Aristotle - Ancient History Encyclopedia Aristotle by Joshua J. Mark published on 02 September 2009 Aristotle of Stagira was a Greek philosopher who pioneered systematic, scientific examination in literally every area of human knowledge and was known, in his time, as "the man who knew everything", and, later, as "The Philosopher" (so named by Aquinas who felt one needed no other). In the European Middle Ages he is referred to as "The Master" in Dante's Inferno. All of these epithets are apt in that Aristotle wrote on, and was considered a master in, disciplines as diverse as biology, politics, metaphysics, agriculture, literature , botany, medicine, mathematics, physics, ethics, logic, and the theatre. He is traditionally linked in sequence with Socrates and Plato in the triad of the three greatest Greek philosophers. Aristotle was born in 384 BCE in Stagira, Greece , on the border of Macedonia. His father, Nichomachus, was the court physician to the Macedonian king and died when Aristotle was ten years old.

His uncle assumed guardianship of the boy and, as a teenager, Aristotle was sent to Athens to study at Plato's Academy where he remained for the next 20 years. He was an exceptional student, graduated early, and was awarded a position on the faculty teaching rhetoric and dialogue. It appears that Aristotle thought he would take over the Academy after Plato's death and, when that position was given to Plato's nephew Speusippus, Aristotle left Athens to conduct experiments and study on his own in the islands of the Greek Archipelago. Aristotle's writings, like Plato's, have influenced virtually every avenue of human knowledge pursued in the west and the east. In 343 BCE Aristotle was summoned by King Philip II of Macedonia to tutor his son Alexander (who, of course, would become Alexander the Great ) and held this post for the next seven years, until Alexander ascended to the throne and began his famous conquests. The two men remained in contact through letters, and Aristotle's influence on the conqueror can be seen in the latter's skillful and diplomatic handling of difficult political problems throughout his career.

Alexander's habit of carrying books with him on campaign and his wide reading have been attributed to Aristotle's influence as has Alexander's appreciation for art and culture. Aristotle returned to Athens to set up his own school, The Lyceum, a rival to Plato's Academy. Aristotle was a Teleologist, an individual who believes in `end causes' and final purposes in life, and believed these `final purposes' could be ascertained from observation of the known world. Plato, who also dealt with final causes, considered them more idealistically and believed they could be known through apprehension of a higher, invisible, plane of truth he called the `Realm of Forms'. Aristotle could never accept Plato's Theory of Forms nor did he believe in positing the unseen as an explanation for the observable world when one could work from what one could see backward toward a First Cause. While Plato claimed that intellectual concepts of the Truth could not be gained from experience, Aristotle claimed that they could be and taught these precepts to his students at the Lyceum.

Aristotle's habit of walking back and forth as he taught earned the Lyceum the name of the Peripatetic School (from the Greek word for walking around, peripatetikos). His favorite student at the school was Theophrastus who would succeed Aristotle as leader of the Lyceum. Aristotle | Biography, Philosophy and Facts Contact Aristotle Aristotle was born on 384 BCE; he is a famous Greek philosopher and polymath. Aristotle was the student Plato and went on to become the teacher of Alexander the Great. The works of Aristotle cover various subjects ranging from: logic, music, theater, metaphysics, physics, poetry, politics, biology, ethics, government, linguistics, and zoology. He is known as the founding figures of Western philosophy. It was Aristotle’s writing that created a comprehensive system of Western philosophy which included various topics such as morality, aesthetics, logic, science, metaphysics, and politics. Medieval scholarship was profoundly formed from the views that he contributed in regards to physical sciences. Aristotle was born in Stagira, Chalcidice around the time of 384 BCE.

His father, Nicomachus, was a personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Very little information is found by historian on the childhood that was spent by Aristotle. However, it is hypothesized that he spent some of time in the palace of Macedonia. By the age of eighteen he had travelled to Athens in order to continue his education at Plato’s Academy. Aristotle attended the academy for twenty years before leaving Athens around 348 BCE. After the death of Plato, Aristotle felt that there was increased tension and anti-Macedonian sentiments within the Academy. Therefore, Aristotle and Xenocrates travelled to the court of their friend Hermias of Atarneus who was situated in Asia Minor. While spending time in Asia Minor, Aristotle travelled the island of Lesbos where he researched botany and zoology of the island. During this time he married Hermias’s niece, who was considered the adotive daughter Pythias. After the death of the Hermias in 343 B.C., Aristotle had been invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor of his son Alexander. It was during this time that he was appointed as the head of the royal academy located in Macedon.

