Misplaced Pages

#870129

107-418: "The term that best helps us to understand the nature of Qurʾān ethical prescriptions is ma'ruf , as it appears 38 times in slightly varying forms in the Qurʾān, and they are important because of the duties imposed on believers through these words also. Traditional commentators oppose the association of maʿrūf with its cognate urf , "custom." Although most common translations of the phrase is " good and evil ",

214-574: A gymnasium and a colonnade ( peripatos ), from which the school acquired the name Peripatetic . Aristotle conducted courses and research at the school for the next twelve years. He often lectured small groups of distinguished students and, along with some of them, such as Theophrastus , Eudemus , and Aristoxenus , Aristotle built a large library which included manuscripts, maps, and museum objects. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died and Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stagira. They had

321-541: A "survival of the fittest" origin of living things and their organs, and ridiculed the idea that accidents could lead to orderly results. To put his views into modern terms, he nowhere says that different species can have a common ancestor , or that one kind can change into another , or that kinds can become extinct . Aristotle did not do experiments in the modern sense. He used the ancient Greek term pepeiramenoi to mean observations, or at most investigative procedures like dissection. In Generation of Animals , he finds

428-593: A central part of the Islamic doctrine for Muslims. The injunctions also constitute two of the ten Ancillaries of the Faith of Twelver Shi'ism . Pre-modern Islamic literature describes pious Muslims (usually scholars) taking action to forbid wrong by destroying forbidden objects, particularly liquor and those who had the view that certain types of musical instruments are haram. In the contemporary Muslim world, various state or parastatal bodies (often with phrases like

535-533: A complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion. Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship . The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance , and

642-562: A daughter whom they also named Pythias. In 343/42 BC, Aristotle was invited to Pella by Philip II of Macedon in order to become the tutor to his thirteen-year-old son Alexander ; a choice perhaps influenced by the relationship of Aristotle's family with the Macedonian dynasty. Aristotle taught Alexander at the private school of Mieza , in the gardens of the Nymphs , the royal estate near Pella. Alexander's education probably included

749-493: A duty to call on the wrongdoer to stop, but carrying "no power or duty of enforcement"; and ḥisbah or censorship, (according to ʿAbd al-Ghani), being the duty to enforce right conduct ( ḥaml al-nās ʿalā ʾl-ṭāʿa ) and reserved to authorities—unless the offense was being committed while the "ordinary believer" could intervene. Scholars opinions and ideas on forbidding wrong are found in legal literature such as collections of fatawas , in theological handbooks, monographs devoted to

856-438: A fertilized hen's egg of a suitable stage and opens it to see the embryo's heart beating inside. Instead, he practiced a different style of science: systematically gathering data, discovering patterns common to whole groups of animals, and inferring possible causal explanations from these. This style is common in modern biology when large amounts of data become available in a new field, such as genomics . It does not result in

963-497: A fluid such as air. In this system, heavy bodies in steady fall indeed travel faster than light ones (whether friction is ignored, or not ), and they do fall more slowly in a denser medium. Newton's "forced" motion corresponds to Aristotle's "violent" motion with its external agent, but Aristotle's assumption that the agent's effect stops immediately it stops acting (e.g., the ball leaves the thrower's hand) has awkward consequences: he has to suppose that surrounding fluid helps to push

1070-455: A house is the bricks, stones, timbers, etc., or whatever constitutes the potential house, while the form of the substance is the actual house, namely 'covering for bodies and chattels' or any other differentia that let us define something as a house. The formula that gives the components is the account of the matter, and the formula that gives the differentia is the account of the form. Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle's philosophy aims at

1177-468: A key word in moral understanding of the Quran, and traditional commentators oppose the association of maʿrūf with its cognate urf , "custom." Although most common translations of the phrase is " good ", the words used by Islamic philosophy in determining good and evil discourses are ḥusn and qubh . In its most common usage, maʿrūf is "in accordance with the custom", while munkar, which has no place in

SECTION 10

#1732786842871

1284-474: A later origin, and the difference in the terms has caused some confusion. According to Michael Cook, the second use is "mainly an invention" of Al-Ghazali " (d.1111), who followed a precedent set by "a somewhat earlier scholar", Mawardi (d.1058) and "adopted the word hisba" as it is currently used. A slightly different definition than Al-Ghazali's comes from ʿAbd al-Ghani al-Nābulusī (d.1731), who distinguished between forbidding wrong and ḥisbah . The first being

1391-597: A linear scale, and noted various exceptions, such as that sharks had a placenta like the tetrapods. To a modern biologist, the explanation, not available to Aristotle, is convergent evolution . Philosophers of science have generally concluded that Aristotle was not interested in taxonomy, but zoologists who studied this question in the early 21st century think otherwise. He believed that purposive final causes guided all natural processes; this teleological view justified his observed data as an expression of formal design. Aristotle's psychology , given in his treatise On

