HRS/PHL 403: Aristotle          Review Guide for Exam #2           Dr Stephens         Fall 2003

De Anima
Book 1
1. Ch. 1: What does he say the soul is a sort of? (402a7; p.169)
2. What is his view about the affections and actions of the soul in relation to the body?  The understanding? (403a6 to 403b19; p.171–173)
3. Ch. 2: What does he think the soul initiates motion through? (406b26; p.174)
4. Ch. 3: What is his view on Metempsychosis (the doctrine that any soul can be inserted into any body)? (407b24–26; p.175)
5. Ch. 4: Describe his argument that the soul is NOT a sort of attunement.
6. In what sense does Aristotle think the soul is in motion, since feeling pain or enjoyment and thinking are motions?
Book 2
1. Ch. 1: What three sorts of substance does he identify?  (He repeats this trio often in the Metaphysics.)
2. Which of these three sorts of substance are natural bodies?  Give examples of living and non-living natural bodies.
3. Describe the Argument that the Soul is the Actuality of the Body (412a17–21; p.177).
4. Carefully explain the two levels of actuality he discusses.  Give examples of each.
5. State the two definitions of the soul (given at 412a27 and 412b5).
6. What analogies does he use to describe the relation of body to soul? (p.178–179)
7. Which parts of the soul does he think are NOT divisible from the body?
8. Ch. 2: Why does he think the soul will be an account and a form, and not matter and subject? (414a13; p.181)
9. Ch. 3: Carefully describe the three levels (types) of soul.  Explain which natural bodies have each type.  Describe the functions characteristic of each type.
10. Ch. 4: Explain in what way the soul is said to be THREE of the four 'causes' of the living body.
11. Chs. 5, 11, 12, and elsewhere:  Explain Dr. Hause's account of Aristotle's Theory of Assimilation.  Using the concepts of actuality and potentiality, carefully describe how it works for digestion, perception, and intellection (understanding).
12. Ch. 6: Identify the objects of sight, hearing, taste, and touch.  What objects are common to all senses (Book 3, Ch. 1)?
Book 3
1. Ch. 3: Identify the Four Potentialities in virtue of which we discriminate and attain truth.
2. What does he say about perceptions, appearances, conviction, and truth?
3. Describe the Argument that Appearance is Not Belief (428a23; p.197).
4. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5: Describe A's account of the part of the soul called intellect (nous).
5. Describe the TWO sorts of intellect.  What is each called?  How does each operate?  Which is separable and which requires a body?  What similes does A. use to describe each one?

Metaphysics

Book 1
Chapter 1
1. What is the first sentence of this work?
2. Contrast the knowledge of individuals (practice) with the knowledge of universals of artisans/craftsmen (theory).
3. What does A. say wisdom is knowledge of? (982a3; p.224).
Chapter 2
4. What four things distinguish the wise man?  Describe these four features of the wise man.
5. What does A. say about a science of production vs. a science of understanding?  Which is better?  Which is more necessary? (982–983; p.225–226)
Chapter 3
6. What are the Four Principles A. reiterates in this chapter?  How does he describe each one here?

Book 2
1. Ch. 1: Describe the Argument that to Know the Truth is to Know the Cause (993b25–31; p.241)

Book 4
1. Ch. 1: What does the science he is doing in this work study? (1003a21–22; p.244)
Chapter 2
2. Contrast A's view of being with Parmenides.  What does A. say about being at 1103a34; p.245?
3. What is the relation between the parts of philosophy and the types of substances? (1004a2–5; p.246)
4. How does A. describe "the philosopher" at 1005b7–12; p.251?
5. State what A. calls "the firmest principle" that is impossible to be mistaken about (1005b18–21; p.251)
Dr. Brown's Lecture
1. What Greek word is translated "being" or "substance"?
2. What is the essence of a thing?  Give examples.

Book 7
Ch. 10
1. Describe the Argument that a Whole is Prior to a Part (1034b28–32; p.294).
2. What does A. say the letters of a syllable are?
3. What does he say about something whose account is ONLY of the form? (1035a28; p.295)
4. Describe the brief argument that the parts of the soul, either all or some of them, are prior to the compound animal (1035b15–19; p.296).
5. Which is prior, the heart and the brain or the compound of soul-body?
6. What are the THREE ways of talking about SUBSTANCE?  As..., as..., or as....
7. What are the Two Sorts of matter?
Ch. 11
8. Does A. think flesh and bones are parts of the form and the account of a man?  Explain
9. What does he say about everything that is not an essence and form itself in its own right at 1037a1–2; p.300?
Ch. 13
10. Aristotle gives THREE arguments against the claim that the universal is the substance of a thing.
10. (a) Describe the Argument from Distinctiveness of a Thing's Substance (1038b9–12; p.305).
10. (b) Describe the Argument from Predication (that a universal cannot be the substance of any one thing). (1038b16; p.305)
10. (c) Describe the Argument from Non-separability of Attributes from Substance (1038b24–28; p.306).
11. What does a universal signify?  What does it NOT signify?
12. Ch. 15: Why does A. think there is neither definition nor demonstration about particular perishable substances? (1039b28–31)
13. Ch. 16: What does A. say is the relation between "one" and "being"? (1040b17–20; p.311)

Book 12
Ch. 6
1. Describe the Argument that Some Substances are NOT Perishable.
2. Describe the Argument for Non-material Substances (1071b7–22; p.332–333).
3. Describe the Argument for the Contingency of Objects (1071b23–33; p.333).
4. Describe the Argument for the Necessary Existence of the Primary Mover (1071b35 f.).
5. ESSAY: Describe in detail the features, powers, and attributes of the Primary Mover (the god). 
6. Describe the Argument that the Primary Mover has No Magnitude (1073a5–12; p.338).
Ch. 8
7. Describe the Argument that there is only One Heaven (1074a32–39; p.341).
Ch. 9
8. Describe the Argument that the God's Essence is Actual Understanding (p.342).  What does the god (the PM) do?  How does the PM do this?
9. What is it that the divine understanding understands? (1074b34–35; p.343)
10. How long is the god in this condition? (1075a10–11; p.344)

Physics, Book viii, Chapter 1
1. Describe Aristotle's 1st (long) Argument that Motion/Change Cannot Have Had a Beginning (251a10–251b10; p. 137–139).
2. Describe Aristotle's 2nd Argument that Motion/Change is Everlasting (251b11–15; p.139).