Lessons were not just given to Alexander, but to two other future kings who included Ptolemy and Cassanger. Aristotle returned to Athens on 335 BCE where he established a school known as Lyceum. For the next twelve years, Aristotle was the one that conducted courses in the established school. During this time period of 335 BCE and 323 BCE, it is believed by many historians that Aristotle began to compose a majority of his works. Most of the surviving works are in the form of treatise and they include some of the most important and influential work of modern western philosophy. The list of works include: Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, de Anima, and Peotics. Aristotle studied almost all the subjects that were available during that time and also contributed significantly to those fields. They include: anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geology, meteorology, physics, zoology, and geography. He contributed to philosophical writings in aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology, rhetoric, and even theology. It is Aristotle’s combined works that compose the virtual encyclopedia Greek knowledge.

Once again, anti-Macedonian sentiments as arose in Athens after the death of Alexander the Great. This forced Aristotle to flee the city to his mother’s home in Chalcis. Aristotle died in 322 BCE in Eubeo of natural causes. He left the chief executor his former student Antipater. The will left by Aristotle stated that he wanted to be buried right next to his wife. Aristotle Timeline - Ancient History Encyclopedia Aristotle Timeline Aristotle claims that the institution of ostracism is introduced in Athens under Cleisthenes. 427 BCE Plato is born at Athens , Greece . 403 BCE Plato turns away from politics toward philosophy . 399 BCE Trial and death of the philosopher Socrates , who taught in the court of the Agora . 384 BCE Birth of the philosopher Aristotle , tutor to Alexander the Great, in Stagira ( Greece ). 384 BCE - 322 BCE Aristotle begins studies in Athens at Plato's Academy. 347 BCE Aristotle leaves Athens after Plato's death to pursue his own line of inquiry. 343 BCE King Philip II of Macedon summons Aristotle to tutor his young son Alexander (later 'The Great').

343 BCE Aristotle becomes tutor of young Alexander . 335 BCE Aristotle returns to Athens to set up his school, the Lyceum. 323 BCE Aristotle leaves Athens following the death of Alexander the Great. 322 BCE Aristotle dies in Euboea of natural causes. Visual Timeline To navigate the timeline, click and drag it with your mouse, or click on the timeline overview on the bottom. Legend: States & Territories War(fare) & Battles 510 BCE 500 BCE 490 BCE 480 BCE 470 BCE 460 BCE 450 BCE 440 BCE 430 BCE 420 BCE 410 BCE 400 BCE 390 BCE 380 BCE 370 BCE 360 BCE 350 BCE 340 BCE 330 BCE 508 BCE: Aristotle claims that the institution of ostracism is introduced in Athens under Cleisthenes. 427 BCE: Plato is born at Athens, Greece. 403 BCE: Plato turns away from politics toward philosophy.

399 BCE: Trial and death of the philosopher Socrates, who taught in the court of the Agora. 384 BCE: Birth of the philosopher Aristotle, tutor to Alexander the Great, in Stagira (Greece). 384 BCE - 322 BCE: Life of Aristotle. 367 BCE: Aristotle begins studies in Athens at Plato's Academy. 347 BCE: Aristotle leaves Athens after Plato's death to pursue his own line of inquiry. 343 BCE: King Philip II of Macedon summons Aristotle to tutor his young son Alexander (later 'The Great'). 343 BCE: Aristotle becomes tutor of young Alexander. 335 BCE: Aristotle returns to Athens to set up his school, the Lyceum. 323 BCE: Aristotle leaves Athens following the death of Alexander the Great. 322 BCE: Aristotle dies in Euboea of natural causes. Aristotle - Philosopher - Biography.com Philosopher Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, together with Socrates and Plato, laid much of the groundwork for western philosophy.

