Religious Information Seeking on Social Media in Saudi

Religious Information Seeking on Social Media in Saudi Abdullah Almobarraz Religious Information Seeking on Social Media in Saudi Society ABSTRACT Reading and learning about religious information is a habit that Saudis practice to increase their understanding of Islamic rules. It is common now for people to learn about religion from social media. Therefore, the study reports on a survey that was distributed to people in Saudi Arabia to investigate the use of social media technologies for religious information seeking. The objective is to determine if Saudis utilize social media to search for religious information and to understand their information-seeking behaviors when using such a resource. In addition, the study is an attempt to investigate how religious information on social media changes and influences people, and what obstacles and difficulties Saudis encounter when they use social media to obtain religious information. Keywords: Information behavior, Internet resources, Religious information, Saudi Society, Social network, Social media Introduction Social media has become a popular tool used to search for information during the past few years. Currently, a growing number of people use social media in all activities related to their lives. Social media tools can also be excellent for searching out, learning, and publishing religious information. As people become more adept in their use of social media in religious learning and practice, questions begin to emerge about the implications of new media platforms and practices for faith formation, leadership, and religious practice across traditions (Anderson, 2013). By answering these questions, we can come to understand why social media is commonly used to change religious views and deliver beliefs to different types of people. As social media increasingly becomes part of our daily lives, people will find new ways to interact with religion and spirituality. In the digital age, a group of virtual religionists will emerge, comprising individuals who do not affiliate with religious institutions, but are nevertheless engaged in many aspects of a faith community through social networking (Miller, 2011). Research Problem Reading and learning about religious information is a habit that Saudis practice to increase their understanding of Islamic rules. In the past, most people learned about religion from traditional resources, such as attending religious events, reading books and journals, and watching television programs. But with the advent of social media, religious information and resources have become accessible through this new channel. However, we do not know how religion and new forms of social media interact or what impact they have on each other. Indeed, no study has thus far investigated the use of social media or its content on the subject of religion. Therefore, this study explores the extent to which Saudis utilize social media to find religious information and examines how this affects their knowledge and learning style. Specifically, this exploratory study employs a quantitative approach through the distribution of a questionnaire to collect data related to the population. Literature Review Social media plays a clear role in changing the way people talk about faith and share religious information and perspectives, so religious leaders find it a great way to involve younger generations who may not be growing up with religion in their households (Cyprian, 2015). Recent years have seen a concern with the publishing of new information to help religious scholars understand digital media-especially social media. Religious leaders can now find texts to guide them through the construction of websites, blogs, and social media (Hutchings, 2012). However, the use of social media is not limited to religious leaders, but is also used by laypeople. It has increasingly become an important source of religious information for many people in the world (Harvey, 2014). In an average week, one in five Americans shares their religious faith online (Pew Research Center, 2014). In addition to sharing their religious faith, people use social media to share information about their favorite relig ious organizations, activities, preachers, religious resources, Web sites, educational materials, new issues, and much more (Groenpj, 2011). Preston (2011) reported that although it is too early to say that social media has transformed the way in which people practice religion, the number of people discussing faith on Facebook has significantly increased in the past year. This trend is supported by the findings of Tallant (2013), who declared that over 43 million Facebook users are fans of at least one religious page, and 31% of users in the United States list a religion in their profile. At this very basic level, it is possible to see that members of religious groups are using Facebook and are incorporating their religious beliefs into their online activities. As the use of social media evolves into an essential part of peoples daily lives, religious organizations are also using social media tools in increasingly inspired ways to spread their influence and build communities (Newberg, 2013). For example, a recent study in China showed that digital and social media have allowed one of the largest international religious an d benevolent organizations to keep in touch with its more than 10 million followers worldwide, helping it in its mission to provide humanitarian relief (Cheong, Hwang, Brummans, 2014). Religious information in the Islamic world is also in the category of favored information. Baddawy (2014) surveyed 250 Muslim Facebook users and found that the highest percent of them are attracted by religious information. Mustafa et al. (2013) states that the attraction of information may contribute to religious understanding; however, this is reliant on how people perceive the Islamic information shared on social media. Religious information may lead to improper behavior due to various reasons, such as ignorance of a religion, ease of online publishing, and spread of fringe groups (Hammad Faraj Allah, 2011). In Saudi Arabia, over the past few years, social media usage has been one of the most rapidly adopted activities, with more and more users accessing the Internet via their smartphones and tablets (AlJabre, 2013). Research conducted by Global Web Index suggested that almost 25% of the population in Saudi Arabia is active on social media (Zarovsky, 2013). Moreover, a social media agency report showed that there are 3 million Twitter users (around 12% of the population), growing by 3000%, with an average 50 million tweets per month, 840,000 LinkedIn users (4% of the population), and 6 million Facebook users (23% of the population) (Social Clinic, 2014). The adoption of social media has had a great effect on Saudis behaviors and beliefs (Alsharkh, 2012). Religion, for example, is an essential part of society, and so information related to religious issues has a crucial influence upon the cultures and thinking styles of individuals. Almaghthaway (2011) states that these issues used to be delivered by preachers and through traditional resources such as newspapers and audio materials, but in the 20th century, this all began to change. The advent of greater literacy, the deterioration of religious establishments, and new forms of communication such as radio and television all contributed to breaking down the pre-modern modes of religious authority (Almaghthaway, 2011). The late 20th century brought forth a new phenomenon: the creation of Google. It is now common for Muslims to search for answers to religious questions by accessing the Internet. Social media, especially mobile computing devices such as smartphones and tables, contributes to the importance of the Internet as a source of religious information, which fosters discussion of contemporary religious issues. Increasingly, Saudis are posing questions to people they identify as religious authorities through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media apparatuses (Hellyer, 2013). Purpose of the Study and Research Questions Although some research has been conducted on the effects of social media on peoples lives, previous studies have not focused on specific areas of Saudi society. More specifically, no studies have examined the effect of social media on religious information seeking. Therefore, the current study serves to examine this issue by using a descriptive method to investigate how religious information on social media changes and influences people. The study was designed to address four questions central to understanding Saudis information-seeking behavior on social media regarding religious information: To what extent do Saudis use social media for religious purposes? What are the purposes and strategies of searching for religious information via social media? To what extent do Saudis trust social media to obtain religious information? What obstacles and difficulties do Saudis encounter when they use social media to obtain religious information? Methodology This study applied a quantitative research design involving a questionnaire distributed by e-mail to a group of participants in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The participants represent various segments of society. The questionnaire contained 14 items in five categories in order to collect data related to participants use of searches via social media for religious information. The five question categories were (a) the demographics of participants; (b) usage level of social media; (c) purposes of and strategies for use; (d) behavioral trust in social media; and (e) obstacles to social media use. A total of 492 participants completed the questionnaire. Due to the nature of the research, descriptive statistical techniques were used to analyze and report the data. In the following sections, the findings are presented in relevant tables immediately after their corresponding interpretations. Data Analysis and Results Descriptive statistics on each variable of the study are used to investigate peoples use of social media related to religious information. The percentage for each survey item question is reported in the tables that follow. The results are divided into categories that address the previously mentioned five issues, namely the demographic characteristics of participants, social media use, purposes and strategies of use, trust in social media, and difficulties of use. Demographic Characteristics of the Sample As shown in Table 1, participants were relatively equally split by gender, with 54% men and 46% women. As for age groups, 40% were aged 20-30 years, 28% were 31-40 years, 17% were 41-50 years, 9% were less than 20 years, and 5% were in the 51-60 years age group. As for marital status, the majority of participants (62%) were married, 34% were single, 3% were divorced, and only 1% were widowed. As for level of education, half of the participants (50%) had a bachelors degree, 18% had completed high school, 13% held an associate degree, 10% had a masters degree, 6% had a doctorate, and the rest of participants (3%) had not completed high school. In terms of occupation, 45% reported being government employees, 23% were