Aristotle Biography

Aristotle ( 384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and scientist of the Classical Period. He was born in Stagira, which was a small town on the northern coast of Greece. Aristotle is known to be one of the greatest thinkers in the field of politics, psychology and ethics. At the age of 17, he got enrolled in Plato’s Academy and began tutoring Alexander the Great in 338.

In 335, Aristotle also founded his own school, the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition in Athens. Also, he used to spend most of his time there, studying, teaching and writing.

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                                                    Aristotle, the Great Philosopher

Aristotle was a great teacher and has also provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies that existed before him. Most of his writings and works covered diverse subjects such as psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, meteorology, geology and government. The West inherited its intellectual lexicon along with the problems and methods of inquiry from all of Aristotle’s teachings. As a result, Aristotle’s philosophy has become a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion and thus exerts a unique influence on almost every form of knowledge. Some of the most notable works of Aristotle are the Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics and Prior Analytics.

In this article, we will talk about the life history of Aristotle. Students can refer to this article as a reference to write about Aristotle biography and contribution.

Early Life of Aristotle

Very little is known about Aristotle’s early life. He was born in the city of Stagira on the northern coast of Greece. He lost his father when he was a  child. Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child and thus, he was brought up by a guardian.

His father was a court physician to the Macedonian king Amyntas II. In spite of losing his father at a very young age, Aristotle was very closely affiliated and influenced by the Macedonian court for the rest of his life. Very little information has been found about Aristotle’s mother, Phaestis, who is also believed to have died when Aristotle was young.

After the death of Aristotle's father, Proxenus of Atarneus, who was the husband of Aristotle’s older sister, Arimneste, took the responsibility of becoming his guardian until he came of age. On turning 17, Aristotle was sent to Athens by Proxenus to pursue higher education as during those times, Athens was considered to be the academic centre of the universe. He got enrolled in Plato’s Academy, which was considered Greek’s premier learning institution. Aristotle proved to be an exemplary scholar, thus maintaining a relationship with the Greek philosopher Plato. 

Aristotle Short Biography - His Works on Philosophy

Aristotle’s life and work mostly revolved around the subject philosopher which as a result has influenced several ideas from late antiquity all the way through the Renaissance. To date, he is considered to be one of the greatest ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle’s philosophy mainly focused on providing the systematic concept of logic. His main objective was to start and come up with a universal process of reasoning which can allow individuals to gain knowledge on every conceivable thing about reality. Thus, the initial process of his works involved describing objects based on their characteristics, states of being and actions.

One of Aristotle's works i.e., "Natural Philosophy" spanned over a wide range of natural phenomena which today includes physics, biology and other natural sciences.

As per Aristotle, the term "natural philosophy" is a branch of philosophy that examines the phenomena of the natural world and thus, includes fields that are regarded today as physics, biology and other natural sciences. However, the use of the term “science” by Aristotle carries a different meaning as compared to the term "scientific method". According to him, science can be either practical, poetical or theoretical (Metaphysics). He also stated that practical science according to him includes ethics and politics, the poetical science, on the other hand, means the study of fine arts which includes poetry. Mathematics, physics and metaphysics come under theoretical science. Aristotle’s theory of deduction is known to form the basis of syllogism for philosophers. The theory is a logical argument where the conclusion is inferred from two or more other premises of a certain form.

Aristotle’s Works on Biology

If we look into Aristotle’s life and works, he was not technically a scientist but most of his research works revolved around the subject of science at length during his time at the Lyceum. Aristotle believed that one can obtain knowledge through interaction with physical objects. His scientific researches included a study of biology, where Aristotle, with some error, attempted to classify animals into genera depending on their similar characteristics. He also classified the animals into species on the basis of species that had red blood and those that did not. The animals which consisted of red blood were found to be vertebrates, while the bloodless animal species were labelled as cephalopods. Even though this hypothesis had relative inaccuracy, Aristotle’s classification was regarded to be the standard system for hundreds of years.

Aristotle was also equally fascinated by marine biology and performed several dissections in order to examine the anatomy of marine creatures in a clearer way. As compared to the biological classifications made by Aristotle, his observations and expressions of marine life in his books are considered to be more accurate.

Aristotle’s Brief Biography - Personal Life, Teachings and Books

Aristotle met and married his wife, Pythias (who was King Hermias’ niece) during his three-year stay in Mysia. They also had a daughter, Pythias, who was named after Aristotle’s mother.

The teaching life of Aristotle began in 338 B.C. when he went to Macedonia to start tutoring the son of King Phillip II. His son was none other than the 13-year-old Alexander the Great. 

After the succession of King Philip II by Alexander in 335 B.C., Aristotle returned back to the city while Alexander became the next king and conquered Athens. With the permission of Alexander, Aristotle even started his own school called the Lyceum in Athens. He had spent most of his life there working as a teacher, researcher and writer until the demise of his former student,  Alexander the Great.

Aristotle was also given a nickname called the “Peripatetics,” which meant people who travel about. He was given this title because he was known to walk around the grounds of Lyceum while teaching his students. All the members of the Lyceum school did their research on diverse subjects ranging from science and math to philosophy and politics, along with including everything in between. Art was an area of popular interest among the members and they wrote most of their findings in the form of manuscripts. As a result, there had been a massive collection of written materials in the school and Lyceum was regarded to have one of the first great libraries during ancient times.

In 323 B.C. Aristotle was charged with impiety during the anti-Macedonia sentiment for his association with his former student, Alexander and the Macedonian court. He left Athens and moved to Chalcis on the island of Euboea in order to avoid any prosecution and execution. He remained there until his death. Aristotle passed away in 322 B.C. under the charges of impiety after he was contracted with a disease of the digestive organs

Books by Aristotle

As per the estimation, a total of 200 works have been written by Aristotle, which were mostly found in the form of notes and manuscript drafts. All these works covered the areas of reasoning, rhetoric, politics, ethics, science and psychology and also included dialogues, records of systematic works and scientific observations. Theophrastus, one of Aristotle’s students reportedly looked after all of his writings, which was later passed on to Threophrastus’s own student Neleus. He stored these collections in a vault in order to protect them from moisture. Aristotle’s works were later taken to Rome and used by scholars there. Out of the 200 works of Aristotle, it has been found that only 31 of them are still in circulation. Most of them date back to Aristotle’s time at the Lyceum. Two of the famous works of Aristotle are ‘Poetics’ and 'Nicomachean Ethics'.

In 'Poetics', Aristotle observed, analyzed and defined most of the tragic and epic poetry. Therefore, it is a scientific study of writing and poetry. 

The ‘Nicomachean Ethics’, on the other hand, is believed to have been named after Aristotle’s son, Nicomachus, as a tribute. In this book, Aristotle described a moral code of conduct, which he referred to as “good living.” He had also stated in his work that good living to some extent defied the more restrictive laws of logic. This is because the circumstances of the real world can present a conflict of personal values. ‘Eudemian Ethics’ is another such work by Aristotle, which treatises on the behaviour and judgment that constitute good living.

Legacy

Following the death of Aristotle, most of his works fell out of use, but later, all of the works by Aristotle were again revived during the first century. Over the period of time, his works laid the foundation of more than seven centuries of philosophy. 

Thus, after going through Aristotle’s brief biography, we can get a summary of all of his works and contributions in the field of philosophy as well as science.