IN THESE GROUPS “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” “All men by nature desire knowledge.” “A friend to all is a friend to none.” Aristotle Synopsis Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, Greece. When he turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and writing. Aristotle died in 322 B.C., after he left Athens and fled to Chalcis. Aristotle - Mini Biography (TV-14; 3:02) Learn more about the life of Greek philosopher Aristotle, whose work profoundly influenced the modern scientific method, in this mini biography. Early Life Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, a small town on the northern coast of Greece that was once a seaport. Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the Macedonian king Amyntas II.

Although Nicomachus died when Aristotle was just a young boy, Aristotle remained closely affiliated with and influenced by the Macedonian court for the rest of his life. Little is known about his mother, Phaestis; she is also believed to have died when Aristotle was young. After Aristotle’s father died, Proxenus of Atarneus, who was married to Aristotle’s older sister, Arimneste, became Aristotle’s guardian until he came of age. When Aristotle turned 17, Proxenus sent him to Athens to pursue a higher education. At the time, Athens was considered the academic center of the universe. In Athens, Aristotle enrolled in Plato ’s Academy, Greek’s premier learning institution, and proved an exemplary scholar. Aristotle maintained a relationship with Greek philosopher Plato, himself a student of Socrates , and his academy for two decades. Plato died in 347 B.C. Because Aristotle had disagreed with some of Plato’s philosophical treatises, Aristotle did not inherit the position of director of the academy, as many imagined he would. After Plato died, Aristotle’s friend Hermias, king of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, invited Aristotle to court.

During his three-year stay in Mysia, Aristotle met and married his first wife, Pythias, Hermias’ niece. Together, the couple had a daughter, Pythias, named after her mother. Teaching In 338 B.C., Aristotle went home to Macedonia to start tutoring King Phillip II’s son, the then 13-year-old Alexander the Great. Phillip and Alexander both held Aristotle in high esteem and ensured that the Macedonia court generously compensated him for his work. In 335 B.C., after Alexander had succeeded his father as king and conquered Athens, Aristotle went back to the city. In Athens, Plato’s Academy, now run by Xenocrates, was still the leading influence on Greek thought. With Alexander’s permission, Aristotle started his own school in Athens, called the Lyceum. On and off, Aristotle spent most of the remainder of his life working as a teacher, researcher and writer at the Lyceum in Athens until the death of his former student Alexander the Great.

Because Aristotle was known to walk around the school grounds while teaching, his students, forced to follow him, were nicknamed the “Peripatetics,” meaning “people who travel about.” Lyceum members researched subjects ranging from science and math to philosophy and politics, and nearly everything in between. Art was also a popular area of interest. Members of the Lyceum wrote up their findings in manuscripts. In so doing, they built the school’s massive collection of written materials, which by ancient accounts was credited as one of the first great libraries. In the same year that Aristotle opened the Lyceum, his wife Pythias died. Soon after, Aristotle embarked on a romance with a woman named Herpyllis, who hailed from his hometown of Stagira. According to some historians, Herpyllis may have been Aristotle’s slave, granted to him by the Macedonia court. They presume that he eventually freed and married her. Regardless, it is known that Herpyllis bore Aristotle children, including one son named Nicomachus, after Aristotle’s father. Aristotle is believed to have named his famed philosophical work Nicomachean Ethics in tribute to his son.

When Alexander the Great died suddenly in 323 B.C., the pro-Macedonian government was overthrown, and in light of anti-Macedonia sentiment, Aristotle was charged with impiety for his association with his former student and the Macedonian court. To avoid being prosecuted and executed, he left Athens and fled to Chalcis on the island of Euboea, where he would remain until his death a year later. Science Although Aristotle was not technically a scientist by today’s definitions, science was among the subjects that he researched at length during his time at the Lyceum. Aristotle believed that knowledge could be obtained through interacting with physical objects. He concluded that objects were made up of a potential that circumstances then manipulated to determine the object’s outcome. He also recognized that human interpretation and personal associations played a role in our understanding of those objects. Aristotle’s research in the sciences included a study of biology. He attempted, with some error, to classify animals into genera based on their similar characteristics. He further classified animals into species based on those that had red blood and those that did not. The animals with red blood were mostly vertebrates, while the “bloodless” animals were labeled cephalopods.

