Today’s Agenda
Aristotle and Circular Truth-Lies
Yesterday, we discovered René Descartes’ abstract way of understanding reality and our place within it. Today, we’re going to ground ourselves in reality with Aristotle’s method; rather than doubting everything, just look closely. After that, we will open up a paradox, concerning verity and falsity, that might leave Aristotle feeling like Descartes by the end. Wash your hands because breakfast is ready!
Today’s Breakfast
Aristotle’s Way of Knowing
Yesterday, we talked about distrusting your sensory experience of the world because your senses may deceive you at times, or all the time. Aristotle holds a different opinion. Rather than distrusting your senses, you are meant to use them to build knowledge.
Doubting everything, as Descartes said is necessary to find out anything, is ultimately a wildly selfish mode of thought. Descartes was concerned with the validity of his own existence and personal experience. For instance, where Descartes would look at a tree in front of him, he’d probably ask whether that tree was really there or if it would go away once he stopped observing it. Aristotle would say that’s preposterous, surely the tree exists as its own being outside of you.
Aristotle believed that if you want to understand anything, you must figure out why it exists and not just if it exists.
To break this down, Aristotle introduces his Four Causes (or “Becauses”):
Material Cause
“What is it made of?”
This is the physical substance of whatever you’re observing. This cause grounds things in the tangible world as existing physically.
Ex., a statues material cause would be bronze our marble.
Formal Cause
“What gives it shape or identity?”
This would be the structure, pattern, or essence that makes something what it is. It reintroduces form where modern reductionism has flattened it.
Ex., that statue’s shape - the form of Zeus carved from marble.
Efficient Cause
“Who or What Made It?”
This is what we typically understand as “cause” today. The chain of events that conspires to produce an effect.
Ex., The sculptor that chisels the marble into the form of Zeus
Final Cause (Telos)
“What is it for?”
This cause brings forth the concept of purpose. It is the most distinctive and controversial of the four causes. It represents the end toward which the thing actually moves, which also gives it the most flexibility. This isn’t to represent a “goal,” but rather an inherent orientation built into the nature of the thing.
Ex., The statue’s purpose is to honor a god.
The statue’s purpose to to be observed by humans.
The statue’s purpose is to eventually erode and be destroyed.
In my humble opinion, it is this “Final Cause” that determines the relationship between Aristotle’s way of knowing and Descartes’ dream argument. Observing the universe as Descartes would, you’d be too caught up in the verity of your experience to determine the purpose for anythings existence.
Using logic, Aristotle seems to go deeper than Descartes’ abstract Dream Argument that ends at verifying that he is in fact a thinking being. Aristotle takes it a step further to say “I am a thinking being, I’ve been a thinking being, and I must use my ability to think to discover everything I can that can be thought about.”
Descartes: “I think, therefore I am.” (Meditations II)
Aristotle: “All men by nature desire to know.” (Metaphysics I.1)
What do you think?
Where in your life are you only focusing on the efficient cause — how things happen — instead of asking why they exist or what they’re for?
If everything in the world has a telos — a natural purpose or direction — what might be yours?
How would your understanding of the world change if you saw form and purpose not as illusions, but as essential parts of reality?
Today’s Paradox of Choice
The Liar Paradox
“This statement is false.”
Have you ever considered that truth can turn on itself? Try to evaluate the above statement. If the statement is true, then what it claims will hold, so it’s actually false. If the statement is false, then what it claims isn’t ultimately true, so then the statement is actually true.
This might just seem like a brain-bending riddle, but it actually exposes something greatly profound about language, logic, and self-reference. When language turns back on itself, the truth becomes unstable.
Reverting back to Aristotle, he confronts this concept:
“It is impossible for the same thing to belong and not to belong to the same thing at the same time and in the same respect.” (Metaphysics IV.3, 1005b19–20)
If Aristotle gave logic it’s form, then this Liar Paradox gave the form its shadow.
Can truth ever fully explain itself, or does every explanation depend on something outside it — a meta-truth?
If language can contradict itself, what does that say about our own attempts at self-understanding?
Is it possible that some contradictions aren’t errors, but mirrors — showing us where the limits of reason begin?
Book Nook
Every Friday, our Book Nook will feature five recommendations from our author. We’ve found these books to
Untethered Soul - Michael Singer
A clear, compassionate guide to freeing yourself from the voice in your head and living from pure awareness.
Discourses - Epictetus
A timeless collection of Stoic teachings on mastering one’s mind, accepting fate, and living with virtue and reason.
The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho
A spiritual adventure tracing one man’s transformative journey along the Camino de Santiago in search of meaning and self-discovery.
The Way of Zen - Alan Watts
An elegant introduction to Zen philosophy that bridges Eastern wisdom and Western thought with clarity and grace.
Many Lives, Many Masters - Dr. Brian Weiss
A psychiatrist’s true account of how past-life memories transformed his understanding of healing, the soul, and reincarnation.
That’s it for Today!
Today we covered: Aristotles Way of Knowing as contrasted from Descartes’ perception of reality, The Liar (or Truther?) Paradox, and got some good book recommendations. Go through today knowing that everything and everyone you come into contact with is there to help you learn and grow. And of course, Happy Halloween🎃!!
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That’s it for today.
Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.
Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast
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