students, 15% were unemployed, 13% were private-sector employees, and 4% were self-employed. Table 1. Demographic characteristics Variable Item Percentage Gender Male Female 54% 46% Marital status Single Married Divorced Widowed 34% 62% 3% 1% Age (years old) 20-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 >60 9% 40% 28% 17% 5% 0 Level of education Less than high school High school Associate degree Bachelors Masters Doctorate 3% 18% 13% 50% 10% 6% Occupation Student Government employee Private-sector employee Self-employed Unemployed 23% 45% 13% 4% 15% Social Media Usage for Searching for Religious Information Table 2 shows the percentage of participants who strongly agree, agree, sometimes agree, disagree, and strongly disagree, respectively, with the use of social media to obtain religious information. Almost half of the participants (47%) agreed or strongly agreed that social media is their preferred source for obtaining religious information. This phenomenon could be a result of the widespread use of social media by Saudi religious scholars. Of the top 10 most-followed users of social media in Saudi Arabia, 5 are religious scholars (Tweepar, 2014). Therefore, a large amount of information related to religion will be available to those who look for it on social media. Table 2. Use of social media to obtain religious information Opinion Frequency Percentage Strongly agree 82 17% Agree 148 30% Sometimes agree 189 38% Disagree 48 10% Strongly disagree 25 5% Traditional Resources for Religious Information Participants were allowed to choose more than one option to specify the resources they used to search for religious information before the advent of social media. Table 3 shows that among the different pre-social media resources, Internet Websites were reported by 64% of participants as their primary resource, followed by books (55%). A much smaller percentage of participants (3%) indicated that they used newspapers to obtain religious information. Table 3. Resources used to search for religious information before the advent of social media Resources Frequency Percentage Books 271 55% Journals 19 4% Newspapers 16 3% Audiovisual materials 260 53% Websites 315 64% Other 29 6% Most-Consulted Social Media When seeking religious information, the majority of participants (71%) consulted Twitter, followed by Google+ (42%). Surprisingly, Facebook was consulted for religious information by only 11% of participants. This finding differs from the general state of social media in Saudi Arabia, as Facebook is favored in that country (Social Clinic, 2014). Table 4. Most-used social media for seeking religious information Media Frequency Percentage Twitter 348 71% Facebook 54 11% LinkedIn 10 2% Google+ 207 42% H5 2 1% Other 65 13% Purposes of Using Social Media Related to Religion Alzoman (2012) stated that Saudi youths mostly use social media to understand and learn about new events. This study is consistent with those previous results. As Table 5 shows, learning about religion was the biggest reason (43%) for using social media to obtain information about religion, followed closely by the desire to read posts written by religious scholars (40%) who have a good reputation and are highly popular and by the desire to find answers related to religious issues in society (34%), and by the wish to communicate with religious scholars (12%). Table 5. Purpose for using social media Purpose Frequency Percentage Finding answers to religious issues 166 34% Communicating with religious scholars 61 12% Learning about religion 213 43% Reading posts written by religious scholars 198 40% Other 63 13% Religious Information Sources Although most people use electronic databases and formal Websites rather than personal Websites to locate new information and keep pace with scientific developments in their fields of specialty (Alsharhan, 2002), the search for religious information seems to operate differently. Almost half of the participants (45%) reported that they turn to the personal accounts of religious specialists to find information about religion. This finding may be unsurprising for Saudi Arabia due to the good reputation religious scholars hold within that society. Institutional accounts, by contrast, did not have the same popularity with participants, only 21% of whom reported using institutional accounts (government and nongovernment) for this kind of search. Table 6. Sources for searching for religious information via social media Source Frequency Percentage Government agencies accounts 110 16% Nongovernment agencies accounts 46 7% Personal accounts of religious specialists 308 45% Subject headings and hashtags 201 29% Other 21 3% Handling Information Participants were asked what actions they usually take after finding the information for which they were searching. The majority (68%) declared that they search for other sources to verify the credibility of the information. Because any one can publish information on social media, participants might understandably not trust information the first time they see it. Social media is full of both no credible users and no credible information. Therefore, some users prefer to make some kind of evaluation before accepting information as credible. The behavior of the remaining 32% was as follows: 12% accept the information and use it for their original purpose, 12% discuss the information and comment on it, and 6% publish it in their social media accounts. Table 7. Action taken after obtaining information Action Frequency Percentage Accept it and use it for my original purpose 60 12% Search for other sources to verify the credibility 335 68% Publish