the sex a child could be born to acquire. In essence, it is parents' will to determine the sex of the child. Thus, it only occurs based on the great submission of the body to the soul in that innocence state. The last cause may be as a result of natural sources' weaknesses that acts in the seed based on diminished heat. The Aristotelian view is that female is generated when a factor interferes with the seed of the father intention that aspires to produce itself.

Thomas questions Aristotle's view on whether women could be the original creation of things based on the principle for gender polarity. Aristotle argues that the "contra" position suggests that females should not have been generated in the fundamental nature of things. Most philosophers, including Aristotle, argues that females are male manque. However, if nothing defective or manque was created in the first production of things, then, it implies that a woman could not have been produced at the original state.

In this context, Aristotle asserts that a woman is a deformed male. Dominican, when translating Aristotle's argument in French, he uses the term "manque" to refer to lack. However, the translation sparks a different meaning in Latin which results in controversial debates. Based on the conclusion drawn from 'Contra," it clear that women should not have been produced in the first state. Following Thomas's analysis of Aristotle's statement, he first provides detailed elaboration on the hierarchical scale account of living creatures that require re-production themselves by a combination of the passive and active principle. Also, Aristotle's arguments in "Generation of Animals" display that men are separated from the female. Thomas concludes that a man seems to be at the top of the scale. Such that, man's life is directed to nobler functions of understanding things. From these arguments, a man was right to provide a distinction between genders. Emphasis was demanded between the two sexes that places a woman differently from a man. At some point, a woman is joined together with a man through flesh union in the process of procreation. After the formation of a woman, the say asserts that there shall be two people in one flesh.

Thus, it only the concept of a man and not a woman who introduces a man as a rational animal who has the nobler function to understand things. The idea of epistemological purpose is also vital in human life. In this context, a woman is not manque" but lies on the tendency of nature and linked to the work of procreation. The entire trends of the species 'nature are driven by God, who is the creator and general author of nature. In this case, God is the author who brought in life both males and females.

From the above argument, Albert draws a difference between universal nature and individual intention to answer the original thesis argument that females are a defect of character. Thus, women shall not have been produced in a flawless original state. By providing a distinction between the intention of nature that produces both women and men and individual nature intention of male seed, which creates the males, Thomas argues that females should have been produced in the very original perfection state.

The translation of Aristotle's view in Latin creates divergent views and controversies. Ironically, the translation conducted by Michael Scot in the Latin language removed the content from the original meaning in Greek through Arabic and Syriac. Later on, he concludes that both Aquinas and Aristotle cover the Latin term "occasionatus" which refers to a generation process that is either unintentionally or indirectly occasion women. Arguably, the two philosophers are generally explaining the process instead of a product. In this context, there ceases to be a devaluation of the women in this process of describing the creation of a man or a woman. Nolan' affirms that there ceases to a natural foundation existence between Aristotle and Aquinas for gender polarity theory.

By distinguishing between universal nature and the intention of specific nature, it wrong to argue that Aquinas supports the fact that a woman is a deformed man that shall imply that natural theory for gender polarity can be authenticated by that kind of distinction. Even though Aristotle's argument is holding water, a new qualification rises. Such that, God intends the woman more that He does to a man who can also be referred to as the universal nature.

Thomas's expression that considers nature in the individual is the women, something "manque" and defective. By using the term "individual," Thomas refers to the seed in the father. In essence, Thomas does not imply that females generated and product. Anything that interferes with or lacks prompts the males' seed active power to fail to create something like a male, which is an indication of perfect masculinity.

The other concept that needs to be investigated is understanding the nature of a female concerning that of the males. Philosophers tend to examine whether women are deficient because they are unintentionally caused. Nolan, a prominent philosopher, argues that the objective of entire nature works is towards goodness as the whole, but the aim of parts works towards its goodness, which has a lesser meaning. From these claims, it follows that the whole nature objective is to produce women while, in reality, not every woman is defective. Lawrence Dewan has it that other women defect outside the intention of a specific agent, which works in tandem with the universal agent's intention. Following these claims, the woman is portrayed as a defect itself.

A specific agent works to the good of part even without approvals and qualifications and works to make it good as he can. Howev...