4. Teleological Dialectic

Author: Johnson, Monte Ransome

Source: Aristotle on Teleology, November 2005 , pp. 94-129(36)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

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Abstract:

Aristotle articulates his natural teleology in the context of a dialectical engagement with his predecessors, identifying each of them with a salient causal factor: Empedocles (luck or chance), Democritus (necessity or spontaneity), Anaxagoras (intelligence or mind), and Plato (art and form). Aristotle tries to co-opt each of these factors into his naturalistic teleology by an a fortiori argument: to the extent that luck, necessity, intelligence, or art is a cause, nature must even more so be considered a cause. For luck is an incidental cause of that which nature is an intrinsic cause, necessity is a conjoint cause of that which nature is a leading cause, and art imitates nature.

Keywords: Democritus; form; spontaneity; intelligence; Anaxagoras; Empedocles; luck; dialectic; necessity

Document Type: Research article

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