Aristotle

Aristotle
Ἀριστοτέλης
Roman copy (in marble) of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by Lysippos (c. 330 BC), with modern alabaster mantle
Born	384 BC Stagira, Chalcidian League
Died	322 BC (aged 61–62) Chalcis, Euboea, Macedonian Empire
Education	Platonic Academy
Notable work	Organon Physics Metaphysics Nicomachean Ethics Politics Rhetoric Poetics
Era	Ancient Greek philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Peripatetic school
Notable students	Alexander the Great, Theophrastus, Aristoxenus
Main interests	Logic Natural philosophy Metaphysics Ethics Politics Rhetoric Poetics
Notable ideas	Aristotelianism Theoretical philosophy Aristotelian logic, syllogism Four causes Genus and differentia Hylomorphism, substance, essence, accident Hypokeimenon Potentiality and actuality Theory of universals Unmoved mover Natural philosophy Aristotelian biology Aristotelian physics Common sense Eternity of the world Five wits Horror vacui Theory of elements, aether Rational animal Practical philosophy Aristotelian ethics Catharsis Deliberative, epideictic and forensic rhetoric Enthymeme and Paradeigma Family as a model for the state Golden mean Kyklos Magnanimity Mimesis Natural slavery Intellectual virtues: sophia, episteme, nous, phronesis, techne Three appeals: ethos, logos, pathos Views on women

Aristotle^[A] (Attic Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, romanized: Aristotélēs;^[B] 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.

Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At around eighteen years old, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty seven (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.

Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.

Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.

Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.

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