it in my social media accounts 30 6% Discuss and comment on it 58 12% Other 9 2% Credibility Participants were asked to report their opinions regarding the credibility of religious information on social media and whether or not it can be trusted. A five-point Likert scale was given to measure this item, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The highest percentage of participants (45%) indicated that they sometimes trusted religious information on social media, whereas 32% of participants either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the credibility of social media. This matches the previous result indicating that users will search for other resources to verify the credibility of information they find on social media. The rest of the participants (24%) indicated that they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that social media is credible and trustworthy. Table 8. Religious information on social media is credible and can be trusted Opinion Frequency Percentage Strongly agree 20 4% Agree 96 20% Sometimes agree 220 45% Disagree 128 26% Strongly disagree 28 6% Social Media Sufficiency Table 9 shows the percentage of participants who strongly agree, agree, sometimes agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with the statement that religious information on social media is sufficient and meets their needs. A plurality of participants (38%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement, whereas the next highest percentage (33%) thought that it is sometimes sufficient. This is not surprising, because many people feel strongly about their religion and therefore may care about the credibility of religious information more than some other types of information. The information found on social media may be posted by users who are nonspecialists in religion. This leads many people to search for more credible and trusted resources. The rest (29%) of participants agreed or strongly agreed that religious information on social media is sufficient and meets their needs. Table 9. Social media sufficiency Opinion Frequency Percentage Strongly agree 16 3% Agree 128 26% Sometimes agree 163 33% Disagree 148 30% Strongly disagree 37 8% Influence on Peoples Thoughts Table 10 reports participants opinions regarding the statement that social media affects religious thoughts on society. The majority of participants (82%) reported that they agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. This result is compatible with a referendum conducted by a local newspaper that indicated that social media sites influence the personality of users and change their intellectual and cultural attitudes (Okaz newspaper, 2013). Only a small percentage of participants (3%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. This finding shows the strength of social media in Saudi society, further confirming its role in societal and cultural transformation. Table 10. Social media affects religious thoughts on society Opinion Frequency Percentage Strongly agree 148 30% Agree 258 52% Sometimes agree 71 14% Disagree 12 2% Strongly disagree 3 1% Presentation and Dissemination of Religious Issues A recent study revealed that social media is very effective at improving the dissemination of information (Allen, Stanton, Di Pietro, Moseley, 2013). The present study reached the same result. Table 11 shows that most participants (76%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that social media is useful in presenting and disseminating religious issues. By contrast, only a small number of participants (8%) reported that they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement regarding the positive role of social media in publishing religious opinions and issues. Table 11. Social media is useful for presenting and disseminating religious issues Opinion Frequency Percentage Strongly agree 154 31% Agree 223 45% Sometimes agree 76 15% Disagree 31 6% Strongly disagree 8 2% Social Media Censorship Saudi Arabias Internet censorship is considered one of the most extensive in the world, and restricted and blocked Websites include those that are incompatible with Islam (Almobarraz, 2007). Therefore, participants were asked if they believed that the religious content of social media risked censorship. Table 12 shows that the highest percentage (44%) sometimes agreed that religious information on social media was blocked, whereas the next highest percentage (34%) agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. The rest of participants (22%) either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Table 12. Some accounts specializing in religious information are blocked Opinion Frequency Percentage Strongly agree 51 10% Agree 118 24% Sometimes agree 216 44% Disagree 84 17% Strongly disagree 23 5% Awareness of Religious Accounts Participants were asked if they were aware of specialized religious accounts. As shown in Table 13, combining the positive responses of agree and strongly agree indicates that a plurality of participants (45%) were aware of specialized religious accounts on social media. The combination of negative responses of disagree and strongly disagree indicates that 25% were unaware of such accounts. The rest of participants (30%) were neutral. Table 13. Knowledge and awareness of accounts specializing in religious information Opinion Frequency Percentage Strongly agree 39 8% Agree 182 37% Sometimes agree 147 30% Disagree 109 22% Strongly disagree 15 3% Presence of Religious Resources on Social Media Participants were asked about the resources they trust to find religious information presented on social

What is Man in Civilized Society?

