Aristotle - Biography Essay Example for Free

Aristotle Biography EssayRaphael portrays two of Greeces great philosophers as the focal point of his masterpiece The School of Athens. Aristotle has his hand pointing straight out as if he is declaring to Plato that accuracy is found right here around us. Aristotle was an excellent teacher who is considered to be the prince of philosophy and ane of the worlds close to influential takeers of all time. Aristotle was born in 384 B. C at Stragyra in Thrace, on the north seacoast of the Aegean Sea. This was fifteen years subsequently the death of Socrates and leash years after the founding of Platos Academy.His bewilder was the court physician and friend of King Amyntas of Macedonia. It is likely that Aristotles great interest in biology and science, in general, was nurtured in his early childhood. At the age of seventeen, Aristotle moved to Athens and enrolled in Platos Academy as a student of philosophy. He studied for over twenty years at the Academy until Plato died in 348 B. C. inclineim his time at the Academy, Aristotle became one of the top scientist and philosophers, and though he studied under Plato, he was non a Platonist. In fact, he would later criticize Plato and his various doctrines.After the mourning of Platos death had subsided, Speusippus seized powerfulness of the Academy. At this time Aristotle quickly left Athens and lived for a time in Assos and Mytilen where he was adequate to write, research, and teach. He did return, for a time, to Macedonia to tutor Philips son Alexander at his request. By the age of forty-nine, Aristotle had traveled bandaging to Athens to found a school. Many historians mean this is when Aristotle began the most cultivatable period of his life. His school was named the Lyceum, named after the groves where Socrates went to think and which was the sacred domain of Apollo Lyceus.The Lyceum had a fine library, an extensive collection of maps, and a menagerie where Aristotle preformed much of his zoo di anoetic research. . The school was located close to a long covered walk called in the greek peripatos. Aristotle would take his students on this long covered walkway where he conducted much of his teaching as they strolled along pondering slicey philosophical questions. As a event of this method of teaching, the students of the Lyceum were unremarkably referred to as peripatetics. Aristotle was lone(prenominal) in Athens for twelve years when it was necessity for him to leave for political reasons to save his life.In 322 B. C. Aristotle died and his library was passed on to his successor, Theophratus. Aristotle is regarded as the send-off truly cosmopolitan thinker. He was interested in a plethora of subjects and gave significant contri only ifion to musical compositiony of them. He composed major studies of logic, ethics, and metaphysics. Today he is best renown for his work the Metaphysics and the Nichomachean Ethics. In addition to these major studies he also wrote on epi stemology, physics, biology, meteorology, dynamics, mathematics, psychology, rhetoric, dialectics, aesthetics, politics, and philosophy. carry any field of research and Aristotle probably studied it, select an atomic number 18a of hu composition reason and he probably theorized on it. If all of his writings were published today they would fill fifty large volumes in print. Unfortunately, over the last two thousand years many of his writings have been lost. Only one fifth of his writings have endured time. What has been preserved are what many believe are Aristotles lecture notes and notes of his students that were not meant to be printed. These rough notes have been edited in a cut paste fashion in order to try to make sense of Aristotles profound cerebration.Aristotle philosophy is a development of Platos philosophy. Aristotle respected Plato but rejected the dualism that Plato passionately embraced and taught his pupils. Platos primary reality of the unchanging world existed sep arately from the world of particular things. Aristotle believed he was able to avoid this ambiguous ideal of two worlds and still communicate all the necessary concepts that Plato did. Metaphysically, Aristotle believed that every(prenominal) living beingness, except God, is a composite of two factors called form and matter.In Aristotles system of epistemology, he believes that the forms that Plato held unattainable actually exist as essential parts of the things that we asses through our senses. He believed that a human being is a holistic unit of both the body and soul. Aristotle specialized in classifying the many different components in the universe humans, animals, plants, inanimate preys, etc. His work Catergories was his flagship in the organization of the world. He believed that humans were certainly in a classification of their own, and that human beings could be divided up into three dimensions, or more specifically, three dimensional thinking.The offset printing dime nsion is productive thinking and refers to man as a maker the fleck is practical thinking and refers to man as a learner and knower. All of the books that Aristotle wrote can basically be divided into these three categories. For example his book on poetry would be in the phratry of productive thinking ethics would be in the category of practical thinking philosophy, science, and metaphysics would be in the category of theoretical thinking. Aristotle can be credited with the creation of both the science and the philosophy of biology.His work in science involved the discovery of interconnections between characteristics of organisms. This led to the biological specialties of taxonomy and systematics. This evidenced that he was able to fit his metaphysical and logical thought to that of the area of zoology. His application of thought to the experimentation makes him one of the founders of laboratory research. Aristotle was the first to create the study of deductive inference. His the ory of syllogism, simply put, is a discourse in which certain things having been stated, something else follows of extremity of doing so.Aristotle believed that the laws of logic apply to more than just human thinking. He believed that these laws of being allow the understanding of the logical structure of the world. The premise to his logical system is the law of noncontradiction. Aristotle states in his law that It is impossible for the same connect at once to belong and not belong to the same thing in the same relation. more(prenominal) simply would be that (B) can not be both (B) and non(b) at the