Despite the relative inaccuracy of his hypothesis, Aristotle’s classification was regarded as the standard system for hundreds of years. Marine biology was also an area of fascination for Aristotle. Through dissection, he closely examined the anatomy of marine creatures. In contrast to his biological classifications, his observations of marine life, as expressed in his books, are considerably more accurate. As evidenced in his treatise Meteorology, Aristotle also dabbled in the earth sciences. By meteorology, Aristotle didn’t simply mean the study of weather. His more expansive definition of meteorology included “all the affectations we may call common to air and water, and the kinds and parts of the earth and the affectations of its parts.” In Meteorology, Aristotle identified the water cycle and discussed topics ranging from natural disasters to astrological events. Although many of his views on the Earth were controversial at the time, they were readopted and popularized during the late Middle Ages. Philosophy One of the main focuses of Aristotle’s philosophy was his systematic concept of logic. Aristotle’s objective was to come up with a universal process of reasoning that would allow man to learn every conceivable thing about reality. The initial process involved describing objects based on their characteristics, states of being and actions.

In his philosophical treatises, Aristotle also discussed how man might next obtain information about objects through deduction and inference. To Aristotle, a deduction was a reasonable argument in which “when certain things are laid down, something else follows out of necessity in virtue of their being so.” His theory of deduction is the basis of what philosophers now call a syllogism, a logical argument where the conclusion is inferred from two or more other premises of a certain form. In his book Prior Analytics, Aristotle explains the syllogism as “a discourse in which, certain things having been supposed, something different from the things supposed results of necessity because these things are so.” Aristotle defined the main components of reasoning in terms of inclusive and exclusive relationships. These sorts of relationships were visually grafted in the future through the use of Venn diagrams. Aristotle’s philosophy not only provided man with a system of reasoning, but also touched upon ethics. In Nichomachean Ethics, he prescribed a moral code of conduct for what he called “good living.” He asserted that good living to some degree defied the more restrictive laws of logic, since the real world poses circumstances that can present a conflict of personal values.

That said, it was up to the individual to reason cautiously while developing his or her own judgment. Major Writings Aristotle wrote an estimated 200 works, most in the form of notes and manuscript drafts. They consist of dialogues, records of scientific observations and systematic works. His student Theophrastus reportedly looked after Aristotle’s writings and later passed them to his own student Neleus, who stored them in a vault to protect them from moisture until they were taken to Rome and used by scholars there. Of Aristotle’s estimated 200 works, only 31 are still in circulation. Most date to Aristotle’s time at the Lyceum. Aristotle’s major writings on logic include Categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics and Posterior Analytics. In them, he discusses his system for reasoning and for developing sound arguments. Aristotle’s written work also discussed the topics of matter and form. In his book Metaphysics, he clarified the distinction between the two. To Aristotle, matter was the physical substance of things, while form was the unique nature of a thing that gave it its identity.

Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics are Aristotle’s major treatises on the behavior and judgment that constitute “good living.” In Politics, Aristotle examined human behavior in the context of society and government. Aristotle also composed a number of works on the arts, including Rhetoric, and science, including On the Heavens, which was followed by On the Soul, in which Aristotle moves from discussing astronomy to examining human psychology. Aristotle’s writings about how people perceive the world continue to underlie many principles of modern psychology. Death and Legacy In 322 B.C., just a year after he fled to Chalcis to escape prosecution under charges of impiety, Aristotle contracted a disease of the digestive organs and died. In the century following his passing, his works fell out of use, but were revived during the first century. Over time, they came to lay the foundation of more than seven centuries of philosophy. Solely regarding his influence on philosophy, Aristotle’s work influenced ideas from late antiquity all the way through the Renaissance. Aristotle’s influence on Western thought in the humanities and social sciences is largely considered unparalleled, with the exception of his teacher Plato’s contributions, and Plato’s teacher Socrates before him.

The two-millennia-strong academic practice of interpreting and debating Aristotle’s philosophical works continues to endure. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information Generation of Animals - Aristotle - Google Books Generation of Animals 0 Reviews Aristotle, great Greek philosopher, researcher, reasoner, and writer, born at Stagirus in 384 BCE, was the son of Nicomachus, a physician, and Phaestis. He studied under Plato at Athens and taught there (367�e"47); subsequently he spent three years at the court of a former pupil, Hermeias, in Asia Minor and at this time married Pythias, one of Hermeias�e(tm)s relations. After some time at Mitylene, in 343�e"2 he was appointed by King Philip of Macedon to be tutor of his teen-aged son Alexander. After Philip�e(tm)s death in 336, Aristotle became head of his own school (of �eoePeripatetics�e ), the Lyceum at Athens.