Jean Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher whose disposition on human nature took him into the vantage of man’s birth and his existence on this earth. Rousseau’s Discourse On Inequality is a development of the man from freedom to his virtual and self created slavery. In a quest to attain the materialistic possessions, he had lost his own freedom, which was earlier, the part of his existence. Man in his â€Å"state of nature† slowly developed himself into a state of artificiality. His whole existence depends upon the fulfillment of his unending needs on the basis of which lies his relationship with others in the society and in environment. This dependency makes him slave to the others for whom he matters the most. This aspect of human nature Rousseau discourses on the Origin of Inequality. All men are born equal yet there is inequality among them and how this inequality among people originated, the answer to it is found in our history. When the first man, after getting hold of a piece of ground, confirmed with pride, This is mine, (Rousseau, 431) and found other people believed him; he had already laid foundation of civilized society. It is a society whereby all men are striving to attain maximum fruits provided by nature but it is also a fact that this is not possible without the help of others. Every one is isolated yet all of them are mutually dependent upon each other and subsequently these are reciprocal needs that unite them. It is also known fact that it is almost very difficult to put a man under subjugation unless he is first put into the position where by he is incapable of doing things without others. Before the man had started learning to work in groups, the first thing man mostly cared for was his own matter of existence and another was his own self preservation. He only needed whatever the nature provided him with and he learned it with his own instincts. Hunger and eagerness to know what is happening around him exposed him to different other ways to sustain on this Earth and among them was the way by which he could propagate his species. This act in him was quite insensitive in nature and without passion. When they were satisfied, both the sexes need not know each other and even children forgot their mothers. Primitive man was not totally ignorant about the ways to utilize natural resources to his advantage but soon he got exposed to many difficulties and the time came when he had to learn various ways to counter these difficulties like fruit laden tall trees making it impossible for him to collect them; competition with other groups who were more eager to collect the fruits from these trees; and the need to counter furious looking and dangerous tribes man. He adopted his own routine exercises as he had to be very swift, and very vigrous in nature with strong physique. He started the use of stones and sticks to create weapons and with his new profound discovery, man embarked his journey to conquer all the obstacles that came in his way and in many situations indemnified himself as a consequence of his defeat against much stronger than himself. As human race grew in large number, man’s needs also grew and subsequently there were number of changes in his way of living. These changes could be due to long winters and extremely hot summers which destroyed the fruits. These hardships might have induced the man to discover something new and this led to formation of an industry. At the seashore, man invented hook line. He also became fish eater and consumed a large number of fish. Then in the forests, he invented bows and arrows and became warrior. Lightenning or volcano must have induced in him the idea of generating electricity. First he learned to preserve whatever knowledge or expertise he considered useful to him, like learning ways to preserve the elements of nature, later the way to reproduce these elements and the method to cook the flesh of animals on fire he was initially eating raw and slowly he was able to overcome all the obstacles posed by the nature to maintain his survival. As more civilizations made their appearance felt across the globe, man’s dangers increased and he began to show more intensity towards his protection and care. All his characteristics like strength, weakness, slow speed, fearfulness and boldness changed according to the needs and increased his intensity to take the precautions necessary for his security. These traits in him also increased his power of reasoning according to the nature and the rules of his own area. He began to judge others in the same way he would judge himself and understood the way they thought and acted in conformity to his own. The experiences also taught him the love for others and the complexities in various relationships. He began to understand how their mutual interests would satiate in his dependence on the other men of his own area, and he also began to realize how their conflicting interests would make him suspicious of others. In the case where he thought his mutual interest lied, he would create temporary association with others, where no member has any restrictions and in later case, every one would seek their own self interest. In this way, men began to understand to work in a mutual cooperation with each other and advantages in fulfilling them and slowly they began to understand to adopt language. For them at that stage, the language of rooks or monkeys was enough to help them communicate with each other. Through cries, gestures and with some sounds, they were able to send their messages across and with the passing of time, they began to articulate the sounds to form their own languages but they were totally imperfect and rude. These advancements led them further to develop themselves and now they neither slept under the tree nor in the caves but they invented hard and sharp stones; they would dug inside the earth, cut wood and carved out huts from them. This was the beginning of the first revolution but with this revolution also began the human’s journey towards his very complex and hard relations with the other human beings. Stronger men were able to build their huts first , followed by weaker ones who found themselves safer to imitate them. This was the beginning of the society, when human beings started feeling various