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Renata Luzny Professor Manuel Romero U.S. Government and Politics 1100-015 10 March 2013 Aristotle Aristotle, who lived in the third century B.C., is one of the most important historical figures of all time. His intellectual capacity provided him with the ability to study many subjects including ethics, rhetoric, politics, linguistics, government, poetry, theater, physics, metaphysics, philosophy, and zoology. His work is extensive and most of his principles are still applicable today; many people still study his works and share his opinions. For his new theory of the elements, he used an existing Greek philosophy. Aristotle suggested that in addition to the elements fire, air, earth, and water there is also a divine substance which is a material the other planets are made of; this material was named the aether. Some of his brilliant scientific work included a theory of motion, causality, and optics. Aristotle, as one of the first natural historians, became the father of zoology. He started the process of classification and documentation of many living creatures. Aristotle insisted that ethics were to be studied practically, not simply in theoretical form. He viewed politics as an organism and was convinced that no single part could function properly without the others like a well-oiled machine. As Aristotles philosophical work went through a renaissance and reformation, it soon became the foundation for the western worlds philosophy. According to the cloud biography website, Aristotles deep knowledge

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made one 20th century British philosopher say about him that, its doubtful whether any human being has ever known as Aristotle did" (Cloud Biography). A prodigious philosopher and researcher, Aristotle was born in 384 B.C.E. in the small ancient city of Stagira in Northern Greece. Aristotle was born into a royal doctors family. This profession of medicine had been in the family for a few generations, so it was like a family tradition, or so to speak (Turner.). Many of his early childhood experiences came directly from this medical environment and most likely deeply influenced Aristotles future interests. Aristotles father was rich and had died while his son was still very young. His father left him a hefty inheritance. According to one source, Aristotle used his most of this inherited wealth by spending it on wine, women, and a wild life of partying (Strathern). However, other sources say that Aristotle was sent directly to Athens to study. Either way, at some point Aristotle came to Athens to study at the Academy under Plato, where he remained as Platos pupil for about twenty years (Turner). Aristotles habit to buy as many rare, ancient scrolls as possible made him become the first private library owner, which even Plato was envious of (Strathern). After Platos death, since Aristotle didnt achieve Platos position at the academy, he left Athens for Assos, a region of todays Turkey which was ruled by his friend Hermias. At that time Aristotle was quickly approaching middle age and, to everybodys surprise, he had fallen in love. His future wife, Pythias, was a young girl who lived in Hermias home. Today nobody knows for sure if she was Hermias sister or adoptive daughter, some sources even claim that she was Hermeias concubine, which however seems to contradict Hermias sexual status of eunuch.

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After Hermia was murdered, Aristotle moved with his family to the island of Lesbos, where they spent only one or two years (Turner). The King of Macedonia, Philip, called Aristotle to be a tutor for his son Alexander; therefore, Aristotle moved back to his hometown Stagira, where he spent approximately the next ten years of his life. After a few years, his pupil Alexander the Great, was called for his duty. At about the same time, there was once again a vacancy at the Academy, but Aristotle was passed over once again. He then decided to found a school on his own, known as Lyceum. During that period, Pythias, Aristotles wife, died. However, then a new woman appeared in his life, Herphyllis, with whom he had a son named Nicomachus. Several years later, Aristotle had passed away. As Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy cites, Aristotle had died of natural causes in Chalkis in 322 B.C (Aristotle). On the other hand Paul Strathern, author of the book Aristotle in 90 minutes asserts that reliable historical sources state that Aristotle had died as a result of self- operated euthanasia (Strathern). Aristotle spent nearly twenty years of his life as a pupil at Platos Academy. Thanks to Aristotles brightness, he soon became Platos colleague. Not long after, Aristotle even joined Plato in his house. Since Aristotle was a very intuitive thinker, he assumed that pointing out what he thought was not exactly correct in Platos work was his responsibility. Without a doubt, there were many differences between the opinions of these two greatest thinkers. Plato was the master with idealistic principles and Aristotle was the pupil who showed an inclination to the investigation of the facts and laws of the physical world (Turner). Whereas Platos approach was religious, Aristotles was more scientific. Naturally, Plato wasnt very pleased with Aristotles constant comments regarding his work. And even though eventually their later work shows mutual appreciation between the two scholars, at the time being, due to the contradictions in their

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opinions, they ended up maintaining a distance between each other (Strathern). In 347 B.C. when Plato died and Aristotle wasnt chosen to fill Platos vacant position at the Academy, he left Athens. While he spent a few years in Atarneus with his friend eunuch Hermias, Aristotle had married and had a family. At that time Aristotle, already having achieved the reputation of and intellectual leader throughout Greece, was called by King Philip of Macedon to come to his birthplace, and to become a tutor to Alexander in 343 B.C. Partly out of tradition of his father, Aristotle also worked for King Philips father as his personal doctor, partly to fulfill his call of duty; Aristotle also become a teacher to the future Alexander the Great. When Aristotle started as his tutor at the palace, Alexander was at the age of thirteen. Aristotle taught the future world-conqueror about ethics and politics, and he also gave him an insight into the knowledge of philosophy. Some sources say that out of Aristotles convictions about the superiority of the Greek nation, young Alexanders ideas grew into plans to conquer the world (Strathern). Even though Alexander didnt turn out according to Aristotles expectations, there is still a huge influence from the teacher to his pupil. In 336 B.C. King Philip of Macedon was killed; therefore, the sixteen year old Alexander had to rule the country. When Alexander was obligated to take over the throne after his fathers death, he had no longer the time to study with Aristotle. Therefore Aristotle became a sort of informal advisor of the new ruler of Macedonia. Consequently, Aristotle returned to Athens (Turner). It is known that partly as a payment for his tutoring, Alexander sent many

