Claim: Plato had a student named Aristotle.

Aristotle -LRB- -LSB- ˈærɪˌstɒtəl -RSB- Ἀριστοτέλης , -LSB- aristotélɛːs -RSB- , Aristotélēs ; 384 -- 322 BC -RRB- was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira , Chalkidice , on the northern periphery of Classical Greece . His father , Nicomachus , died when Aristotle was a child , whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian . At seventeen or eighteen years of age , he joined Plato 's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven -LRB- c. 347 BC -RRB- . His writings cover many subjects -- including physics , biology , zoology , metaphysics , logic , ethics , aesthetics , poetry , theater , music , rhetoric , linguistics , politics and government -- and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy . Shortly after Plato died , Aristotle left Athens and , at the request of Philip II of Macedon , tutored Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC .   Teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies . He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books . The fact that Aristotle was a pupil of Plato contributed to his former views of Platonism , but , following Plato 's death , Aristotle immersed himself in empirical studies and shifted from Platonism to empiricism . He believed all peoples ' concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception . Aristotle 's views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works .   Aristotle 's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship . Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance , and were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics . Some of Aristotle 's zoological observations , such as on the hectocotyl -LRB- reproductive -RRB- arm of the octopus , were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century . His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic , which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic .   In metaphysics , Aristotelianism profoundly influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophical and theological thought during the Middle Ages and continues to influence Christian theology , especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Roman Catholic Church . Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as `` The First Teacher '' -LRB- -LSB- -RRB- .   His ethics , though always influential , gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics . All aspects of Aristotle 's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today . Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues -- Cicero described his literary style as `` a river of gold '' -- it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived .