Aristotle’s Interactionism and Its Transformations by Some 20th Century Writers

Abstract

The thought of Aristotle as probably the first philosopher who put all of his thinking into the context of the organism-environment relation is examined with respect to generation and growth, initiation and direction of behavior, the higher capacities of sensation and thought, and man’s interaction with his social environment. This is followed with a consideration of the “sociological metaphysics” of Alfred North Whitehead in which the universe is conceived as primarily a society. Finally, brief consideration is given to Buber’s philosophy of the “between,” considered here to be the highest expression of “contextual interactionism.”