1498-541: A number of factors both intrinsic and extrinsic to their legal schools, scholars apportioned this labor in differing ways, some reserving the execution of the duty by "tongue" for the scholars and by "hand" for the political authorities such as the muḥtasib , or those invested with the authority to carry out the duty on their behalf, and others arguing that these modes extended to all qualified believers. Scholars argue that free (non-slave) adult male Muslims are obliged to forbid wrongdoing, and that non-Muslims are excluded from

1605-480: A number of subjects, such as ethics and politics , as well as standard literary texts, like Euripides and Homer . It is likely that during Aristotle's time in the Macedonian court, other prominent nobles, like Ptolemy and Cassander , would have occasionally attended his lectures. Aristotle encouraged Alexander toward eastern conquest, and his own attitude towards Persia was strongly ethnocentric . In one famous example, he counsels Alexander to be "a leader to

1712-435: A part of particular things. For example, it is possible that there is no particular good in existence, but "good" is still a proper universal form. Aristotle disagreed with Plato on this point, arguing that all universals are instantiated at some period of time, and that there are no universals that are unattached to existing things. In addition, Aristotle disagreed with Plato about the location of universals. Where Plato spoke of

1819-498: A priori principles. Aristotle's "natural philosophy" spans a wide range of natural phenomena including those now covered by physics, biology and other natural sciences. In Aristotle's terminology, "natural philosophy" is a branch of philosophy examining the phenomena of the natural world, and includes fields that would be regarded today as physics, biology and other natural sciences. Aristotle's work encompassed virtually all facets of intellectual inquiry. Aristotle makes philosophy in

1926-418: A property or a relation to other things. When one looks at an apple, for example, one sees an apple, and one can also analyse a form of an apple. In this distinction, there is a particular apple and a universal form of an apple. Moreover, one can place an apple next to a book, so that one can speak of both the book and apple as being next to each other. Plato argued that there are some universal forms that are not

2033-514: A rapist to collapse, etc. In Islamic literature on the subject, an "ubiquitous theme" is attack on forbidden objects—the overturning of chessboards, the destruction of musical instrument and sacred trees, defacing of decorative images. Punishment could be very broadly enforced. Cook writes that "according to a thirteenth-century geographer, a custom was observed each year in Gilan in the north of Iran, [whereby] scholars would seek permission from

2140-621: A set of six books called the Organon around 40 BC by Andronicus of Rhodes or others among his followers. The books are: The order of the books (or the teachings from which they are composed) is not certain, but this list was derived from analysis of Aristotle's writings. It goes from the basics, the analysis of simple terms in the Categories, the analysis of propositions and their elementary relations in On Interpretation , to

2247-549: A son whom Aristotle named after his father, Nicomachus . This period in Athens, between 335 and 323 BC, is when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his philosophical works. He wrote many dialogues, of which only fragments have survived. Those works that have survived are in treatise form and were not, for the most part, intended for widespread publication; they are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include Physics , Metaphysics , Nicomachean Ethics , Politics , On

SECTION 20

#1732786842871

2354-562: A thrown stone, in the Physics (254b10), and "natural motion", such as of a falling object, in On the Heavens (300a20). In violent motion, as soon as the agent stops causing it, the motion stops also: in other words, the natural state of an object is to be at rest, since Aristotle does not address friction . With this understanding, it can be observed that, as Aristotle stated, heavy objects (on

2461-544: A woman with origins from Chalcis , Euboea . Nicomachus was said to have belonged to the medical guild of Asclepiadae and was likely responsible for Aristotle's early interest in biology and medicine. Ancient tradition held that Aristotle's family descended from the legendary physician Asclepius and his son Machaon . Both of Aristotle's parents died when he was still at a young age and Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. Although little information about Aristotle's childhood has survived, he probably spent some time in

2568-425: Is a change where the substrate of the thing that has undergone the change has itself changed. In that particular change he introduces the concept of potentiality ( dynamis ) and actuality ( entelecheia ) in association with the matter and the form. Referring to potentiality, this is what a thing is capable of doing or being acted upon if the conditions are right and it is not prevented by something else. For example,

2675-626: Is a famous report: Mutazilite and Shia Imamis quote different traditions than this Sunni Hadith, but all agree on the Quran and on "the existence of the duty" to command and forbid. According to historian Michael Cook (whose book Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought is the major English language source on the issue), a slightly different phrase is used in a similar hadith -- 'righting wrong' ( taghyir al-munkar ) instead of 'forbidding wrong' ( an-nahy ʿani-l-munkar ) -- but "scholars take it for granted" that 'the two "are

2782-454: Is a historical accident: his works on botany have been lost, but two books on plants by his pupil Theophrastus have survived. Aristotle reports on the sea-life visible from observation on Lesbos and the catches of fishermen. He describes the catfish , electric ray , and frogfish in detail, as well as cephalopods such as the octopus and paper nautilus . His description of the hectocotyl arm of cephalopods, used in sexual reproduction,

