Death Of Plato In 347 B.C. Aristotle example essay topic

Aristotle was a 4th century Greek philosopher, educator, and scientist. His work and writings in the areas of physics, biology, metaphysics, psychology, logic, ethics and politics laid the foundation for most of the sciences we study today. Life Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in the small town of Stagira, which is located in northern Greece. His father, Nicomachus, was a physician to the King of Macedonia.

Because of this relationship Aristotle had close connections to the Macedonian court. When Aristotle was seventeen years old both his parents died so he went to the Academy to study under Plato. While there he was considered to be the brightest student and was called the "intelligence of the school" and "reader" by Plato and others. Aristotle stayed at the Academy for twenty years and then left after the death of Plato in 347 B.C. Aristotle then went to Asia Minor to join Hermeais, a former student at the Academy. While he was there Aristotle married Pythias, Hermeais' adopted daughter. After that he spent two years in Lesbos studying marine biology.

Around 342 B.C. Aristotle was asked by Philip II to come to the Macedonian court and teach his 13 year old son Alexander. This boy would become the conqueror of the world known as "Alexander The Great". He taught Alexander until 336 B.C. when Alexander became the ruler of Macedonia. Around 334 B.C. Aristotle, with money from Alexander the Great, went back to Athens and founded his own school called the Lyceum. At the Lyceum he collected the first great library and established a museum.

Because he walked while teaching, Athenians called his school the Peripatetic which means "to walk about". He led his pupils in research in all fields of knowledge including a detailed study of nature. They dissected animals and studied the habits of insects. Aristotle developed the science of observation in which one first looks carefully, accumulates data, and then comes up with a theory.

This was the foundation for the "Scientific Method" we use in science classes today. Due to a lack of scientific instruments, his conclusions were not always correct. After the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. there was an "anti-Macedonian" feeling in Athens. Aristotle was charged with "impiety" or lack of reverence to the gods.

Aristotle moved with his family to Chalcis so that he would not be killed as Socrates had been earlier. Aristotle died after living in Chalcis for about a year in 322 B.C. at age 62. Aristotle's Writings After Aristotle's death his writings were scattered or lost. His writings are divided into three groups: 1. popular writings 2. memoranda, and 3. treatises. His most popular writings were dialogues modeled on Plato's dialogues.

They were written while Aristotle was still at the Academy. Today Aristotle's best know writings are Oragnon, Rhetoric, Poetics, History of Animals, Metaphysics, De Anima, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Constitution of Athens. Logic Aristotle's works on logic are called Oragnon. He believed that logical thought was based on a form of argument he called "syllogism". In a "syllogism" a statement is inferred to be true from the fact that two other statements are true. For example: 1.

All people are mortal. 2. Joe Smith is a person. 3.

Joe Smith is mortal. A "syllogism" only works if the premises used are true and comprehensive enough to cover all cases. Philosophy of Nature The aspect of change in nature was amazing to Aristotle. In Physics he said that if you were going to understand change you must know the difference between the form and the matter of something. For example, a statue might have the form of a cat but clay is its matter. Aristotle's philosophy of nature includes psychology and biology.

Metaphysics Aristotle tried to develop a science of things that never change and investigate the most general and basic principles of reality and knowledge. Since the most important of these unchanging things is God, Aristotle sometimes called this science theology, the study of God. The word metaphysics has now come to mean any philosophic study of the basic principles of reality and knowledge. Ethics and politics Aristotle's works on this subject include the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics. Aristotle argued that the goal of human beings is happiness and that we achieve happiness when we fulfill our function. The function of a thing is what it alone can do, or what it can do best.

Aristotle believed that moral virtue is a matter of avoiding extremes in behavior and finding instead the mean between the extremes. For example, the virtue of generosity is the mean between stinginess and wastefulness. Aristotle's place in Western thought After Aristotle's death, his philosophy continued to be taught at the Lyceum by a long line of successors. From about 500 A.D. to 1100, knowledge of his philosophy was almost completely lost in the West.

During this period, it was preserved by Arab and Syrian scholars who reintroduced it to the Christian culture of Western Europe in the 1100's and 1200's. Aristotle's importance has declined since the Middle Ages, but many philosophers of the modern times owe much to him. The extent of Aristotle's influence is difficult to judge, because many of his ideas have been absorbed into the language of science and philosophy.