Because of anti-Macedonian feeling there after Alexander�e(tm)s death in 323, he withdrew to Chalcis in Euboea, where he died in 322.Nearly all the works Aristotle prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as follows:I. Practical: Nicomachean Ethics; Great Ethics (Magna Moralia); Eudemian Ethics; Politics; Oeconomica (on the good of the family); Virtues and Vices. II. Logical: Categories; On Interpretation; Analytics (Prior and Posterior); On Sophistical Refutations; Topica. III. Physical: Twenty-six works (some suspect) including astronomy, generation and destruction, the senses, memory, sleep, dreams, life, facts about animals, etc. IV. Metaphysics: on being as being. V. On Art: Art of Rhetoric and Poetics. VI. Other works including the Athenian Constitution; more works also of doubtful authorship. VII.

Fragments of various works such as dialogues on philosophy and literature; and of treatises on rhetoric, politics and metaphysics.The Loeb Classical Library® edition of Aristotle is in twenty-three volumes. From inside the book What people are saying - Write a review We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.

Contents View all » Common terms and phrases aither Anaxagoras animals appev Aristotle Aristotle's avro avrov avrwv birds blood body cause concoction copulation creatures Crustacea Democritus dppev drjXv dXXa dXXd e^ei eariv eggs elvai embryo Empedocles eoriv etvai evros f>voiv fetation fiev fishes formed hair heat Hippocrates Introd irepl irpos Kal ra Kal tov Kal yap Kara larvae male and female movement nature necessity nepl nourishment npos offspring olov orav otov ovdev oviparous ovra ovre p,ev p.ev p.ev ovv p.ev yap p.kv passage Piatt plants pneuma principle produce quadrupeds ravra rcov reason residue rfjs rols rots rovro rr)v rrepl rrjs rrjv rrpos semen Soul substance tcov things tion toiovtov tois tols tov dppevos tovto toZs Trjs Trjv tt)v ttjv ttoXv uterus viviparous vulg vypov wairep yevos yiverai About the author (1953) Aristotle

, 384 B.C.

- 322 B. C. Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Macedonia, in 384 B.C. At the age of 17, he went to Athens to study at Plato's Academy, where he remained for about 20 years, as a student and then as a teacher. When Plato died in 347 B.C., Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, where a friend of his, Hermias, was ruler. After Hermias was captured and executed by the Persians in 345 B.C., Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where he became the tutor of the king's young son Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great. In 335, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum Aristotle's works were lost in the West after the decline of Rome, but during the 9th Century A.D., Arab scholars introduced Aristotle, in Arabic translation, to the Islamic world. In the 13th Century, the Latin West renewed its interest in Aristotle's work, and Saint Thomas Aquinas found in it a philosophical foundation for Christian thought.

The influence of Aristotle's philosophy has been pervasive; it has even helped to shape modern language and common sense. Aristotle died in 322 B.C. Aristotle | Greek philosopher | Britannica.com Greek philosopher Plato Aristotle, Greek Aristoteles (born 384 bce, Stagira, Chalcidice , Greece —died 322, Chalcis , Euboea ), ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, one of the greatest intellectual figures of Western history. He was the author of a philosophical and scientific system that became the framework and vehicle for both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy . Even after the intellectual revolutions of the Renaissance , the Reformation , and the Enlightenment , Aristotelian concepts remained embedded in Western thinking . Aristotle, marble portrait bust, Roman copy (2nd century bc) of a Greek original (c. 325 … A.

Dagli Orti/© DeA Picture Library Aristotle’s intellectual range was vast, covering most of the sciences and many of the arts, including biology , botany , chemistry, ethics , history, logic , metaphysics , rhetoric , philosophy of mind , philosophy of science , physics, poetics, political theory, psychology , and zoology . He was the founder of formal logic , devising for it a finished system that for centuries was regarded as the sum of the discipline; and he pioneered the study of zoology, both observational and theoretical, in which some of his work remained unsurpassed until the 19th century. But he is, of course, most outstanding as a philosopher. His writings in ethics and political theory as well as in metaphysics and the philosophy of science continue to be studied, and his work remains a powerful current in contemporary philosophical debate. Philosopher and educator Mortimer Adler discussing Aristotle’s writings on ethics, considering the … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. This article deals with Aristotle’s life and thought. For the later development of Aristotelian philosophy, see Aristotelianism . For treatment of Aristotelianism in the full context of Western philosophy, see philosophy, Western .