2889-419: Is also a final cause or end. Then Aristotle proceeds and concludes that the actuality is prior to potentiality in formula, in time and in substantiality. With this definition of the particular substance (i.e., matter and form), Aristotle tries to solve the problem of the unity of the beings, for example, "what is it that makes a man one"? Since, according to Plato there are two Ideas: animal and biped, how then

2996-416: Is an "individual duty" (i.e. an obligation of all believers described above), or collective duty (an obligation where once a sufficient number of Muslims undertake it, others cease to be obligated). According to Cook, "the standard view" of pre-modern scholars was that the duty was collective, though some held it was individual or both collective and individual, meaning that "at the point at which we come upon

3103-401: Is clear that a community is enjoined to command right and forbid wrong, it does not indicate whether this included all Muslims or only some. Three "basic questions arising "about the duty of forbidding wrong" are Differences in scholarly debates over the duty of "commanding right and forbidding wrong" stemmed from the positions taken by jurists ( Faqīh ) on questions regarding who precisely

3210-780: Is good, beneficial ...; fairness, equity, equitableness;". Pre-modern Islamic literature describes pious Muslims (usually scholars) taking action to forbid wrong by destroying forbidden objects, particularly liquor and musical instruments . In the contemporary Muslim world, various state or parastatal bodies (often with phrases like the "Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice" in their titles) have appeared in Iran , Saudi Arabia , Nigeria , Sudan , Malaysia , etc., at various times and with various levels of power. Aristotle Aristotle ( Attic Greek : Ἀριστοτέλης , romanized:  Aristotélēs ; 384–322 BC)

3317-473: Is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period . His father, Nicomachus , died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At around eighteen years old, he joined Plato 's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty seven ( c.  347 BC ). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at

Enjoining good and forbidding wrong - Misplaced Pages Continue

3424-541: Is man a unity? However, according to Aristotle, the potential being (matter) and the actual one (form) are one and the same. Aristotle's immanent realism means his epistemology is based on the study of things that exist or happen in the world, and rises to knowledge of the universal, whereas for Plato epistemology begins with knowledge of universal Forms (or ideas) and descends to knowledge of particular imitations of these. Aristotle uses induction from examples alongside deduction , whereas Plato relies on deduction from

3531-590: Is not really hisbah in the sense that it does not command or forbid. A step between use of the tongue and a "purely mental act" of the heart in fighting evil is showing disapproval by "range of behavior running from frowns to turning away from the offender to formally ostracising him ( hajr )". Some believed there was yet another mode beyond hand, voice and heart -- "spiritual power" ( inkār al-munkar biʾl-ḥāl ). According to some Sufis, they could fight wrongdoing by supernatural means—turning wine into vinegar or water, using spiritual force to cause wine vessels to break, or

3638-413: Is the fulfilment of the end of the potentiality. Because the end ( telos ) is the principle of every change, and potentiality exists for the sake of the end, actuality, accordingly, is the end. Referring then to the previous example, it can be said that an actuality is when a plant does one of the activities that plants do. For that for the sake of which ( to hou heneka ) a thing is, is its principle, and

3745-467: Is to be encouraged but not an obligation. Other groups (Hanbalites, Shia) have been accused (unjustly or with exaggeration) of denying it is obligatory. Ma%27ruf Ma'ruf ( Arabic : معروف ) is an Islamic term. "The term that best helps us to understand the nature of Qurʾān ethical prescriptions is maʿrūf, a word that appears repeatedly (in slightly varying forms) in the Qurʾān" and used 38 times in

3852-401: Is to inflicted only by the state, and not by individuals, is widespread, if not quite universal." Others argue that these modes extended to all qualified believers. According to Al-Nawawi , 'changing the reprehensible by hand,' or by compulsion, like jihad , was the purview of the state alone; changing with the tongue' was the right of the ulama; ordinary, individual Muslims should only reject

3959-652: The Early Modern period. John Philoponus (in Late antiquity ) and Galileo (in Early modern period ) are said to have shown by experiment that Aristotle's claim that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter object is incorrect. A contrary opinion is given by Carlo Rovelli , who argues that Aristotle's physics of motion is correct within its domain of validity, that of objects in the Earth 's gravitational field immersed in

4066-525: The Great Comet of 371 BC . Aristotle was one of the first people to record any geological observations. He stated that geological change was too slow to be observed in one person's lifetime. The geologist Charles Lyell noted that Aristotle described such change, including "lakes that had dried up" and "deserts that had become watered by rivers", giving as examples the growth of the Nile delta since

4173-476: The History of Animals in a graded scale of perfection, a nonreligious version of the scala naturae , with man at the top. His system had eleven grades of animal, from highest potential to lowest, expressed in their form at birth: the highest gave live birth to hot and wet creatures, the lowest laid cold, dry mineral-like eggs. Animals came above plants , and these in turn were above minerals. He grouped what

4280-553: The Macedonian capital, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy . At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Plato's Academy . He became distinguished as a researcher and lecturer, earning for himself the nickname "mind of the school" by his tutor Plato . In Athens, he probably experienced the Eleusinian Mysteries as he wrote when describing

4387-456: The Milky Way was made up of "those stars which are shaded by the earth from the sun's rays," pointing out partly correctly that if "the size of the sun is greater than that of the earth and the distance of the stars from the earth many times greater than that of the sun, then... the sun shines on all the stars and the earth screens none of them." He also wrote descriptions of comets, including

Enjoining good and forbidding wrong - Misplaced Pages Continue

4494-508: The Physics (215a25), Aristotle effectively states a quantitative law, that the speed, v, of a falling body is proportional (say, with constant c) to its weight, W, and inversely proportional to the density, ρ, of the fluid in which it is falling:; Aristotle implies that in a vacuum the speed of fall would become infinite, and concludes from this apparent absurdity that a vacuum is not possible. Opinions have varied on whether Aristotle intended to state quantitative laws. Henri Carteron held

4601-412: The universal . Aristotle's ontology places the universal ( katholou ) in particulars ( kath' hekaston ), things in the world, whereas for Plato the universal is a separately existing form which actual things imitate. For Aristotle, "form" is still what phenomena are based on, but is "instantiated" in a particular substance. Plato argued that all things have a universal form , which could be either

4708-486: The "Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice" in their titles) have appeared in Iran , Saudi Arabia , Nigeria , Sudan , Malaysia , etc., at various times and with various levels of power, to combat sinful activities and compel virtuous ones. However, Saudi authorities have recently made it clear that men and women can co-exist in public areas in Islam. They paved the way by organizing concert and sports events open for

4815-519: The "extreme view" that Aristotle's concept of force was basically qualitative, but other authors reject this. Archimedes corrected Aristotle's theory that bodies move towards their natural resting places; metal boats can float if they displace enough water ; floating depends in Archimedes' scheme on the mass and volume of the object, not, as Aristotle thought, its elementary composition. Aristotle's writings on motion remained influential until

4922-527: The Colonies , were composed by the philosopher for the young prince. After Philip II's assassination in 336 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens for the second and final time a year later. As a metic , Aristotle could not own property in Athens and thus rented a building known as the Lyceum (named after the sacred grove of Apollo Lykeios ), in which he established his own school. The building included

5029-610: The Greeks and a despot to the barbarians". Alexander's education under the guardianship of Aristotle likely lasted for only a few years, as at around the age of sixteen he returned to Pella and was appointed regent of Macedon by his father Philip. During this time, Aristotle is said to have gifted Alexander an annotated copy of the Iliad , which reportedly became one of Alexander's most prized possessions. Scholars speculate that two of Aristotle's now lost works, On kingship and On behalf of

5136-771: The Persians, and philosophical questions, like the definition of braveness. A widespread speculation in antiquity suggested that Aristotle played a role in Alexander's death, but the only evidence of this is an unlikely claim made some six years after the death. Following Alexander's death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens was rekindled. In 322 BC, Demophilus and Eurymedon the Hierophant reportedly denounced Aristotle for impiety, prompting him to flee to his mother's family estate in Chalcis, Euboea , at which occasion he

5243-448: The Quran. The word is most often found in the Qur'anic exhortation: [امر بالمعروف و نهى عن المنكر] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |links= ( help ) " Amr bil Ma'ruf wa Nahy an al Munkar ", often translated as " Enjoin the good and forbid the wrong ". Maʿrūf and munkar are widely discussed because of the duties the Quran imposes on believers through these concepts. Maʿrūf is seen as

5350-499: The Religious Sciences , is "innovative, insightful, and rich in detail" and "achieved a wide currency in the Islamic world." He wrote: Every Muslim has the duty of first setting himself to rights, and then, successively, his household, his neighbours, his quarter, his town, the surrounding countryside, the wilderness with its Bedouins, Kurds, or whatever, and so on to the uttermost ends of earth. What Ghazali wrote about

5457-491: The Soul and Poetics . Aristotle studied and made significant contributions to "logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance, and theatre." While Alexander deeply admired Aristotle, near the end of his life, the two men became estranged having diverging opinions over issues, like the optimal administration of city-states, the treatment of conquered populations, such as

SECTION 50

#1732786842871

5564-494: The ball along to make it continue to rise even though the hand is no longer acting on it, resulting in the Medieval theory of impetus . Aristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about can be attributed to four different types of simultaneously active factors. His term aitia is traditionally translated as "cause", but it does not always refer to temporal sequence; it might be better translated as "explanation", but

5671-399: The becoming is for the sake of the end; and the actuality is the end, and it is for the sake of this that the potentiality is acquired. For animals do not see in order that they may have sight, but they have sight that they may see. In summary, the matter used to make a house has potentiality to be a house and both the activity of building and the form of the final house are actualities, which