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unknown plants and animals, from his journeys, to his former teacher for classification (Strathern). In 335 B.C. Aristotle came to Athens for the second and last time in his life. At about the same time there was, for the second time since Platos death, a vacant position to be the head of the Academy, where Aristotle had spent twenty years studying. To Aristotles displeasure, the position wasnt offered to him once again. At this instigation, Aristotle founded his own school, known as Lyceum. During the period of thirteen years, Aristotle composed a greater part of his writings. According to Paul Strathern, Lyceum was more like a university than the Academy (Strathern). One could say the differences between the Lyceum and the Academy was similar to the difference between Plato and Aristotle. Due to Aristotles wide interests, he encouraged and supported the wide range of research conducted by Lyceum members. Research had been done in botany, zoology, logic, music, astronomy, mathematics, physics, medicine, history, philosophy, ethics, political history, psychology, and many more subjects. Due to Lyceums collection of manuscripts, they become the first ancient great library (Aristotle). Aristotles Lyceum became known as the Peripatetic, in reference to the lectures Aristotle gave while walking. After Alexanders death, both political and religious situations changed tremendously and Aristotle was more or less forced to leave the city, for the last time. He died two years later in Chalcis. One of the greatest of Aristotles achievements was the founding of logic. It was about two thousand years after another similar logic thinker appeared. Aristotle came up with logic as a base on which to answer Platos questions during their many debates. As Stanford Encyclopedia

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of Philosophy states, Aristotles study of logic doesnt belong to any of his science branches, but rather explains the principles of correct argumentation in all common areas. Aristotle said: When certain things are stated, it can be shown that something other than what is stated necessarily follows (Strathern). This is also a great example of his ideas of causality, which outlines cause and effect. For Aristotle, cause and effect flows in a circle; with the effect occasionally being the cause of something else. Philosophy was another very strong subject of Aristotles interest. His philosophy was the way of thinking for many centuries to come. Aristotles philosophy includes logic, practical philosophy, poetical philosophy and theoretical philosophy such as metaphysics, physics, and mathematics. As an example to show a basic view of Aristotles philosophy, a few of his quotes are worth mentioning: Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Along with: Educating the mind without the heart is no education at all. And: Happiness depends upon ourselves. (Aristotle Quotes (Author of Politics)). Physics, according to Aristotle, is a study of nature which is constantly in motion in order to be in existence. These motions were divided in three categories: qualitative (alteration), quantitative (increasing, decreasing), and spatial (locomotion). Through his study of physics, Aristotle also experimented with optics, he noticed that with a dark box with a single hole on one side would allow light to enter, and the hole would act as a sort of lens and project an image of the outside, upon the opposite wall of the box. This is the technology used today in pinhole cameras, and an advance version is used in most other cameras. Interestingly enough, Aristotles psychology was a part of physics, because it was a study of the principles of life, or a study of the soul (Turner). Aristotle considered mathematics as the study of immovable objects. Very important in this field were his argumentations about time,

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paradoxes in motion, and infinity. He incorporated this in his so called Natural Philosophy along with biology, zoology, botany, and astronomy. Another field of study, which truly makes Aristotle pivotal, is a practical philosophy including politics and ethics and rhetoric. His main ideas are used as a base for politics, ethics and moral values until today. Simple ideas such as, seeing the state made up of households, that property is a part of the household, or every state is some kind of community are proof of Aristotles geniality (Barnes 1251-2487). For creating and dealing with ethics, his first and basic question was about happiness. Aristotles idea of happiness consisted of the coexistence of humans and nature and moral choices in life that we, as humans, are forced to make on a daily basis. An integral part of politics is the study of rhetoric. Rhetoric is the study of the use of language and the art of persuasion. Aristotle divides rhetoric in three divisions: the speaker, the subject and the listener. Again, this Division applies till today. According to Aristotle, a great part of happiness is friendship, and that is a great part of social understanding between people and the State. To be happy is to have and encourage friendships which can help one gain a better understanding of themselves and of other people around them. Friendships can also encourage political alliances. Aristotle had his own vast and interesting opinions on various subjects ranging from diverse topics such as: botany, philosophy, physics, and politics. His ideas were both controversial and well-accepted, depending on who was asked. He disagreed with Plato, and yet he inadvertently helped to shape the mind of a future world ruler. He was a man of many talents, ranging from his great ability to think to the skills he learned from his father the doctor. Being hard working and intelligent was something that ran throughout his family for generations.

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Although his mind was great and his thoughts powerful, he was never really accepted to teach at Platos Academy, so he founded his own school which later became just as important or prestigious as the Academy. He grew old and he had a family of his own, but he never lost that brilliant mind. His ideas are still circulating today amongst the bright minds of future scholars, indicating beyond a doubt how important Aristotles opinions were and are still. It is not unthinkable to imagine that his ideas will live on through from generation to generation. As our children now study his works, so will their children and so on and so on forever.

Works cited

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"Aristotle Quotes (Author of Politics)." . N.p.. Web. 11 Mar 2013. <http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2192.Aristotle> . "Aristotle." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., 25 Sep 2008. Web. 11 Mar 2013. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/>. Barnes, Jonathan. The Complete Work of Aristotle. 2. 2. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985. 1251-2487. Print. "Cloud Biography." . N.p., 29 May 2012. Web. 11 Mar 2013. <http://cloudbiography.comAristotle>. Strathern, Paul. Aristotle in 90 Minutes. Chicago: Ivan R.Dee, Inc., 1996. Print. Turner, William. ""Aristotle"." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.1. New York. Robert Appleton Company, 18 Feb 2013. Web. 11 Mar 2013. <>.