Life The Academy Aristotle was born on the Chalcidic peninsula of Macedonia, in northern Greece . His father, Nicomachus, was the physician of Amyntas III (reigned c. 393–c. 370 bce), king of Macedonia and grandfather of Alexander the Great (reigned 336–323 bce). After his father’s death in 367, Aristotle migrated to Athens , where he joined the Academy of Plato (c. 428–c. 348 bce). He remained there for 20 years as Plato’s pupil and colleague. Philosopher and educator Mortimer Adler discussing Aristotle’s writings on ethics, considering the … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Many of Plato’s later dialogues date from these decades, and they may reflect Aristotle’s contributions to philosophical debate at the Academy. Some of Aristotle’s writings also belong to this period, though mostly they survive only in fragments. Like his master, Aristotle wrote initially in dialogue form, and his early ideas show a strong Platonic influence.

His dialogue Eudemus , for example, reflects the Platonic view of the soul as imprisoned in the body and as capable of a happier life only when the body has been left behind. According to Aristotle, the dead are more blessed and happier than the living, and to die is to return to one’s real home. Britannica Stories Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales Another youthful work, the Protrepticus (“Exhortation”), has been reconstructed by modern scholars from quotations in various works from late antiquity. Everyone must do philosophy, Aristotle claims, because even arguing against the practice of philosophy is itself a form of philosophizing. The best form of philosophy is the contemplation of the universe of nature; it is for this purpose that God made human beings and gave them a godlike intellect. All else—strength, beauty, power, and honour—is worthless. It is possible that two of Aristotle’s surviving works on logic and disputation, the Topics and the Sophistical Refutations , belong to this early period. The former demonstrates how to construct arguments for a position one has already decided to adopt; the latter shows how to detect weaknesses in the arguments of others.

Although neither work amounts to a systematic treatise on formal logic, Aristotle can justly say, at the end of the Sophistical Refutations, that he has invented the discipline of logic—nothing at all existed when he started. What’s In a Name? Philosopher Edition During Aristotle’s residence at the Academy, King Philip II of Macedonia (reigned 359–336 bce) waged war on a number of Greek city-state s. The Athenians defended their independence only half-heartedly, and, after a series of humiliating concessions , they allowed Philip to become, by 338, master of the Greek world. It cannot have been an easy time to be a Macedonian resident in Athens. Within the Academy, however, relations seem to have remained cordial. Aristotle always acknowledged a great debt to Plato; he took a large part of his philosophical agenda from Plato, and his teaching is more often a modification than a repudiation of Plato’s doctrines. Already, however, Aristotle was beginning to distance himself from Plato’s theory of Forms, or Ideas (eidos; see form ).

(The word Form, when used to refer to Forms as Plato conceived them, is often capitalized in the scholarly literature; when used to refer to forms as Aristotle conceived them, it is conventionally lowercased.) Plato had held that, in addition to particular things, there exists a suprasensible realm of Forms, which are immutable and everlasting. This realm, he maintained, makes particular things intelligible by accounting for their common natures: a thing is a horse, for example, by virtue of the fact that it shares in, or imitates, the Form of “Horse.” In a lost work, On Ideas, Aristotle maintains that the arguments of Plato’s central dialogues establish only that there are, in addition to particulars, certain common objects of the sciences. In his surviving works as well, Aristotle often takes issue with the theory of Forms, sometimes politely and sometimes contemptuously. In his Metaphysics he argues that the theory fails to solve the problems it was meant to address. It does not confer intelligibility on particulars, because immutable and everlasting Forms cannot explain how particulars come into existence and undergo change.

