Aristotle: on Becoming
How did this comic come to be?
This article is a look behind the scenes of the making of my book Philosophy, and invites readers to consider purchasing their own copy through the current crowdfunding.
One of the early chapters is about the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) who philosophized about almost everything!
One of his philosophies is about the idea of BEING versus BECOMING… which is a great opportunity to take a look at the process of how this comic came into being.
This is the original of the page on BECOMING:
It’s in Dutch, with pencil and fineliner on heavy A4 paper, before digital coloring and lettering. I’m selling this and other selected originals through my crowdfunding for $250.
This particular page is a good example of how I work:
Before even drawing, I tend to jot down notes in the margins.
In this case, I noted:
Change is the transition from potential (dynamis) to act (entelecheia, a form of perfection).
4 questions:
what has changed?
who/what caused change?
how did change happen?
with what goal → 4 causes: material / moving / formal / final
And:
causa finalis ( = τέλος?)
Goal of the cosmos = evolving towards ever greater perfection
man = part of cosmos
(God = first unmoved mover, ultimate cause of all being + becoming)
Not all of this found its way into the comic. That’s a lot of abstract words that would need more words to explain - and the strength of a comic should be that it draws people in with visuals.
I chose to “break” the page with a small discussion between me and my husband:
Me: What an optimistic thought!
But what about death and decay…? Murder? War? Natural disasters? Are those ‘changes towards perfection’…?
Yiri: Maybe Aristotle didn’t know much misery… OR he saw things in a wider perspective: that everything develops eventually towards a higher plane…
And then I decided to swap roles between my husband and me, so I redrew figures in the bottom of the page, which were later put in place on the computer:
And this is the result:
I hope you enjoyed this look into the ‘becoming’ of my graphic novel, whose obvious τέλος it is to entertain & enlighten, and find a place into your home!
When you buy this original page, I will sign it and send it to you with a print of the colored result.
