O conhecimento científico e o conceito de substância na filosofia primeira de Aristóteles

Abstract

SUMMARY: The purpose of this dissertation is to show that the Aristotelian conception of knowledge, formulated in the book De Anima, is perfectly compatible with the design of the first philosophy as "science sought" as it appears in the book called Metaphysics. Indeed, the "science sought" is presented in four ways: 1) science of causes and principles; 2) science of being as being; 3) theory of substance and 4) theological science. The science that performs excellently the natural desire to know, which features "all men", is called first philosophy because it deals with the causes and principles of being as being in its entirety. This science, according to Aristotle, responds to the problem that "since ancient times, as now and always, is the eternal object of research and the eternal problem, ‘what is being’ [that] amounts to this: ‘what is the substance'". The answer to this problem begins by answering the question about what is the substance in general and concludes with the answer to the question about which kind of substances do exist. The theological science that demonstrates the existence of a super sensible substance, eternal and unmoved, cause and principle of being as being, is the zenith of the first philosophy and proof of the unity of the four ways in which it is presented