AristotleTidBit and Reflection

Currently going through Aristotle for a research paper, and thought I’d share a fundamental idea of his that seems relevant to the ongoing discussion. This is a piece of quoted commentary on Aristotle’s general view of what nature and/or natural objects are:

“Nature is, or natural objects are, that which itself contains the determination of what it is or is to be, while art is, or artificial objects are, that which has this determination elsewhere. In the plant the determination is in the plant; in the house it is in the builder. The plant makes itself under the conditions of its making. This the house does not do.”

For Aristotle, the final end of a natural object, its purpose, its destiny, in some sense dwells within it from the moment it comes into being. This end, or telos, guides the growth and development of its matter, and its environment shapes this natural progression. Its path of becoming, then, is already set from its conception, and changes depending on how other natural objects and forces act upon it.

While plants and animals certainly have this kind of determination in themselves, they do not have agency or possession over it. But humans do. And this is what it is to be an human being: to have a destiny, a journey of its own becoming, and perhaps more importantly, the capacity to intentionally engage the journey.

Artifacts on the other hand, i.e., tools, buildings, machines, receive their end in a preconceived way. A builder has an end in mind, and chooses and shapes matter to bring his idea into existence; and it’s fitting and good for humans to work with the world in this way to bring forth art, expressing ideas by doing so.

But something else happens in machine time. In machine time, an externally preconceived end is placed on the human person in way that’s indifferent to the end already existing within them. This industrial framework not only competes against the destiny of the human person, but blinds them to it. It also shapes the environment in which the person lives, making it difficult to even recognize the existence of the frame.

One thing I’m working on that this quote tapped into is to take what happens inside of me seriously. I often think that things like the tightness of my shoulders, the shortness of my breath, and all the uncomfortable feelings, both physical and mental, are happenstance. And the same goes for positive experiences of relaxedness and lightness. But I want this to change. If this idea of Aristotle is right, and I think it is, then these feelings could very well be in response to my deepest purpose, the very one I’ve had since I came into the world. Listening to these interior movements, from the heart to the body, may very well be the means of connecting with that purpose, to know whether I am properly orienting myself towards it, or disorienting myself. In very simple terms, I want to listen to my gut and respond appropriately in trust.

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