5778-574: The broad sense coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as "science". However, his use of the term science carries a different meaning than that covered by the term "scientific method". For Aristotle, "all science ( dianoia ) is either practical, poetical or theoretical" ( Metaphysics 1025b25). His practical science includes ethics and politics; his poetical science means the study of fine arts including poetry; his theoretical science covers physics, mathematics and metaphysics. In his On Generation and Corruption , Aristotle related each of

5885-433: The cause of earthquakes was a gas or vapor ( anathymiaseis ) that was trapped inside the earth and trying to escape, following other Greek authors Anaxagoras , Empedocles and Democritus . Aristotle also made many observations about the hydrologic cycle. For example, he made some of the earliest observations about desalination: he observed early – and correctly – that when seawater is heated, freshwater evaporates and that

5992-410: The composite natural ones, the study of nature would be the primary kind of knowledge; but if there is some motionless independent thing, the knowledge of this precedes it and is first philosophy, and it is universal in just this way , because it is first. And it belongs to this sort of philosophy to study being as being, both what it is and what belongs to it just by virtue of being. Aristotle examines

6099-406: The concepts of substance ( ousia ) and essence ( to ti ên einai , "the what it was to be") in his Metaphysics (Book VII), and he concludes that a particular substance is a combination of both matter and form, a philosophical theory called hylomorphism . In Book VIII, he distinguishes the matter of the substance as the substratum , or the stuff of which it is composed. For example, the matter of

6206-436: The custom, as its opposite, singular ( nukr ). In today's religious expression, maʿrūf is sunnah (this concept was not different from custom in the beginning ), munkar is meant as bid’a . (a related topic: Istihsan ) However, today, according to the meanings attributed to the term with meaning expansions that are not based on etymological connection, the word can be used as "well-known, universally accepted, ... that which

6313-399: The data to come to the theory of evolution . Aristotle's writings can seem to modern readers close to implying evolution, but while Aristotle was aware that new mutations or hybridizations could occur, he saw these as rare accidents. For Aristotle, accidents, like heat waves in winter, must be considered distinct from natural causes. He was thus critical of Empedocles's materialist theory of

6420-483: The definition of good and evil to this classification. In theory, what Allah sees as good is good, and what Allah sees as bad is bad. However, this classification reflected their interpretation and understandings on sharia. This expression is the base of the classical Islamic institution of ḥisba , the individual or collective duty (depending on the Islamic school of law ) to intervene and enforce Islamic law . It forms

6527-455: The details of Aristotle's life are not well-established. The biographies written in ancient times are often speculative and historians only agree on a few salient points. Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stagira , Chalcidice , about 55 km (34 miles) east of modern-day Thessaloniki . He was the son of Nicomachus , the personal physician of King Amyntas of Macedon , and Phaestis,

SECTION 60

#1732786842871

6634-501: The duty. Michael Cook paraphrases al-Ghazali in asking, "After all, since the duty consists in coming to the aid of the faith, how could one of its enemies [an unbeliever] perform it?" and points out that if a nonbeliever upbraided a Muslim for wrongdoing he would "presuming to exercise an illegitimate authority over the Muslim", who should never be humiliated by an unbeliever. Those who lack legal competency ( mukallaf ), such as children and

6741-491: The earliest study of formal logic, and his conception of it was the dominant form of Western logic until 19th-century advances in mathematical logic . Kant stated in the Critique of Pure Reason that with Aristotle, logic reached its completion. Most of Aristotle's work is probably not in its original form, because it was most likely edited by students and later lecturers. The logical works of Aristotle were compiled into

6848-643: The early centuries of Islam are Jahm ibn Safwan (d.746), in late Umayyad Transoxiana , Yusuf al-Barm in Khurasan in 776 CE, Al-Mubarqa in Palestine 841/42 CE, Ibn al-Qitt in Spain in 901 CE and an `Abbasid who rebelled in Armenia in 960" CE. According to the well known exegete Al-Tabari (d.923) "right" refers to all that God and His Prophet have commanded, "wrong" to all that they have forbidden, i.e.

6955-428: The evil they come across, the Muslim might say to themselves: "O Allah, there is nothing that I can do to change this bad situation that You dislike and disapprove except that I hate it to take place. I do not agree to it. O Allah forgive me, guide me and save my heart to be influenced by it." In so doing "the heart of the believer who witnesses that evil" is protected from being influenced by it, though of course, this

7062-401: The fight that far. Callers should possess virtuous "qualities": sincerity, knowledge, wisdom, forbearance, patience, humility, courage, generosity. Greater evils should get priority over lower ones. Callers should speak to wrongdoers in private when possible to avoid "scolding". When all else fails and the only portion of the hadith available to a Muslim witnessing an evil act is to dislike

7169-442: The first century AD editor who assembled various small selections of Aristotle's works to create the treatise we know by the name Metaphysics . Aristotle called it "first philosophy", and distinguished it from mathematics and natural science (physics) as the contemplative ( theoretikē ) philosophy which is "theological" and studies the divine. He wrote in his Metaphysics (1026a16): If there were no other independent things besides