All the theory does, according to Aristotle, is introduce new entities equal in number to the entities to be explained—as if one could solve a problem by doubling it. (See below Form .) Travels Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies When Plato died about 348, his nephew Speusippus became head of the Academy, and Aristotle left Athens. He migrated to Assus , a city on the northwestern coast of Anatolia (in present-day Turkey), where Hermias , a graduate of the Academy, was ruler. Aristotle became a close friend of Hermias and eventually married his ward Pythias. Aristotle helped Hermias to negotiate an alliance with Macedonia, which angered the Persian king, who had Hermias treacherously arrested and put to death about 341. Aristotle saluted Hermias’s memory in “ Ode to Virtue, ” his only surviving poem. While in Assus and during the subsequent few years when he lived in the city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos , Aristotle carried out extensive scientific research, particularly in zoology and marine biology.

This work was summarized in a book later known, misleadingly, as The History of Animals , to which Aristotle added two short treatises , On the Parts of Animals and On the Generation of Animals. Although Aristotle did not claim to have founded the science of zoology, his detailed observations of a wide variety of organisms were quite without precedent. He—or one of his research assistants—must have been gifted with remarkably acute eyesight, since some of the features of insects that he accurately reports were not again observed until the invention of the microscope in the 17th century. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest The scope of Aristotle’s scientific research is astonishing. Much of it is concerned with the classification of animals into genus and species; more than 500 species figure in his treatises, many of them described in detail. The myriad items of information about the anatomy, diet, habitat, modes of copulation, and reproductive systems of mammals, reptiles, fish, and insects are a melange of minute investigation and vestiges of superstition. In some cases his unlikely stories about rare species of fish were proved accurate many centuries later.

In other places he states clearly and fairly a biological problem that took millennia to solve, such as the nature of embryonic development. Despite an admixture of the fabulous, Aristotle’s biological works must be regarded as a stupendous achievement. His inquiries were conducted in a genuinely scientific spirit, and he was always ready to confess ignorance where evidence was insufficient. Whenever there is a conflict between theory and observation, one must trust observation, he insisted, and theories are to be trusted only if their results conform with the observed phenomena. In 343 or 342 Aristotle was summoned by Philip II to the Macedonian capital at Pella to act as tutor to Philip’s 13-year-old son, the future Alexander the Great. Little is known of the content of Aristotle’s instruction; although the Rhetoric to Alexander was included in the Aristotelian corpus for centuries, it is now commonly regarded as a forgery. By 326 Alexander had made himself master of an empire that stretched from the Danube to the Indus and included Libya and Egypt. Ancient sources report that during his campaigns Alexander arranged for biological specimens to be sent to his tutor from all parts of Greece and Asia Minor .

Page 1 of 7 KIDS PHILOSOPHY SLAM -Philosopher of the Week Philosopher of the Week. January 20th, 2003. Aristotle (384-322 BCE.) Greece Aristotle was born at Stagirius, a Greek colony on the coast of Thrace. His father was the court physician for the king of Macedonia. When he was 17, Aristotle was sent to Athens to study at Plato's Academy. He stayed at the Academy for 20 years both as a student and then as a teacher. After Plato died in 347, Aristotle left Athens, eventually ending up in Macedonia, where he became the tutor of Alexander (the Great), son of the Macedonian king. When Alexander became king in 335, Aristotle returned to Athens to establish his own school called the Lyceum. At the Lyceum, discussions were held while the teachers and students walked around the grounds of the school, earning it the name of the "peripatetic", or walking, school. Aristotle's philosophy stresses biology, instead of mathematics like Plato.

He believed the world was made up of individuals (substances) occurring in fixed natural kinds (species). Each individual has built-in patterns of development, which help it grow toward becoming a fully developed individual of its kind. Nature has built into each individual patterns for growth, purpose, and direction. To organize these patterns, Aristotle introduced the philosophic idea of causality. He believed that each thing or event has more than one "reason" that helps to explain what, why, and where it is. To Aristotle the four causes are: the material cause, what something is made out of; the efficient cause, the source of motion; the formal cause, the species, kind, or type; and the final cause, the full development of an individual or the intended function of an invention. For example, a young lion is made up of tissue and organs (material cause) by its parents who generated it (efficient cause). The formal cause is its species, lion; and its final cause is its instinct and drive to become a mature lion. Aristotle believed that all things could be better understood when its causes were stated in specific terms. He used his causal pattern to organize all knowledge.

