Biography:

Aristotle (Stagira, Macedonia, 384 BC Chalicis, Euboea, Greece, 7 March 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher. He was one of the most important philosophers in the history of [3] Western civilization. It is said that Aristotle wrote many books, but only a much smaller number survive. Aristotle was the boyhood tutor of Alexander the Great, who later sent him plants and animals from parts of his new empire.
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Life

Aristotle's father Nicomachus, was the doctor of King Amyntas of Macedonia. From his eighteenth to his [4] thirty-seventh year, Aristotle lived in Athens, as a metic and student of Plato. At about the age of eighteen, he went to Athens to continue his education at Plato's Academy. Aristotle remained at the academy for nearly twenty years, not leaving until after Plato's death in 347 BC. He then traveled with Xenocrates to Asia Minor. While in Asia, Aristotle traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Soon after Hermias' death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander the Great in 343 B.C. Near the end of Alexander's life, he began to suspect plots, and threatened Aristotle in letters. Aristotle had made no secret of his contempt for Alexander's pretense of divinity, and the king had executed Aristotle's grandnephew Callisthenes as a traitor. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 without ever having returned to his native land. Upon Alexander's death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens once again flared up, and Aristotle fled the city. However, he died in Euboea of natural causes within the year, 322 BC.

Career

Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave lessons not only to Alexander, but also to two other future kings: Ptolemy and Cassander. Aristotle encouraged [6] Alexander toward eastern conquest, and his attitude towards Persia was ethnocentric. In one famous example, he advises Alexander to be 'a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after [7]p58 the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants'.

By 335 BC he had returned to Athens, establishing his own school there known as the Lyceum. Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next twelve years. It is during this period in Athens from 335 to [5] 323 when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his works. Aristotle wrote many dialogues, only fragments of which survived. The works that have survived are in fairly rough form. They are [8] generally thought to be lecture notes for his students. Aristotle's combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek knowledge. It has been suggested [9] that Aristotle was probably the last person to know everything there was to be known in his own time.

The works are traditionally listed in this sequence:

Logic 1. Categories (terms) 2. On Interpretation (propositions, truth) 3. Prior Analytics (syllogistic logic) 4. Posterior Analytics (scientific method) 5. Topics (rules for argument and debate) 6. On Sophistical Refutations (fallacies) The study of nature 1. Physics (change, motion, void, time) 2. On the Heavens (structure of heaven, earth, elements) 3. On Generation and Corruption 4. Meteorology (origin of comets, weather, disasters) The Parva Naturalia (psychological works) 1. Sense and sensibilia (faculties, senses, mind, imagination) 2. On Memory, 3. Sleep, Dreams, and Prophesy 4. Length of life Works on natural history 1. History of Animals

2. On the parts of Animals 3. On the Movement of Animals 4. On the Progression of Animals 5. On the Generation of Animals 6. Problems Philosophical works 1. Metaphysics (substance, cause, form, potentiality) 2. Nicomachean Ethics (soul, happiness, virtue, friendship) 3. Eudemian Ethics, virtues & vices 4. Politics (best states, utopias) 5. Rhetoric (debate) 6. Poetics (tragedy, epic poetry) The Constitution of the Athenians Fragments

Studies

The three greatest ancient Greek philosophers were Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Socrates taught Plato, then Plato taught Aristotle. These three thinkers turned early Greek philosophy into the beginnings [10] of Western philosophy as it is today. Aristotle taught Alexander the Great, who later conquered the entire Middle East. Plato's main ideas were that knowledge from the senses was always confused and not pure. True knowledge can be gotten from the thinking soul that turns away from the world. Only the soul can have knowledge of "Forms", the real way things are. The world is only a copy of these "Forms" and is not perfect. Aristotle thought differently. He thought that knowledge from the senses was more important. These [11] thoughts became some of the roots of the scientific method after hundreds of years. Most of the things Aristotle wrote that we still have today are notes from his speaking and teaching. Some of his important writings are Physics, Metaphysics, (Nicomachean) Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul), and Poetics. He also had problems with the atomic theory. He did not believe in Democritus' theories about the atomic theory. He believed that all matter was continuous whereas Democritus stated the all matter was made up of tiny indivisible things called "atoms". Democritus was proved right by physicist John Dalton in 1804. Aristotle also wrote about logic. Aristotle is the father of logic. Logic is a type of thought that allows us to decide whether an idea is true or false. Still today, Aristotle's ideas on logic have influence across the world.