Aristotle
Aristotle (Greek Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotelēs) (384 BC - March 7, 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher. Together with Plato, many people think that he is one of the most important philosophers in Western ways of thinking.
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2 Biography |
The three greatest ancient Greek philosophers were Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Plato was Aristotle's teacher. These three thinkers turned early Greek philosophy into the beginnings of Western philosophy the way it is today.
Plato 's main ideas were that knowledge from the senses is always confused and not pure. True knowledge can be gotten from the thinking soul that turns away from the world. Only the soul can have knowledge of "Forms", the real way things are. The world is only a copy of these Forms that is not perfect.
Aristotle thought differently. He thought that knowledge from the senses was more important. These thoughts became the ideas of the scientific method after hundreds of years. Most of the things Aristotle wrote that we still have today are notes from speaking. Some of the important are Physics, Metaphysics, (Nicomachean) Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul), and Poetics.
The history of the work of Aristotle from the time he died until the 1st century BC is not well known. Legends (old stories) say that Aristotle's collection of writings was left to his Theophrastus. Theophrastus was Aristotle's successor (the one who had his job after he died). Theophrastus hid the things Aristotle wrote to keep them from being taken away or destroyed. They were found again in the year 70 BC.
Aristotle was born at Stagira, in 384 BCE, and died at Chalicis in 322 BCE.
His father, Nicomachus, was the doctor of King Amyntas of Macedonia.
From his eighteenth to his thirty-seventh year he stayed at Athens as student of Plato.
Introduction
History and influence of Aristotle's work
Biography