same time in the same sense. This law cannot be proven but it must not be ignored. It is a oecumenical core principle of human thinking.However, a caveat is necessary because the absence of a contradiction doesnt necessary guarantee truth. The world is in a constant state of change. Aristotle believed that changes could be natural or could be a product of human art. The quatern c auses that Aristotle articulated answer the four questions that can be asked about anything. The four questions are (1) what is it? (2) what is it made of? (3) by what is it made? (4) for what end is it made? Aristotle four responses are the four causes (1) the formal cause (2) the material cause (3) the efficient cause (4) the final cause.The biologist in Aristotle moved(p) the way he observed the world. He observed everything going through change happens to something that is a conspiracy of form and matter becoming something different or new. Teleology is the notion that the present could be understood by reference to the future. The constitution of anything is linked to its telos, meaning its goal or final end. The final end of an object reveals its nature and this nature drives it to its goal. This idea is what Aristotle thought could explain many things from a fetus in the uterus to an acorn from a oak tree.These four causes are a significant contribution to science in expl aining nature Within the dimension of practical thinking is Aristotles view on ethics and how it relates to us not only as individuals but to the world as a whole. His views are contained in basically his two deeds called the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics. The Nichomachean ethics is the better one of the two because it is clearer, it addresses more issues within the field of ethics, and it arguments are normally superior. Aristotle believes that everyone has an ultimate goal, and they pursue it by doing what they view as good.What a person views as good is ultimately what will bring them long-term satisfaction and happiness. He goes on too describe the soul of man and its various virtues. He believed that the soul could be divided into two characteristics reason and desire. These two characteristics may impinge in the soul of a man when trying to make a decision. Aristotle believes that the more disciplined a man is the more reason will win when a decision is made. H e believed that these virtues were innate in every man and not acquired in any fashion. Lastly, the way Aristotle viewed God was a product of how he viewed everything else.Aristotle was not a zealot when it came to religion. He believed there was a supreme being because he thought it would be impossible to explain some things. Aristotles view of God was more of a metaphysical necessity. finished his thought of telos he knew the world must have an ultimate cause and this cause must be God. Exposition I specifically like how Aristotle classified everything, and approached fields of study with common sense and practicality. He believed that humans are the highest classification, and I would certainly agree with that.I also agree that the three dimensions of man productive, practical, and theoretical thinking, are basically the three main areas in life, but I also think that there are other areas on the side, and that everything can be categorized as concretely as he seeks to do. Arist otles ideas of the four different causes are very good. The hegemony of these causes communicate their fundamental value. His central idea that everything has a cause is sure and very important. The deductive reasoning he used also helps to clarify things.I believe that the use of syllogisms should not be used to test if a belief is true. A worldview could pass a few tests but that doesnt prove that it is correct. Aristotles view of God is a disturbing product of his system. He is the victim of his own mind. He is a perfect example of how a philosopher may become detain in his own system. He had made some presuppositions early on that had become the core of what he believed. As he progress in his thought he had to be consistent with what he had first believed and this necessitated him to plug everything into his presuppositions or mold that he had created.This resulted in God becoming an after thought of his life, instead of the focal point of his life. Aristotle had forgotten to place God into his system when it was in infancy. As a result of the complexity, he had to place his unknowable God in a box. Aristotle ethics of having an ultimate goal that take into account your happiness is quite interesting. If your ultimate goal is to glorify God then you will find true happiness. John Piper would say that a Christian hedonist finds pleasure in being fit with the Lord to bring God the utmost glory.I do not, however, agree with Aristotles division of the soul. There are many problems in Aristotle system. In spite of the problems, his philosophy has affected just about everyone. I believe that the ideas of Aristotle not only influenced the ancient greeks, but also affected medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy. The prevalence of the contributions of Aristotle is deep-rooted in almost every discipline. Without the teachings of Aristotle the world would be years behind. We owe a lot to this man who gave his life in order to understand our existence and th ings that exist around us.Raphael painted Aristotle in the fondness of his School of Athens for a reason. He must of known of the influence that Aristotle would posses on young minds for centuries to come. works Cited Adler, Mortimer J. 1978. Aristotle for Everybody Difficult thought made easy ,New York Macmillian Publishing Co. Aristotle. 1980. Metaphysics I-IX, Harvard University Press. Barnes, Jonathan. 1996. Aristotle A Very Short Introduction, New York Oxford University Press. Cottingham, John. 1996. westbound school of thought An Anthology, Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Fearn, Nicholas. 2001.Zeno and the Tortoise How to Think like a Philosopher, New York Grove Press. Honderich, Ted. 1995. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, New York Oxford University Press. Lennox, James G. 2001. Aristotles Philosophy of Biology, Cambridge University Press. Nash, Ronald H. 1999. Lifes Ultimate Questions An Introduction to Philosophy, Zondervan. Stumpf, Samuel E. and James Fieser. 20 03. Philosophy History and Problems, McGraw- Hill Higher Education. Wilson, Fred L. Science and Human set Aristotle, http//www. rit. edu/ flwstv/aristotl1. html. Accessed 6 October, 2004.