# Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

## Life and Background

- Born in **Stagira**, a city in northern Greece (Macedonia region)
- His father, **Nicomachus**, was a physician to the Macedonian king, which likely influenced Aristotle's interest in biology and empirical observation
- At age 17, he traveled to Athens and joined **Plato's Academy**, where he studied for about 20 years
- After Plato's death (347 BCE), he left Athens, possibly due to disagreement over leadership of the Academy
- He spent time in **Assos** and **Lesbos**, conducting biological research
- Was invited by **Philip II of Macedon** to tutor his son, the future **Alexander the Great** (around 343–335 BCE)
- Returned to Athens and founded his own school, the **Lyceum** (335 BCE)
- His followers were called **Peripatetics**, possibly because he taught while walking
- After Alexander the Great died (323 BCE), anti-Macedonian sentiment made Athens dangerous for him
- He fled to **Chalcis** in Euboea, reportedly saying he would not allow Athens to "sin twice against philosophy" (referencing Socrates' execution)
- Died in Chalcis in **322 BCE**

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## Works and Writings

Aristotle was enormously prolific. Many of his writings are lost; what survives are largely **lecture notes or teaching texts** rather than polished dialogues.

### Major surviving works include:

**Logic (Organon)**
- *Categories*
- *Prior Analytics*
- *Posterior Analytics*
- *On Interpretation*
- *Topics*
- *Sophistical Refutations*

**Natural Philosophy / Science**
- *Physics*
- *On the Heavens* (De Caelo)
- *On Generation and Corruption*
- *Meteorology*

**Biology**
- *History of Animals*
- *On the Parts of Animals*
- *On the Generation of Animals*
- *On the Movement of Animals*

**Psychology**
- *On the Soul* (De Anima)

**Metaphysics**
- *Metaphysics* (14 books)

**Ethics and Politics**
- *Nicomachean Ethics*
- *Eudemian Ethics*
- *Politics*
- *Constitution of Athens*

**Rhetoric and Aesthetics**
- *Rhetoric*
- *Poetics*

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## Philosophy and Thought

### **Logic**
- Aristotle essentially **invented formal logic**
- Developed the theory of the **syllogism** — a form of deductive reasoning (e.g., All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore Socrates is mortal)
- Distinguished between **deductive** and **inductive** reasoning
- His logical system dominated Western thought for nearly 2,000 years

### **Metaphysics**
- Coined the term (or had it applied to his work) "metaphysics" — the study of being as being
- Developed the concept of **substance** (*ousia*) as the fundamental category of reality
- Criticized Plato's **Theory of Forms**, arguing that universals don't exist independently but **within** particular things
- Introduced the idea of **hylomorphism** — everything is composed of **matter** (hyle) and **form** (morphe)
- Discussed the **Four Causes**:
  - **Material cause** – what something is made of
  - **Formal cause** – its structure or form
  - **Efficient cause** – the agent or process that brings it about
  - **Final cause** – its purpose or end (telos)
- Argued for an **Unmoved Mover** — a first cause of all motion that is itself unmoved, eternal, and purely actual (influential in later theology)
- Distinguished **actuality** from **potentiality**

### **Ethics**
- Major work: *Nicomachean Ethics*
- Central concept: **Eudaimonia** (often translated as happiness or flourishing) — the highest human good
- Argued ethics is not about following rules but about **developing character**
- Introduced **virtue ethics** — virtues are character traits that help us flourish
- Virtues are the **mean between extremes** (*Golden Mean*):
  - Courage is the mean between cowardice and recklessness
  - Generosity is the mean between miserliness and extravagance
- Distinguished **intellectual virtues** from **moral virtues**
- Emphasized the role of **habit** in developing virtue
- Believed humans are inherently **social/political animals**

### **Politics**
- *Politics* examines the city-state (polis) as the natural community for human flourishing
- Classified governments into:
  - **Good forms**: Monarchy, Aristocracy, Polity
  - **Corrupt forms**: Tyranny, Oligarchy, Democracy
- Favored a **mixed constitution** (Polity) as most stable
- Controversially defended **natural slavery** — some people are "naturally" suited to be slaves (widely criticized today)
- Believed women were naturally inferior to men (also widely rejected)

### **Natural Philosophy / Science**
- Advocated **empirical observation** as the basis of knowledge
- Classified and studied an enormous range of animals
- His biological work was remarkably detailed and accurate in many respects
- Believed the Earth was **spherical** and at the center of the universe
- Proposed a universe of **concentric spheres** carrying celestial bodies
- Distinguished **sublunary** (earthly, changeable) from **superlunary** (heavenly, perfect) realms
- Believed in **five elements**: earth, water, fire, air, and **aether** (for heavenly bodies)
- Rejected the **atomism** of Democritus

### **Psychology (On the Soul)**
- The soul (*psyche*) is the **form** of a living body — not a separate substance but what makes a body alive
- Identified three types of souls:
  - **Nutritive** (plants) – growth and reproduction
  - **Sensitive** (animals) – perception and desire
  - **Rational** (humans) – reason
- Discussed the **active intellect** (*nous*) — a mysterious aspect of reason that has been debated ever since
- Believed knowledge comes through **sense experience**

### **Rhetoric and Poetics**
- *Rhetoric* identifies three modes of persuasion:
  - **Ethos** – credibility of the speaker
  - **Pathos** – emotional appeal
  - **Logos** – logical argument
- *Poetics* analyzes literature and drama
  - Defined **tragedy** and its elements
  - Introduced the concept of **catharsis** — emotional purification through art
  - Discussed **mimesis** (imitation/representation) as the basis of art
  - Identified key elements of tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, spectacle

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## Relationship with Plato

- Plato was his teacher; Aristotle was sometimes called "the mind of the school"
- Plato reportedly called him "the reader" for his voracious appetite for books
- Their philosophies diverged significantly:
  - Plato believed in transcendent, eternal **Forms** as true reality
  - Aristotle believed **particular things** in the world are real; forms exist within things
- Famous image: Raphael's *School of Athens* shows Plato pointing upward (toward abstract forms) and Aristotle pointing downward (toward the concrete world)

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## Influence and Legacy

- Profoundly influenced **Islamic philosophy** — figures like **Averroes** (Ibn Rushd) and **Avicenna** (Ibn Sina) preserved and commented on his work
- **Thomas Aquinas** synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology in the 13th century — referred to Aristotle simply as "The Philosopher"
- His logic remained the standard in Western education until the 19th century
- His scientific works, though later proven wrong in many areas, shaped inquiry for nearly 2,000 years
- His ethical and political philosophy remains deeply studied and influential today
- Influenced fields including **biology, physics, logic, ethics, political theory, literary criticism, rhetoric**, and **metaphysics**
- Sometimes called the **"Father of Biology"** for his systematic study of animals
- The **Scientific Revolution** of the 16th–17th centuries partly involved **overturning** Aristotelian science (Galileo, Copernicus, etc.)

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## Criticisms and Limitations

- His defense of **natural slavery** is morally indefensible
- His views on **women's inferiority** were wrong and harmful
- Many of his **scientific claims** were incorrect (geocentrism, spontaneous generation, etc.)
- His **authority** was sometimes used to suppress scientific inquiry during the Middle Ages
- His logic, while groundbreaking, has been significantly extended and in some ways replaced by modern formal logic

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Aristotle remains one of the most significant thinkers in human history, whose scope of inquiry was virtually unmatched, and whose ideas — whether accepted or challenged — have shaped civilization for over two millennia.