7276-533: The following. Brood size decreases with (adult) body mass, so that an elephant has fewer young (usually just one) per brood than a mouse. Lifespan increases with gestation period , and also with body mass, so that elephants live longer than mice, have a longer period of gestation, and are heavier. As a final example, fecundity decreases with lifespan, so long-lived kinds like elephants have fewer young in total than short-lived kinds like mice. Aristotle distinguished about 500 species of animals , arranging these in

7383-531: The forms as existing separately from the things that participate in them, Aristotle maintained that universals exist within each thing on which each universal is predicated. So, according to Aristotle, the form of apple exists within each apple, rather than in the world of the forms. Concerning the nature of change ( kinesis ) and its causes, as he outlines in his Physics and On Generation and Corruption ( 319b–320a), he distinguishes coming-to-be ( genesis , also translated as 'generation') from: Coming-to-be

7490-519: The founder the Buddha . A particularly similar formulation is found in the book of Psalms : "Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it". (Psalm 34:14) However, Michael Cook finds no "serious precedent" for use of the phrases "forbidding wrong" and "commanding right" in the literature of the immediate predecessors of Muhammad his companions, pre-Islamic Arabian traditions and poetry. Traditionally, in classical Islamic administrations, there

7597-515: The four elements proposed earlier by Empedocles , earth , water , air , and fire , to two of the four sensible qualities, hot, cold, wet, and dry. In the Empedoclean scheme, all matter was made of the four elements, in differing proportions. Aristotle's scheme added the heavenly aether , the divine substance of the heavenly spheres , stars and planets. Aristotle describes two kinds of motion: "violent" or "unnatural motion", such as that of

7704-428: The ground, say) require more force to make them move; and objects pushed with greater force move faster. This would imply the equation incorrect in modern physics. Natural motion depends on the element concerned: the aether naturally moves in a circle around the heavens, while the 4 Empedoclean elements move vertically up (like fire, as is observed) or down (like earth) towards their natural resting places. In

7811-639: The head of the Lyceum, who in turn passed them down to Neleus of Scepsis in Asia Minor. There, the papers remained hidden for protection until they were purchased by the collector Apellicon . In the meantime, many copies of Aristotle's major works had already begun to circulate and be used in the Lyceum of Athens, Alexandria , and later in Rome . With the Prior Analytics , Aristotle is credited with

7918-498: The house may be one occupied illegally, or someone present may be drinking wine or wearing silk or a golden signet ring, or a heretic may be holding forth about his heresy, or some joker may be regaling the party with ribald and untruthful humour. (Humour that is neither untruthful nor indecorous is acceptable in moderation, provided it does not become a habit.) On top of all this there may be extravagance and wastefulness." Common wrongdoing described by Al-Ghazali committed (for example in

8025-440: The image. According to Aristotle, spontaneity and chance are causes of some things, distinguishable from other types of cause such as simple necessity. Chance as an incidental cause lies in the realm of accidental things , "from what is spontaneous". There is also more a specific kind of chance, which Aristotle names "luck", that only applies to people's moral choices. In astronomy , Aristotle refuted Democritus 's claim that

8132-408: The marketplace) may be divided into categories such as On the other hand, looking at the violations (found not just in the marketplace) through modern eyes, they can be categorized into a different set of norms being violated: A pious tract Commentary of Forty Hadiths of An Nawawi , citing different scholars, gives various advice to "callers" who enjoin good and forbid evil. They should first warn

8239-417: The mentally ill, are also excluded. However, scholars are generally "reluctant to restrict the range of those for whom forbidding wrong is a duty", and so usually include two other groups not possessing the rights of free adult male Muslims—namely slaves and women. "Sinners" are also not exempt according to the "standard" view of Islamic scholars. Schools of law differ over whether hisbah (forbidding wrong)

8346-468: The modern zoologist would call vertebrates as the hotter "animals with blood", and below them the colder invertebrates as "animals without blood". Those with blood were divided into the live-bearing ( mammals ), and the egg-laying ( birds , reptiles , fish ). Those without blood were insects, crustacea (non-shelled – cephalopods, and shelled ) and the hard-shelled molluscs ( bivalves and gastropods ). He recognised that animals did not exactly fit into

8453-524: The mosque, the market, the street, the bath-house and hospitality". For example, in "hospitality" there may be, "laying out silk coverings for men, using censers made of silver or gold, hanging curtains with images on them [images of sentient beings are forbidden among some branches of Islam] and listening to musical instruments or singing-girls. Then there is the scandal of women gathering on roofs to watch men when there are youths among them who could give rise to temptation. Or forbidden food may be served or

8560-404: The oceans are then replenished by the cycle of rainfall and river runoff ("I have proved by experiment that salt water evaporated forms fresh and the vapor does not when it condenses condense into sea water again.") Aristotle was the first person to study biology systematically, and biology forms a large part of his writings. He spent two years observing and describing the zoology of Lesbos and

