Aristotle ties truth to wisdom and knowledge and examines
it as a part of metaphysics. The treatise Metaphysics lays his
arguments forth. Aristotle's epistemology contends that finding knowledge depends on
finding causes, of which he enumerates four kinds: the formal cause; the final cause;
the material cause; the efficient cause. Knowledge must be the knowledge of truth and
knowledge of truth cannot be ascertained without knowing its cause. A diagram of
Aristotle's theory of causation in relation to truth might look like this: causes
==> knowledge ==> knowledge of truth ==> wisdom, and wisdom is the
desired end result of truth. Aristotle proves that causes may not and can not be
infinite but instead must be
finite. Only when causes are finite
can they be discovered and recognized and then lead to truth--to knowledge of
truth--which then results in wisdom. If
infinite causes are postulated, there
is no way of knowing truth because an infinite number of possibilities could all be
equally true or untrue, and wisdom, along with truth, is therefore beyond the grasp of
attainment.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
How does one find truth according to Aristotle?
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