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1 results

  • Chapter 4 - Is Contemplation Proper to Humans?

  • Bryan C. Reece, University of Arkansas
  • Book:
    Aristotle on Happiness, Virtue, and Wisdom
    Published online:
    15 June 2023
    Print publication:
    29 June 2023, pp 80-108

  • Summary

    Aristotle’s theory of human happiness explicitly depends on the claim that intellectual contemplation is peculiar to human beings, whether it is our ergon (work, function, characteristic activity) or only part of it. But there is a notorious problem: Aristotle says that divine beings also contemplate. For this reason, many interpreters affirm the Divinity Thesis: Contemplation is not proper to human beings, for divine beings engage in it, too. The Divinity Thesis thwarts solving the Conjunctive Problem. Drawing on an analysis of what divine contemplation involves according to Aristotle, I argue that he rejects the Divinity Thesis. This opens the door to an account of what is proper to humans that is able to solve the Conjunctive Problem.