8667-445: The offenders of the consequences of evil, and only after this approach has been "fully utilised" should they proceed to "the hand". Use of the tongue could vary from "a delicate hint" to "a ruthless tongue lashing", and the hand from "a restraining hand" to use of arms. Al-Ghazali believed the use of a group of armed fighters to combat wrongdoing did not require the permission of the ruler if good Muslims thought it necessary to escalate

8774-407: The poet Dante called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and Jean Buridan . Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics , although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics . In general,

8881-493: The public. Answering the question of why there is a duty among Muslims to forbid wrong are statements in the Quran and hadith. Scholars have provided a number of reasons why the obvious reading of this verse is incorrect, such as that it refers not to the present but "to some future time when forbidding wrong will cease to be effective." Appearing in Sahih Muslim , the second most prestigious collection of Sunni hadith

8988-402: The reprehensible with their hearts. In practice, as far as can be determined, the people who went around commanding and forbidding in pre-modern Islam, were "overwhelmingly scholars", according to Michael Cook. Regarding rebellion as a means of overturning state/ruler wrong, Cook finds the opinions of Islamic scholars "'heavily stacked' against this approach. In general this was when (and if) it

9095-457: The request of Philip II of Macedon , tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls . Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived , none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided

9202-525: The ruler to command right. Once they had it, they would round up everyone and flog them. If a man swore that he had neither drunk nor fornicated, the scholar would ask him his trade; if he said he was a grocer, the scholar would infer that he cheated his customer, and flog him anyway." "Straightforward denial" that forbidding wrong is a duty of Muslims is "very rare", and non-existent after the first two centuries of Islam. Some scholars (Hasan al-Basri, Abdullah ibn Shubruma d.761) have argued that forbidding wrong

9309-433: The same certainty as experimental science, but it sets out testable hypotheses and constructs a narrative explanation of what is observed. In this sense, Aristotle's biology is scientific. From the data he collected and documented, Aristotle inferred quite a number of rules relating the life-history features of the live-bearing tetrapods (terrestrial placental mammals) that he studied. Among these correct predictions are

9416-621: The same thing, ..." Sunnis , Ibadis and Twelver (also called Imami) Shia schools of Islam "made extensive use of" the "schema" set out by this hadith Depending on the translation from the Quran, the phrase may also be translated as commanding what is just and forbidding what is evil , commanding right and forbidding wrong , and other combinations of "enjoin" or "command", "right" or "just", "wrong", "unjust", or "evil". Phrases similar to forbidding evil and commanding good can be found examining texts of ancient Greek philosophers -- Stoic Chrysippus (d.207 BC) and Aristotle (d.322) -- and

9523-439: The seed of a plant in the soil is potentially ( dynamei ) a plant, and if it is not prevented by something, it will become a plant. Potentially, beings can either 'act' ( poiein ) or 'be acted upon' ( paschein ), which can be either innate or learned. For example, the eyes possess the potentiality of sight (innate – being acted upon), while the capability of playing the flute can be possessed by learning (exercise – acting). Actuality

9630-592: The sharia. Al-Nawawi also stated that Shariah principles determined what was to be commanded and forbidden. However, the verses are vague and do not speak of Sharia/God's law. According to Michael Cook, "a trend" in early exegesis ( tafsir ) indicated the duty referred to affirming the basic message of Islam—and so commanded only the "unity of God" and "veracity" of his prophet, and forbade polytheism and denial of Muhammad's prophethood. There are also scholarly disagreements between schools of fiqh ( madhhab ). Al-Ghazali provides "a survey" of wrongs commonly found in

9737-706: The sights one viewed at the Mysteries, "to experience is to learn" ( παθεĩν μαθεĩν ). Aristotle remained in Athens for nearly twenty years before leaving in 348/47 BC after Plato's death. The traditional story about his departure records that he was disappointed with the Academy's direction after control passed to Plato's nephew Speusippus , although it is possible that the anti-Macedonian sentiments in Athens could have also influenced his decision. Aristotle left with Xenocrates to Assos in Asia Minor , where he

9844-756: The study of more complex forms, namely, syllogisms (in the Analytics ) and dialectics (in the Topics and Sophistical Refutations ). The first three treatises form the core of the logical theory stricto sensu : the grammar of the language of logic and the correct rules of reasoning. The Rhetoric is not conventionally included, but it states that it relies on the Topics . What is today called Aristotelian logic with its types of syllogism (methods of logical argument), Aristotle himself would have labelled "analytics". The term "logic" he reserved to mean dialectics . The word "metaphysics" appears to have been coined by

9951-508: The subject, and in commentaries on the Qur'an and Hadith. Sunni works of jurisprudence do not cover the topic of Forbidding Wrong, but Twelver ( Ja'fari school of thought ) scholars along with others among Zaydis and Ibadi branches of Islam do. Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE) was "perhaps the first major Islamic thinker to devote substantial amount of space" to these two duties, and his account of forbidding wrong in (Book 19 of his) The Revival of

