The Thomistic Institute Aristotle's Four Causes and the Possibility of Science | Prof. Joshua Hochschild
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Mar 18, 2022 Joshua Hochschild, a distinguished philosophy professor at Mount St. Mary’s University, dives into Aristotle's Four Causes and their surprising relevance in modern science. He argues that Aristotle's insights into causality are not obsolete but actually enhance our understanding of scientific principles. Hochschild also explores the complexities of change, form, and matter through hylomorphism, shedding light on the challenges science faces in grasping reality. His discussion reveals how Aristotle's ideas continue to influence contemporary philosophical thought.
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Aristotle As A Scientist
- Aristotle was a practicing scientist who studied many natural phenomena across biology, meteorology, and astronomy.
- Joshua Hochschild argues that Aristotle's causal framework underpins the very possibility of scientific inquiry.
Three Elements Needed To Explain Change
- Change requires three intelligible aspects: a subject, a privation, and a form.
- Hochschild presents this as a conceptual framework necessary to make sense of any empirical observation of change.
Form And Matter Are Relational
- 'Form' denotes shape or any determination like sweetness or color, and 'matter' denotes the subject that receives form.
- Hochschild emphasizes that matter and form are relative to the level of analysis.