emotions that would attach them to each other and from then on, there was a beginning of family relationships, humanity, love and affection. Each family became a small society, and united to each other to attain maximum satisfaction in their personal lives and in their union with each other. The women confined in their homes and men went to the world outside to sustain their lives. This was the beginning of dependency not only among opposite sexes but also among other fellow beings. With this, their needs also began to increase and to meet these needs, they had to adopt and acquire different qualities and skills in relationship to others and also among each other. As said by Rousseau, â€Å"the society in its beginning stages and the relations already established among men required in them qualities different from those they derived from their primitive constitution. †(Rousseau, 435) Now the men were no longer contended with rustic huts, they were not making their own clothes with skins of animals or thorns of fish bones but required labor of others to produce for them luxuries they never dreamt of. This need led to the requirement of labor and dependency of man on each other. Each man relied on each other for fulfillment of his unending needs and desires. Population also began to rise and many civilizations developed which acquired lands and were confined within the precinct of their own boundaries, but this was not a limit because civilizations continued to grow and with each growth, they acquired more and more land. The lust of acquisitions for more land and hope for a revenue from agriculture made it the most costly and valuable commodity. More and more forests began to be transformed into fields needed to be watered and tilled with men’s sweat and with this â€Å"slavery and misery were soon seen to germinate and grow with the crops. (Rousseau, 436). Metallurgy and agriculture and the lust for more possession of these two forms of art developed jealously and pride in the man. The necessity for gaining the knowledge of other art forms arose to give agriculture a boost. While one man was needed to forge the iron, the other was needed to feed them. When workers increased in metallurgy, the workers in the agriculture got reduc ed, as they got involved in extraction of metals; and since some needed food in exchange of iron, barter system came into existence- food in exchange of product and vice versa. The things would have been in the state of the balance if the equal amount of food and minerals had been developed but this was not the case. The people who were stronger in the society were doing majority of work; the skillful of all were turning this opportunity to better their position; and the most ingenious were finding the way to reduce the labor, for e. g. farmer needed iron the most and the blacksmith needed wheat; and if both of them performed equal amount of labor but by putting equal amount of labor, one earned a lot while the other hardly had enough to eat. Thus it is that natural inequality imperceptibly manifests itself together with inequality occasioned by the socialization process. † (Rousseau, 437) It is these occupational differences which enabled men to be more noticeable and more effective, and influenced the fate of others. Man began to develop their own imagination and mental power to decide on several activities. He fruitfully developed several forms of art for his own purpose and the development of these various arts gave him his own rank and position in his own area of working. And he had established himself not just on the basis of the production of goods and services but also on the virtue of his own qualities like beauty, clever mind, strength, skills, and also his other merits and talents. These qualities in him enticed him to prove himself in the society as best in terms how he had made himself and the society to move forward economically, socially and independently, but he too began to show himself more than what he could achieve to his advantage. This trait in him became quite a dangerous proposition as it entails ostentation, deceptiveness, cunningness and all the vices that would make a man slave. Rousseau was quite right when he said that â€Å"On the other hand, although man had previously been free and independent, we find him, so to speak, subject, by virtue of a multitude of fresh needs, to all of nature and particularly to his fellowmen, whose slave in a sense he becomes even in becoming their master; rich, he needs their services; poor he needs their help; and being midway between wealth and poverty does not put him in a position to get along without them†. (Rousseau, 437) What followed was based on the simple fact that man is a social animal and required one person or the other to make him meet and fulfill his needs. But when the most powerful and the weakest try to make the most of each other’s strengths and weaknesses what entails is the unbridled passion for the usurpations of wealth by whatever means and this greed, lust and power make one man dominate the other, still there is no possibility of going on without each other. This is an essence of human civilization and it holds true in 21st century also no matter how advanced scientifically and technologically it is, the man is and would remain slave to his fellowmen.

College Athletes Should Not Be Paid - 1425 Words

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Aristotle On Distinction Between Substance And Matter Essay

