# Aristotle: Overview

## Life & Times (384–322 BCE)
- Born in Stagira in northern Greece
- Studied at Plato's Academy in Athens for ~20 years
- Later tutored Alexander the Great
- Founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens
- Forced to leave Athens due to anti-Macedonian sentiment; died in exile on Euboea

## Major Philosophical Contributions

**Metaphysics**
- Theory of substance (ousia) and categories of being
- Doctrine of act and potentiality (actuality vs. potential)
- Rejected Plato's Theory of Forms; focused on the physical world

**Logic**
- Developed the syllogism, foundation of deductive reasoning
- Created formal logic as a discipline

**Ethics**
- Virtue ethics: virtue as a mean between extremes (e.g., courage between cowardice and recklessness)
- Concept of eudaimonia ("flourishing" or "happiness")
- Human flourishing through developing excellence of character

**Politics**
- Humans are "political animals" naturally suited for living in communities
- Analyzed different government types

## Other Works
- Natural philosophy and biology (systematic observation and classification)
- Physics and cosmology
- Aesthetics and poetics (catharsis through tragedy)
- Rhetoric

## Legacy
Hugely influential on medieval Islamic and Christian theology, and Western thought generally, though much was later challenged during the Scientific Revolution.

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