The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science

by Armand Marie Leroi

All men, by nature, desire to know. An indication of this is the delight that we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and, above all others, the sense of sight . . . The reason is that this, most of all the senses, acquaints us with, and brings to light, many differences between things. Aristotle does not mean ‘know’ just in the sense of ‘understand’; he also means ‘perceive’. Thus in the first instance we should read his words as the claim that men take pleasure in the exercise of their senses, and the reason why they do so is because it allows them to perceive all the different things of which the world is composed. This is merely an opening gambit. For Aristotle goes on to argue that ‘knowing’ in the sense of ‘perceiving’ is the foundation of ‘knowing’ in the sense of ‘understanding’ – indeed, is a requirement for wisdom. The reason, then, that this statement comes at the very start of the Metaphysics is plain. Aristotle is raising his battle standard and declaring war on the Academy’s idealism. His project is not Plato’s, for it concerns this world – and he wants us to know it.