ARISTOTLE’S CONTRIBUTIONS, STRENGTHS, AND WEAKNESSES 1

Aristotle’s Contributions, Strengths, And Weaknesses

Elidia Jade D. Malicdem

ARISTOTLE’S CONTRIBUTIONS, STRENGTHS, AND WEAKNESSES 2

I. Aristotle’s Background
A. Birth Date: 384 BCE
B. Death Date: 322 BCE
C. Education: Plato’s Academy, Lyceum
D. Birth Place: Stagira, Greece
E. Death Place: Chalcis, Greece
 Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still considered one of the
greatest thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics.
 At the age of 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy.
 In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great.
 In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens.
II. Aristotle’s Contributions:
A. Invented the logic of the categorical syllogism
 Categorical syllogism is an argument consisting of exactly three categorical
propositions (two premises and a conclusion) in which there appear a total of
exactly three categorical terms.
Example: “All birds lay eggs. A swan is a bird. Therefore, a swan lays eggs.”
 This procedure of logical was the first authentic and logical procedure to
conclude a statement based on the propositions that are at hand.
B. Classification of living beings
 First system of classification of animals.
 Based his classification system off of observations of animals, and used
physical characteristics.
 Aristotle's two major groups:
1. Animals with red blood (vertebrates)
2. Animals without red blood (invertebrates)
 He classified animals as ones that live on water and ones that live on land. 
ARISTOTLE’S CONTRIBUTIONS, STRENGTHS, AND WEAKNESSES 3

C. Founder of Zoology
 Father of Zoology
 Classification of living being
 Treatises that revolved around different aspects of zoology such as ‘History of
Animals’, ‘Movement of Animals’, ‘Progression of Animals’ and others.
 One of his early observational experiments included dissecting the bird eggs
throughout different stages of embryo development inside the egg.
D. Contributions in Physics
 Aristotle’s addition of the celestial “aether” to the four natural elements
suggested by Empedocles (fire, earth, air, and water).
 He believed that the Earth was a small sphere since he could see stars in Egypt
and Cyprus which he could not see further north.
 Aristotle attempt to explain gravity, that all bodies move toward their “natural
place.”
 Matter was the physical substance of things, while form was the unique nature
of a thing that gave it its identity.

 Defined the motion of anything as the actuality of a potentiality.

o There are four causes that contribute to the movement of entelechy.
a. The material cause: what something is made of.
b. The efficient cause: the motion or energy that changes matter.
c. The formal cause: the thing’s shape, form, or essence; its definition.
d. The final cause: its reason, its purpose, the intention behind it.
E. Influences in History of Psychology
 First to write a book that dealt with the specifics of psychology –De Anima
(‘On the Soul’).
 Proposes the idea of abstraction that reigns over body and mind of a human
being.
F. Advances in Meteorology
 Aristotle identified the water cycle and discussed topics ranging from natural
disasters to astrological events in his treatise Meteorologica or Meteora.
ARISTOTLE’S CONTRIBUTIONS, STRENGTHS, AND WEAKNESSES 4

III. Aristotle’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths
 Aristotle's theory can be
defended because it is
made up from his studies
of the natural world,
reliable.
 Strong compared to
Plato's forms which are
not observable in the
physical world.
 The four causes can be
applied to things that
exist within the world as
a way of explaining
them.
Weaknesses
 Rely on experience.
Experience changes
from person to person.
 Has no concrete
evidence that the
material world is the
source of knowledge.
 Perhaps things don't
exist for a reason, some
things happen by
chance. For example,
Bertrand Russell said
"The universe is just
here, and that's all".

IV. References:
Aristotle. (2016). Retrieved from
https://getrevising.co.uk/grids/aristotle?
fbclid=IwAR2tZsgcjmhCSMQKMeBX4y1rRTCwZdb4Ss1aopQaeF8uRRFOxr-Hsnq6Gj4.

Aristotle's Zoology. (2019). Retrieved from https://explorable.com/aristotles-zoology.

Boeree, C. G. (2009). The Ancient Greeks, Part Two: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Retrieved from https://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/athenians.html.

Kemerling, G. (2011). Categorical Syllogisms. Retrieved from

http://www.philosophypages.com/lg/e08a.htm.

Natural Philosophy: Aristotle. (2012). Retrieved from

https://blogs.umass.edu/p139ell/2012/10/14/natural-philosophy-aristotle/?
fbclid=IwAR2pR_1JLiyCtCKQDEznHydpuXVCuxHV7uG-
8qNQ6U09NAlme6BYmk5yJ3M.

Pillay, H. (2014, March). Why It's Important To Know Your Strengths And
Weaknesses. Retrieved from https://leaderonomics.com/personal/why-its-important-to-know-
your-strengths-and-weaknesses.

System of Classification - Aristotle the Biologist. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from

https://sites.google.com/site/aristotlethebiologist/aristotle-s-biology/classification.