Summary
Highlights
Aristotle, preceding the Renaissance, was a polymath who contributed significantly to biology, ethics, logic, physics, rhetoric, and politics. His work established the first systematic form of Western Philosophy and he is recognized as the first genuine scientist in history.
Born in Stagira, northern Greece around 384 BC, Aristotle was raised by his sister and her husband after his parents' early death. At 17, he moved to Athens to study at Plato's Academy, where he excelled and remained as an instructor for 20 years. Despite his talent, fundamental philosophical differences prevented him from becoming Plato's successor.
After Plato's death, Aristotle returned to Macedonia and tutored King Philip II's son, Alexander, who later became Alexander the Great. Following Alexander's rise to power, Aristotle returned to Athens in 335 BC to establish his own school, the Lyceum, where he taught while walking with his students, earning them the nickname 'The Peripatetics'.
At the Lyceum, Aristotle extensively studied various subjects, making him a pioneer in Biology. His detailed observations on life forms, including marine animals and the embryology of chicks, led to an animal classification system that endured for over a millennium. He also delved into Earth Science, describing the water cycle and natural phenomena like thunder, lightning, and earthquakes, and noted the immense geological timescale.
Aristotle is widely recognized for his philosophical works on rhetoric, logic, metaphysics (distinguishing matter and form), and ethics, outlining a 'code of conduct for good living'. His tenure at the Lyceum ended abruptly with Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC. Charged with impiety, Aristotle fled to Chalcis to avoid Socrates' fate, dying there in 322 BC at 62.
Out of an estimated 200 documents, only 31 of Aristotle's writings survive, preserved by his student Theophrastus. Though controversial in his lifetime, his ideas were rediscovered and championed in the Middle Ages, becoming the official philosophy of the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, this led to his work impeding new scientific discoveries, like Copernicus' and Galileo's heliocentric model, despite Aristotle himself being an observational scientist.