ARISTOTLE ON DISTINCTION BETWEEN SUBSTANCE AND MATTER INTRODUCTION Aristotle was both a political thinker and a philosopher. So, we can see their effects on his writings. Moreover, he was hugely influenced by his great teacher Plato, who was in turn a disciple of the great thinker Socrates. He discussed about Substance and Matter in his book ‘Metaphysics’ mainly, apart from discussing them in his book ‘Ethics’. Generally, substance and matter are understood to be the same thing. But philosophically, they are different. ON SUBSTANCE Epistemologically, from the definition of substance it follows: 1. that substance is its own cause 2. that it is infinite 3. that it is the only substance 4. that it is eternal e.g., idea, soul, consciousness, God, respectively have been revered as substance by different philosophers. For Aristotle, substance (ousia), i.e. what is in the fullest sense, is an individual person or thing. Or rather, he normally describes the individual as substance in the primary sense. But logically and epistemologically, the individual is less knowable than the species to which it belongs; this is because the individual is a concrete whole, a combination of form and matter; and only the formal element is constant and definable, and therefore knowable. Hence he often identifies substance with the form or essence of a thing; and this seems to be the outcome of his long and careful discussion in Book 7 of the ‘Metaphysics’. He has been accused of notShow MoreRelatedForm and Matter in Aristotle Essay1585 Words   |  7 Pages Aristotle defined nature â€Å"as an internal origin of change or stability†1. Natural substances are things such as animals, plan ts and inanimate matter like earth, water, fire and air. Each natural substance according to Aristotle has its own nature, which is what gives rise to its natural behaviour/characteristic. The nature of a natural substance is its inner principle/source of change.2 Therefore natural substances are capable of motion i.e. growing, gaining qualities, losing them and lastlyRead MoreEssay on St. Thomas Aquinas’ On Being and Essence1002 Words   |  5 Pagesfound in composite substances. â€Å"Form and matter are found in composite substances, as for example soul and body in man. But it cannot be said that either one of these alone is called the essence.’ Aquinas argues that in a composite substance, not only is the form but also matter in the essence of a thing. However, in Metaphysics, Aristotle says that essence is in the form, which acts upon matter. He writes, â€Å"The form or the thing as having form should be said to be thing, but matter by itself must neverRead MoreEssay about Aristotle vs Plato1665 Words   |  7 Pages Aristotle is considered by many to be one of the most influential philosophers in history. As a student of Plato, he built on his mentor’s metaphysical teachings of things like The Th eory of Forms and his views on the soul. However, he also challenged them, introducing his own metaphysical ideas such as act and potency, hylemorphism, and the four causes. He used these ideas to explain his account of the soul and the immateriality of intellect. Prior to Aristotle, philosophers likeRead MoreDistinctions and Comparisons between Aristotle and Plato Essay1681 Words   |  7 PagesThe ideas introduced by Plato on the theory of forms, where deducted and critiqued by Aristotle. Both philosophers can be viewed as having opposing ideologies. Nonetheless, Plato and Aristotle are in agreement on certain factors of their philosophy. Many have scrutinized and compared the dissimilarities and similarities of Aristotles doctrine of categories and Platos theory of forms. The observations found are of an interesting nature. The beauty behind the writings of Plato is to not acceptRead MoreMetaphysics Essay example1838 Words   |  8 Pagesis concerned with beings as such. According to Aristotle, there is no such thing as mere being; to be is always to be a substance or object, a quantity, a quality, or a member of some other basic category. I. Substance and Accidents Substance is the primary mode of being according to Aristotle. The world is not one of atoms or particles, even though they have a place in the world. The basic notion of Aristotles logic reflects a distinction in the way reality is structured and reflects theRead MoreConceptions of the Soul Essay1161 Words   |  5 PagesPlato (in Phaedo) and Aristotle (in De Anima) present two fundamentally different conceptions of the soul. Through an analysis of their frameworks and genre, and whether their methods are plausible, it can be concluded that Aristotles formulation of the soul is more compelling than that of Plato. According to Plato, the body and the soul are separate entities. The soul is capable of existing before life of the body and after death of the body and it is constant, unchanging and non-physicalRead MorePlato s Theory Of Life And Life Essay1786 Words   |  8 Pagesperpetual and so then it must be pre existent before birth and existent post death. Now for Aristotle in De Anima, he explores what the soul really is by making the distinction between matter and form, and this is called hylomorphism. He uses hylomorphism as a defense to claim that observable objects cannot be described by their material components, but must be explained by their natural foundations and Aristotle believes that the soul is a particular kind of natural element to life, specifically itRead MorePlato s Theory Of Forms1629 Words   |  7 Pagesdiscussion in Phaedo and criticized in Parmenides and Timaeus thereafter. (These works will be further discussed later throughout the essay.) Plato’s theory of Forms, (sometimes referred to as the theory of Ideas) states basically: that which is made of matter and can be physically perceived by a human through one of his five senses does not represent true reality. The realm of ideas and abstract thought is in fact the ideal representation of reality. (When used in this manner, the first letter of formRead MoreThe Body And Soul Essay882 Words   |  4 Pagesthinks that the soul must be thought as the form of the man. There is much debate between philosophers on how the body and soul exist amongst each other. Aquinas believes that the soul is in the body, however it is not contained by it but rather containing it. To elaborate on this, Aquinas believes that the soul is not a substance in a living human because it is not a complete thing. In other words, the soul is matter. Therefore, in a living human, the soul must exist in the body. This means that theRead MoreKant vs Aristotle1314 Words   |  6 PagesThinking Philosophical Inquiry Section ON22 Erich Grunder Jim Cook 3/2/2007 During the 17th and 18th century two philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, arose carving for themselves a trench in the philosophical world. We can see the biggest distinction between the two in their theories of how we know things exist. The traditions of Plato and Aristotle have been dubbed rationalism and empiricism respectively. Under these traditions many well known philosophers have formed their own theories of