Some of Aristotle's words of wisdom:  "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit."  "Dignity does not come in possessing honors, but in deserving them."  "Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime."  "Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice."  "It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen."  "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."  "We make war that we may live in peace."  "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."  "Man is by nature a political animal."  "Art completes what nature cannot bring to finish."  "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Classroom Discussion Questions: How would Aristotle, have answered the question, what is the meaning of life? Which side would Aristotle argue in the discussions about the possibility of war with Iraq? Why? Aristotle wrote extensively on both politics and ethics.

Did he think they could co-exist? Why or why not? Do you think that they can exist together? Why or why not? Plato, Aristotle's teacher, had envisioned an ideal society. How does Aristotle's ideal society differ from Plato's? How are they the same? What would Aristotle argue needs to be done in order to create a perfect society? How would you create a perfect society? Support your answer. To learn more about Aristotle, follow these links: Meteorologica - Aristotle - Google Books 0 Reviews Aristotle, great Greek philosopher, researcher, reasoner, and writer, born at Stagirus in 384 BCE, was the son of Nicomachus, a physician, and Phaestis. He studied under Plato at Athens and taught there (367�e"47); subsequently he spent three years at the court of a former pupil, Hermeias, in Asia Minor and at this time married Pythias, one of Hermeias�e(tm)s relations. After some time at Mitylene, in 343�e"2 he was appointed by King Philip of Macedon to be tutor of his teen-aged son Alexander.

After Philip�e(tm)s death in 336, Aristotle became head of his own school (of �eoePeripatetics�e ), the Lyceum at Athens. Because of anti-Macedonian feeling there after Alexander�e(tm)s death in 323, he withdrew to Chalcis in Euboea, where he died in 322.Nearly all the works Aristotle prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as follows:I. Practical: Nicomachean Ethics; Great Ethics (Magna Moralia); Eudemian Ethics; Politics; Oeconomica (on the good of the family); Virtues and Vices. II. Logical: Categories; On Interpretation; Analytics (Prior and Posterior); On Sophistical Refutations; Topica. III. Physical: Twenty-six works (some suspect) including astronomy, generation and destruction, the senses, memory, sleep, dreams, life, facts about animals, etc. IV. Metaphysics: on being as being. V. On Art: Art of Rhetoric and Poetics. VI.

Other works including the Athenian Constitution; more works also of doubtful authorship. VII. Fragments of various works such as dialogues on philosophy and literature; and of treatises on rhetoric, politics and metaphysics.The Loeb Classical Library® edition of Aristotle is in twenty-three volumes. From inside the book What people are saying - Write a review We haven't found any reviews in the usual places. Contents Copyright Common terms and phrases 8e Kal alrlav Anaxagoras argument continued Aristotle avro avrov avrrj avrwv bodies cause CHAPTER cloud cold colour comets condensation ddXarrav depos depp,ov Diels drro dXXd e^ei E. H.

Warmington eariv earlv earth earthquakes eKaarov elprjrai elvai errl evros exhalation f>alverai f>vais fire firewinds Fobes heat homoeomerous Kaddrrep Kal rrepl Kal tov Kara Karw KvKXov Lake Maeotis Meteorologica moist moisture motion olov orav ovra ovre ovrws p,aXXov p,dXiara p,ev ovv p,ev yap p,kv p,ovov p,rj rain rainbow ravra rfjs yfjs rivers rjpov rporrov rr)v rrdvra rrdXiv rrjs rrjv rroiel rroXXdKis rrporepov rrpos rrvevp,a rrvp rrvpos rrXfjdos solidify SrjXov stars things Thurot tivos tols tottov tov rjXiov tovto tt)v ttjv Vols vSaros vSwp vypov W. R. M.

Lamb warrep wind yfjv ylyveadai ylyverai ylyvovrai yrjs About the author (1952) Other works by the renowned classical scholar, translator, and literary critic Francis Fergusson include "The Idea of a Theater: A Study of Ten Plays," "Sallies of the Mind: Essays," "Trope and Allegory: Themes Common to Dante and Shakespeare," and "Dante's Drama of the Mind: A Modern Reading of the "Purgatorio. Translator and scholar S. H. Butcher served as editor for the Dover Thift Edition of the "Poetics," as well as for the "Orationes, Volume 1" by Demosthenes. Butcher is also the author of "Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art,"

Question: Born 384 BCE, which philosopher was a tutor to Alexander the Great?
Answer: Aristotle