The Notion of Physis and Ergon in the Protrepticus of Aristotle
Keywords:
Aristotle, Nature, Function, PhilosophyAbstract
In the Protrepticus, in the context of what appears to be a defense ofphilosophy, Aristotle gives an outline of what will come to be his conception of humanexistence. For the purposes of developing this concept, two notions seem to becentral to the Aristotelian discourse: phýsis and érgon. As a consequence, the objectiveof this article is to investigate how both notions relate to each other. The thesis we will try to test is that for Aristotle the fulfillment of the nature (phýsis) of a thing isidentified with the exercise of its own function (érgon). Seen this way, things reach their fullness when they perform their function in the best possible way.
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