Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-22
ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY
The Subject Discussed by the Herbart Society
 at the Last Meeting.

The Herbart club met Tuesday night at the South Highlands academy. Prof Joel c. DuBose opened the subject for the evening by reading carefully pre- pared paper on the philosophy of Ar istot1e." Professor DuBose handled the subject In a masterly way, showing deep research and close study. No synopsis can do his paper justice.
 After giving brief history of the writ ings of Aristotle, he plunged into his philosophy.
 The works of Aristotle. he said, are the culminations of the fearless spirit of Greek thought. Plato clustered his ideas around the supreme idea of good, and held that the soul of man, in state pre- existent to its entrance into man. was cognizant of every thought that mind conceived in this life. Aristotle contem- plated the thought of thought, the form and end and course of all things. Plato referred all facts to the idea in his own mind. Aristotle derived the idea from the facts. Plato outlined great truths. Aristotle classified Platos works, and re- duced all knowledge into systematic and definite formularies. His forms are the elaboration and the expansion of Platos ideas" He deduced his famous classification of the four causes from the three aspects of form and the added
 
 the material, the efficient. the final In contemplating a statue of Phidias, there must have been in the mind of the Sculp- tor, before anything was done to the marble, the form of the statue; then there must be material the marble; then the carving, and finally the purpose of the artists work, as to honor man or God.
 Matter and the Divine Being, pure form, are at the extremes of everything. Tn the "Organon' are found the catego- ries, predcating everything under ten heads, as substance, quantity, quality relation, place, time, situation, posses sion, action, passion. His "Syllogism' and his "Science of Logic are probably the crowning works of his genius. He ably defends rhetoric as an art founded on scientific principles, and 1t is useful as well as beautiful.
 He makes happiness the summum bo- mum of life, and classified the different views of happiness. By the mass, bod fly pleasures; by a higher class. honor; by the philosopher thought. He makes happiness final, self-sufficing, and found in the proper function of man. The good of man is putting forth Of the faculties of the soul in accordance with his highest excellence in complete life. Man is the chief source of his own hap pipess. He has a rational and an ira tional nature"
 Aristotle's first form Is the final mover, the developer of the actual from the po- tential. All the universe tends towards Him as the absolutely good. The uni verse itself is eternal The human soul Is a microcosm, uniting all the faculties of lower orders of animated existence, and possessing besides immortal "rea- son" It is the vital principle of all or ganized bodies; its functions are nutri- titive, sentient locomotive, appetitive, imaginative rational. From plant up to
 It f,,p Inv Q lower, so that reason in man embraces all the other functions combined The highest function in soul is not inherent in body and has no special organ with which 1t is connected. It Is an emana- ton from the celestial sphere. It outlives the body, but after the death of the body its loses it's Individuality and becomes merged in the universal reason.
 With Plato he held that knowledge con tains an element altogether distinct from sensation, and with EpicuruS he agreed that without sensation knowledge would be impossible. He drew a distinction be- tween necessary and contingent senSa- ton. He maintained that the general idea presented to the mind was simply fl truth arrived at by induction and cer- titied by the unerring reason the intu- Hive faculty), that truth is inherent In things and that all science IS not demon strable He attaches great weight to general faith and relies much on catholic consent as d basis for test of first truths.
 Mans perfection is only attainable in society. Aristotle discusses every sub feet that touches life. Ideal friendship can exist only among the good good friend is a second self. He doubles con- sciousness and thereby doubles the hap piness of the happiest life.
 He thinks the human race forever passing through cycles of civilization and barharism. and that the thoughts of the civilized period are not altogether oh,itnrated bv the passage through the barborous periods. In this way he ac- counts for Plato's "Reminiscences"
 His supreme God Is the perfection or wisdom and lIves contemplatve Ite; mt the creator and governor Of the unl- verse. but the never ceasing cause ot ali heauty and order He manifests no ac- tion and displays no moral virtue. No idea of sin or duty is pertinent to our relation with Him.
 At the conclusion of Professor DuBose' paper Prof s. L. Robertson addressed the meeting speaking particularly or the di1- ferences between Plato and Aristotle: Aristotle. he said. was the thinker of all thinkers. His philosophy was purely scientific. prosaic. dealing with facts. Plato, on the contrary, entered into the realm of the ideal and reveled in the grandest thoughts of which the human mind is capable. The professor said that he had always found Aristotle dry read ing, while he loved Plato, for he made him happy as he deluded him.
 Dr. J. H. Phillips was the next speaker. He said that there is much about the philosophy of Aristotle that we do not understand. A proper understanding of his doctrines can only be attained by a careful study of the philosophers who