Moreover, in things in which there is an end, the prior and successive things are done for the sake of this. As a thing acts, therefore, so it is naturally apt [to act]; and as it is naturally apt [to act], so each thing acts, unless something impedes it. But it acts for the sake of something, so it is also naturally apt to act for the sake of something. For example, if a house were among the things which come to be by nature, it would come to be as it does now by art. If, on the other hand, things which come to be by nature could come to be not only by nature but also by art, they would come to be in a way in which they are naturally apt to. So one thing is for the sake of another.
- Aristotle Physics, or Natural Hearing book 2 chapter 8
And so, we come to the final installment of a series examining our country’s founding mythologies, a divergence into a discussion of gods, their shiny neo-pagan temples, and whether we’re reasonable for not being a gaggle of materialists.
Time to tie it together and violently put the boat ashore.
In our days, we need to rebuild institutions.
Whether it is best to reform them, abandon them, or wage war against them I leave to individual prudence and cases.
But, as they stand, they rarely serve their stated purpose. Most, instead, serve malicious or nefarious ends, breeding vicious human behavior, by vicious gods, served by vicious people.
But, that is not always apparent if one takes things at face value.
Or the people that work there, who know not whom they serve.
Instead, the whole point of the exploration is to point, repeatedly and with a sword, that one must look to end results, and end results only to determine the true cause and purpose of institutions.
As Aristotle says, this is true of things that occur by nature, or by art. That is, by anything deliberately made by man.
So, all things come under this rule:
They act towards the ends for which they exist.
Their actions are for the sake of that end.
If we are to avoid evil, both doing it and having it done to us, we must avoid those which act regularly in such manners, no matter what they say.
If we are to rebuild or create a new, we must diligently police ourselves to make sure we act in and towards the ends we desire.
Lest the gods come in and take what we have made, and twist it to their own ends.
For they can not create on their own, and have a hatred of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth.
Defend what is yours.
And, where ever your journey takes you….
Make sure it ends with you standing on solid ground, victorious over the enemies behind you.
Destroying any within or before you.
That we barbarians might build anew for our families.
And since arts make the material, some making it simply and some making it workable, and we use all existing things as if they were for our sake (for we are somehow an end, for that for the sake of which is two fold, as was said in the works of philosophy), there are two arts which govern and know material, the one using it and the one directive of the art of making it usable. Whence, the one using it is also somehow directive, but the arts differ insofar as one, the directive, knows the species, but the one as making knows the material. For the pilot knows and prescribes what sort the species of the rudder is, but the other artist knows from what sort of timber and from what motions the rudder will be. In things according to art, then, we make the material for the sake of the work, but in natural things it is already present.
- Aristotle Physics, or Natural Hearing book 2 chapter 2