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ARISTOTLE Essay, Research Paper

ARISTOTLE

Aristotle is considered one of the greatest minds of classical Greece. Dante even proclaimed him “the master of those who know.”? He made tremendous contributions in the areas of science and mathematics, not to mention philosophy. In fact, he contributed extensively to chemistry, physics, biology, created formal logic, thoroughly studied systems of government, and developed a biological classification system.? However, the majority of those alive at the time took greater stock in his political philosophies.? It is important to know that Aristotle was one of the first men to explore science, anatomy, and the animal kingdom in depth and to recognize his considerable contribution to philosophy.

LIFE

Aristotle was born in Stageira, a Greek colony in Macedonia, in 384 BC. Generations of Aristotle’s family including his father, Nichomachus, had served as physicians to the Kings of Macedonia. His parents died when he was about ten years old and he was taken in by foster parents: Proxenos and his wife. He moved to Athens at the age of seventeen, and he remained there for some twenty years. This is where he got his first taste of the sciences and actively became a teacher. He studied under Plato, whose influences are most apparent in Aristotle’s theoretical and practical philosophies. He greatly admired Plato all the way to his death, despite the fact that he later opposed some of his most important points.

Aristotle was married twice, first to the foster daughter of his noble friend Hermeias, named Pythias. After her death he married Herpyllis, who came from his birthplace, Stageira. There was some controversy surrounding this marriage because Herpyllis did not have as high a social position as his first wife, Pythias. Herpyllis gave birth to his son Nichomachus and was entrusted with the care of his daughter from his first marriage.

After the death of Alexander the Great, Athens was taken over by people who didn’t like Alexander. They suspected Aristotle of sympathizing with Alexander, and he was exiled from Athens.

Aristotle died in 322 BC at the age of sixty-two in Chalkis on the island of Euboea, which had granted him refuge when he was exiled from Athens.

ARISTOTLE’S SCHOOL

Aristotle began his own education at the Academy in Athens when he first arrived from Macedonia. When he first arrived the Academy had already been open for twenty years. Aristotle would spend twenty more years as a pupil and also as a teacher. The Academy was founded by Plato, but during a great deal of Aristotle’s stay Plato was away in Sicily. Math and science were taught as well as philosophical dialect. The school functioned primarily to examine thought itself and explore its power. It was thought at this time that philosophers were capable of solving the problems of mankind. They were the great thinkers who would guide their fellow men.

In 347 BC Aristotle left Athens, partly because he was growing dissatisfied with the Academy but mainly because of the anti-Macedonian atmosphere emerging there as a result of the political unrest in that country. Aristotle set out for the court of Hermias, ruler of Assos in Asia Minor. In the years that Aristotle spent away from Athens there were many political changes in Macedonia. Shortly after his arrival Hermias would be killed (as a part of his court Aristotle was forced to flee to Lesbos) and Philip would make peace with Athens and unite all of Macedonia. Aristotle returned to a very different Macedonia, where he would give lectures to Alexander the Great.

In 335 BC Aristotle returned to Athens where he founded the Peripatetic school. This new school was highly successful and came to outshine the Academy, despite the fact that the philosophy taught there was based on Plato’s work. Only later and gradually would Aristotle’s school develop its new philosophy. For now, it had a sort of improved Platonic philosophy, one that would appeal to the younger men in the Greek world. One large difference is the library Aristotle installed at the school. It was to be the largest collection of books in history, and was the model for the famous State libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum.

Differences in the fundamental attitudes of the schools were that while early philosophers such as Plato had directed their thinking to figuring out how you could improve human society, the Peripatetic school was focused more on observation rather than speculation and research rather than intuition.

In 323 BC Aristotle’s work would come to an end. Alexander’s rule was over and this meant Athens was liberated and again anti-Macedonian attitudes were present. Much of these negative feeling towards Macedonia were focused on Aristotle. He was charged with sacrilege and he and his family fled to the island of Euboea where he died only a year later.

Aristotle was born in Stageira, a Greek colony in Chalice, a peninsula in the northern Aegean, bordering on Macedonia, in 384 BC. The fact that Aristotle was from Stagira and had strong ties to Macedonia played a key role throughout his life. The reason for this becoming important was that Greece was always resistant to Macedonian power, and Macedonia was asserting an ever growing dominant role in Greece at this time. As Aristotle was, therefore, an outsider to Athens, he lived there with non-citizen rights and restrictions.

As for his family, Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus, was a physician to the King Amyntas II of Macedonia. It is, of course, speculated that his great interest in biology sprouted from his father’s interests. Guiding his early childhood was also his mother, Phaestis, who had ties to Chalice. Unfortunately, his parents both passed away when he was about the age of ten. As a result, Aristotle was raised by a relative named Proxenus. According to

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