10058-558: The surrounding seas, including in particular the Pyrrha lagoon in the centre of Lesbos. His data in History of Animals , Generation of Animals , Movement of Animals , and Parts of Animals are assembled from his own observations, statements given by people with specialized knowledge, such as beekeepers and fishermen, and less accurate accounts provided by travellers from overseas. His apparent emphasis on animals rather than plants

10165-475: The time of Homer , and "the upheaving of one of the Aeolian islands , previous to a volcanic eruption ."' Meteorologica lends its name to the modern study of meteorology, but its modern usage diverges from the content of Aristotle's ancient treatise on meteors . The ancient Greeks did use the term for a range of atmospheric phenomena, but also for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Aristotle proposed that

10272-478: The traditional rendering will be employed here. Aristotle describes experiments in optics using a camera obscura in Problems , book 15. The apparatus consisted of a dark chamber with a small aperture that let light in. With it, he saw that whatever shape he made the hole, the sun's image always remained circular. He also noted that increasing the distance between the aperture and the image surface magnified

10379-486: The words used by Islamic philosophy in determining good and evil discourses are ḥusn and qubh . In its most common usage, maʿrūf is "in accordance with the custom", while munkar, which has no place in the custom, as its opposite, singular ( nukr ). In today's religious expression, maʿrūf sunnah (this concept was not different from custom in the beginning), munkar is meant as bid’a . (a related topic: Istihsan ) Some jurists classified human behavior ( Ahkam ) and linked

10486-590: The wrongdoing, or the wrongdoer starts his mischief, we are all obligated; but once you take care of the matter, the rest of us have no further obligation." Who is eligible to use force (their "hand") to command and forbid is disputed, some reserving it for the political authorities or their underlings. ("At different times" a position supported by the Shafites, the Malikis and the Hanafis). "The view that punishment

10593-543: Was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath . His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences , philosophy , linguistics , economics , politics , psychology , and the arts . As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens , he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science . Little

10700-440: Was an office of al-hisbah, an inspector of "markets and morals", the holder of which was called a muhtasib . He was appointed by the caliph to oversee the order in market places, in businesses, in medical occupations, etc. He "had no jurisdiction to hear cases—only to settle disputes and breaches of the law where the facts were admitted or there was a confession of guilt." Hisbah as a "general term for 'forbidding wrong'" has

10807-645: Was foolhardy and dangerous to the subject doing the forbidding, not because it was disrespectful to the ruler. This did not stop political rebels in the early centuries of Islam from using forbidding wrong as their slogan, according to Cook. Examples were "found among the Kharijites , including the Ibadis , among the Shi'ites , including Zaydis , and among the Sunnis , especially the Malikis. Some instances of such rebels in

10914-413: Was invited by his former fellow student Hermias of Atarneus ; he stayed there for a few years and left around the time of Hermias' death. While at Assos, Aristotle and his colleague Theophrastus did extensive research in botany and marine biology , which they later continued at the near-by island of Lesbos . During this time, Aristotle married Pythias , Hermias's adoptive daughter and niece, and had

11021-798: Was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology , especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church . Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while

11128-418: Was responsible for carrying out the duty, to whom it was to be directed, and what performance of the duty entailed. Often, these debates were framed according to what Michael Cook calls the "three modes" tradition, a tradition based on a prophetic hadith which identifies the "heart" ( qalb ), "tongue" ( lisān ), and "hand" ( yad ) as the three proper "modes" by which one should fulfill the obligation. Depending on

11235-523: Was said to have stated "I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy" – a reference to Athens's trial and execution of Socrates . He died in Chalcis, Euboea of natural causes later that same year, having named his student Antipater as his chief executor and leaving a will in which he asked to be buried next to his wife. Aristotle left his works to Theophrastus, his successor as

11342-591: Was the "personal duty to right wrongs committed by fellow believers as and when one encountered them." This theme also formed the "core" of the "scholastic heritage" on the subject created by other medieval scholars. But in the modern era "the conception" of forbidding wrong has changed and become more systematic. Now opposing wrongdoing involves "the organised propagation of Islamic values," according to Cook, which requires missionary work and organisation. And several contemporary Muslim majority states or provinces have some kind of Islamic " religious police ". While scripture

11449-588: Was widely disbelieved until the 19th century. He gives accurate descriptions of the four-chambered fore-stomachs of ruminants , and of the ovoviviparous embryological development of the hound shark . He notes that an animal's structure is well matched to function so birds like the heron (which live in marshes with soft mud and live by catching fish) have a long neck, long legs, and a sharp spear-like beak, whereas ducks that swim have short legs and webbed feet. Darwin , too, noted these sorts of differences between similar kinds of animal, but unlike Aristotle used

#870129