Aristotle: From Logic to Life — Season 1, Episode 3: Aristotle's Metaphysics
Documentary, Talk • 54 min • 1 season, 8 episodes
Episode synopsis
In lecture three, we turn to Aristotle’s metaphysics, focusing on “being as being” and the question of why anything exists at all. We explore his theory of substance as form–matter composites, his concept of the unmoved mover as pure actuality, and how this connects to his ethics, where contemplation is the highest human activity. The lecture concludes with his psychology in De Anima, where the soul is the organizing principle of living beings, and humans uniquely possess a rational soul that enables both practical and theoretical reason.
About Aristotle: From Logic to Life
In Aristotle: From Logic to Life, an eight-hour course, Dr. Orr explores Aristotle's comprehensive philosophical system, tracing his life, empirical methodology, and key contributions to logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and poetics. We examine his theories of substance, causation, virtue ethics, eudaimonia (human thriving), political life, and his analysis of tragedy and catharsis. The course follows his impact from medieval rediscovery and tensions with monotheism to contemporary revivals, showing why Aristotle remains a vital guide for modern philosophy.