No other thinker has been so influential in laying the foundations of Western thought as Aristotle. Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in Stargis, a city in Northern Greece. Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus, was a court physician to King Amyntas II of Macedon. He was raised in an environment which was rich with opportunities to learn and think scientifically. Both his mother and father died when he was young. Around the age of 13, Aristotle was raised by his guardian, Proxenus, who may have been an uncle. By age 17, he travelled to Plato’s Academy. The young thinker was driven by an insatiable desire for knowledge. At the Academy, Plato became a major influence on Aristotle. He spent 20 years there. He explored the fundamental questions of meaning and existence. Overtime, though, Aristotle began to see the world differently from his revered mentor. Plato saw the ideal world of the unseen as primary basis of knowledge, Aristotle argued from the primacy of the visible world. This presented a great departure between the two philosophers.
Plato died in 347 B.C. and Aristotle left Athens. By 345 B.C. he married Pythias. In 343 B.C. he received an invitation by Philip of Macedon to tutor his 13 year old son, Alexander. This adolescent would grow into Alexander the Great. Even from Alexander’s young age, Aristotle was to train him to rule a vast empire. Aristotle did this for approximately three years until Alexander turned 16, and it was determined he would take on more responsibilities for the throne. In 335 B.C. Aristotle established the Lyceum, just outside of Athens. The Lyceum was an academy to train men in philosophy (love of wisdom) for a virtuous life. It was well funded due to the patronage of Alexander. After Alexander’s death (323 B.C.), Aristotle fell out of favor with the Athenians. Rather than being executed, to be spared the fate of Socrates, he was exiled from Athens to Chalcis, a town about 40 miles north of Athens and died in 322 B.C.
Aristotle established the foundations of Western culture in three areas: logic, science and ethics. In this article and the following two, we will look at how Aristotle advanced God’s Story of Grace in each of these areas. As his thinking matured, it is largely thought that he first developed his teaching in the areas of logic (the way we discern truth), then science (the way we understand the world) and finally ethics (the way we live). We will begin by exploring his ideas on logic.
What is Logic?
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) famously claimed that Aristotle had discovered all that there was to discover about logic. This was historically short sighted as later insights would be realized, yet it calls attention to the immense importance of Aristotle on this point. What drove Aristotle in this regard was his belief that every person has a desire to understand the world; in order to aid that understanding, he focused on laws of reason which helped people to better work out the truth or falsehood of an argument. These laws reflected general patterns of truth that are valid no matter what. Aristotle defined these rules in his work titled the Organon (Greek for organ, tool, instrument). To simplify his thinking we will focus on the the three laws of logic and the key tool in which these laws could be utilized–the syllogism.
The Three Laws of Logic
When looking at Aristotle’s laws, they sound almost like a math equation. In some sense they are in so far as they represent absolute and changeless laws. These are laid out as follows:
- The law of identity: P is P.
- The law of noncontradiction: P is not non-P.
- The law of the excluded middle: either P or non-P.
The law of identity says P is P. This means that everything is itself and not something else. For example, we can look at a tree and observe that it is 20 feet tall and has a lightning burn. (P) In this case, the fact that this tree is 20 feet tall and has a lightning scar is not relevant to this law. It may have a lightning scar as well as letters carved (“Eileen love Al forever”) 5 feet from the base on its east side. What is important is that this particular tree is its own being and not something else. Though this seems obvious, we should not take for granted that without this law reasoning would be impossible because there would be no clear distinctions.
The law of noncontradiction says that P is not non-P. To illustrate, if we observe this same 20 foot tall tree as referred to above, it cannot both have a lightning scar and not have a lightning scar at the same time. That would violate the law of contradiction. Now It can have a lightning scar today whereas a year ago it did not because it was hit with lightning only 2 weeks ago. But it cannot have both a lightning scar and not have a lightning scar at the same time.
The law of the excluded middle says that either P or non-P. Using the idea of the same 20 foot tree, it either has a lightning scar or is does not. There is no other alternative. It cannot both have and not have a lightning scar at the same time. Though this seems way too obvious, it is a fact that many cultures, as we will see, have not viewed reality through these laws.
The Syllogism
A syllogism is a form of reasoning based on logical deduction. Deduction is where you start with known facts (called premises) and use them to reach a certain conclusion. If the premises are true then the conclusion must also be true. For example:
- Premise 1: All pine trees are conifers.
- Premise 2: Conifers have needle-like leaves.
- Conclusion: Therefore, all pine trees have needle-like leaves.
Or…
- Premise 1: God loves and has a purpose for all humans.
- Premise 2: Bernardo is a human.
- Conclusion: Therefore, God loves and has a purpose for Bernardo.
The key points about logical deduction are as follows:
- Start with established facts or statements.
- Follow a logical path of deduction for the statements.
- The conclusion from this path has a certain accuracy.
The accuracy of a syllogism is based on the premises being true. If the premises are false, then the conclusion will be false, as well. Here is an example of a wrong conclusion due to false premises.
- Premise 1: God can do everything.
- Premise 2: Sin is a part of everything.
- Conclusion: Therefore, God can sin.
The problem with this syllogism is with premise 1: God can do everything. That statement is incorrect. It should be greatly modified to read: God can do everything he wants to do. With that modification the statement should read as follows:
- Premise 1: God can do everything he wants to do.
- Premise 2: God does not want to sin.
- Conclusion: Therefore, God cannot sin.
Logic and God’s Story of Grace
Understanding the LOGOS. Aristotle’s discovery of logic was important for a greater understanding of the LOGOS–Jesus as the Word (logic) of God (John 1:1). The laws of logic are neither inventions of God nor rules that exist outside God’s being. From the perspective of God’s Story of Grace, Aristotle didn’t invent the laws of logic; he discovered them. These laws are embedded in the very eternal being of God, himself. Because these laws are based in the very being of God they are more enduring than the physical laws (e.g. thermodynamics, gravity) which are created. God can alter the laws of nature (e.g., suspend gravity, override entropy), but he cannot in any way alter or override the laws of logic. To do so would require God altering, at an essential level, himself. In Malachi 3:6, God declares: “I the Lord do not change.”
- God reflects the law of identity. God cannot exist and not exist at the same time. God says, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14).
- God reflects the law of non-contradiction. All truth is in God (Colossians 2:3) and God cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13). Because of this law, truth will never contradict truth.
- God reflects the law of the excluded middle. Because God exists and does not contradict himself, this means there are no other alternatives to truth.
Quite often God acts in ways we do not understand, but that in no way means that God behaves illogically. So, these laws exist in God’s very being. Had Aristotle nor anyone else never articulated them, they would still exists. Nonetheless, in God’s Story of Grace, Aristotle methodically expressed them.
Understanding Western Civilization. Aristotle’s laws of logic reinforced an irreconcilable difference between the Western (based in Christianity) and the Eastern civilizations. Christianity holds that God (as a distinct identity) created the universe (as a distinct identity) with the earth (as a distinct identity) and all that is in the earth (as distinct identities). This reflects the law of identity: P is P, and the law of non-contradiction: p is not non-p. There is no alternative to this understanding which is the law of the excluded middle: either P or non-P. This is in sharp distinction from the Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism which are pantheistic. Pantheism holds that everything is ONE. They deny any distinctions which are communicated in Aristotle’s laws of logic. This has created very different outcomes with the Western and Eastern worlds. More about this in forthcoming articles.
Story of Grace 