SPOTLIGHTS: ARISTOTLE❓

Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in a small town called Stagira. His father Nicomachus was a physician, and this probably accounted for Aristotle’s especially strong interest in biology.

At the age of eighteen, Aristotle entered Plato’s Academy and soon became the undisputed top student. He spent about twenty years there. Though Aristotle criticized many of Plato’s theories, he was always careful to acknowledge his debt to his former master.

When Plato died in 347 B.C., Aristotle left Athens and spent some years traveling, taking part in various intellectual circles at Assos and Lesbos. In 343 B.C. he was asked to tutor Philip’s son, the future Alexander the Great. He spent three years with Alexander teaching primarily the standard subjects, such as rhetoric and poetry. He also encouraged Alexander’s ambitions to conquer Persia.

After Philip’s death in 336 B.C., Aristotle returned to Athens, where he founded the Lyceum. It was here that he undertook his most important work, and many of his surviving writings were based on lectures prepared for the school. His greatest achievement is generally considered to be the syllogism. Logic was the fundamental tool that made all understanding and learning possible, for it helped one to recognize when proof was necessary and how to evaluate such proof.

After logic, Aristotle’s contributions to biology are among his most significant. He identified 495 different animal species and classified them shrewdly. In contrast to his work in the natural sciences, his biological achievements would remain unsurpassed for centuries.

He also wrote major works on Ethics, Politics, Poetics, and Rhetoric. With the exception of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, all of these works continue to be studied in colleges today, not only for historical reasons but as the groundwork of its field.

Aristotle died in 322 B.C., having contributed more to Western knowledge than any other individual ever had before or has had since.

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