Who is aristotle and what did he do

Nevertheless, they are the earliest complete philosophical treatises we still possess. As the father of western logic, Aristotle was the first to develop a formal system for reasoning. He observed that the deductive validity of any argument can be determined by its structure rather than its content, for example, in the syllogism: All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal.

Even if the content of the argument were changed from being about Socrates to being about someone else, because of its structure, as long as the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true. Aristotelian logic dominated until the rise of modern propositional logic and predicate logic years later. In his natural philosophy, Aristotle combines logic with observation to make general, causal claims. For example, in his biology, Aristotle uses the concept of species to make empirical claims about the functions and behavior of individual animals.

However, as revealed in his psychological works, Aristotle is no reductive materialist. Instead, he thinks of the body as the matter, and the psyche as the form of each living animal. Though his natural scientific work is firmly based on observation, Aristotle also recognizes the possibility of knowledge that is not empirical.

In his metaphysics, he claims that there must be a separate and unchanging being that is the source of all other beings. In his ethics, he holds that it is only by becoming excellent that one could achieve eudaimonia, a sort of happiness or blessedness that constitutes the best kind of human life.

Aristotle was the founder of the Lyceum, a school based in Athens, Greece; and he was the first of the Peripatetics, his followers from the Lyceum. At the age of seventeen, Aristotle migrated to Athens where he joined the Academy, studying under Plato for twenty years DL 5. During this period Aristotle acquired his encyclopedic knowledge of the philosophical tradition, which he draws on extensively in his works. Aristotle left Athens around the time Plato died, in or B.

Whatever the cause, Aristotle subsequently moved to Atarneus, which was ruled by another former student at the Academy, Hermias. During his three years there, Aristotle married Pythias, the niece or adopted daughter of Hermias, and perhaps engaged in negotiations or espionage on behalf of the Macedonians Chroust Whatever the case, the couple relocated to Macedonia, where Aristotle was employed by Philip, serving as tutor to his son, Alexander the Great DL 5.

After some time in Macedonia, Aristotle returned to Athens, where he founded his own school in rented buildings in the Lyceum. Indeed, this must have been necessary, since after his school had been in operation for thirteen years, he again departed from Athens, possibly because a charge of impiety was brought against him DL 5.

He died at age 63 in Chalcis DL 5. Diogenes tells us that Aristotle was a thin man who dressed flashily, wearing a fashionable hairstyle and a number of rings. If the will quoted by Diogenes 5. Before the invention of the printing press, handwritten copies of these works circulated in the Near East, northern Africa, and southern Europe for centuries.

The ancients blessedly say that the psyche pays penalty and that our life is for the atonement of great sins. And the yoking of the psyche to the body seems very much like this. For they say that, as Etruscans torture captives by chaining the dead face to face with the living, fitting each to each part, so the psyche seems to be stretched throughout, and constrained to all the sensitive members of the body.

Pistelli , According to this allegedly inspired theory, the fetters that bind the psyche to the body are similar to those by which the Etruscans torture their prisoners.

On this view, the psyche is embodied as a painful but corrective atonement for its badness. Some modern scholars have argued to the contrary that the imprisonment of the psyche in the body indicates that Aristotle was still a Platonist at the time he composed the Protrepticus , which must have been written earlier than his mature works Jaeger , But not all agree. However, as Lachterman points out, such historical theses depend on substantive hermeneutical assumptions about how to read Aristotle and on theoretical assumptions about what constitutes a philosophical system.

Two other works— Rhetoric and Poetics —are not about logic, but also concern how to communicate to an audience.

What is logic for Aristotle? On Interpretation begins with a discussion of meaning, according to which written words are symbols of spoken words, while spoken words are symbols of thoughts Int. This theory of signification can be understood as a semantics that explains how different alphabets can signify the same spoken language, while different languages can signify the same thoughts.

Moreover, this theory connects the meaning of symbols to logical consequence, since commitment to some set of utterances rationally requires commitment to the thoughts signified by those utterances and to what is entailed by them. In order for a written sentence, utterance, or thought to be true or false, Aristotle says, it must include at least two terms: a subject and a predicate.

Aristotle holds that there are two kinds of constituents of meaningful sentences: nouns and their derivatives, which are conventional symbols without tense or aspect; and verbs, which have a tense and aspect. Though all meaningful speech consists of combinations of these constituents, Aristotle limits logic to the consideration of statements, which assert or deny the presence of something in the past, present, or future Int. In every true predication, either the subject and predicate are of the same category, or the subject term refers to a substance while the predicate term refers to one of the other categories.

The primary substances are individuals, while secondary substances are species and genera composed of individuals Cat.

This distinction between primary and secondary reflects a dependence relation: if all the individuals of a species or genus were annihilated, the species and genus could not, in the present tense, be truly predicated of any subject. Every individual is of a species and that species is predicated of the individual. Every species is the member of a genus, which is predicated of the species and of each individual of that species Cat.

A specific difference is a predicate that falls under one of the categories. Thus, Aristotelian categories can be seen as a taxonomical scheme, a way of organizing predicates for discovery, or as a metaphysical doctrine about the kinds of beings there are.

Moreover, definitions are reached not by demonstration but by other kinds of inquiry, such as dialectic, the art by which one makes divisions in a genus; and induction, which can reveal specific differences from the observation of individual examples. A syllogism is a discourse in which when taking some statements as premises a different statement can be shown to follow as a conclusion AnPr. The basic form of the Aristotelian syllogism involves a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion, so that it has the form.

Though this form can be utilized in dialectic, in which the major term A is related to C through the middle term B credibly rather than necessarily AnPo.

These relationships are summed up in the traditional square of opposition used by medieval Aristotelian logicians. Syllogistic may be employed dialectically when the premises are accepted on the authority of common opinion, from tradition, or from the wise. In any dialectical syllogism, the premises can be generally accepted opinions rather than necessary principles Top. At least some premises in rhetorical proofs must be not necessary but only probable, happening only for the most part.

When the premises are known, and conclusions are shown to follow from those premises, one gains knowledge by demonstration. Demonstration is necessary AnPo. One has demonstrative knowledge when one knows the premises and has derived a necessary conclusion from them, since the cause given in the premises explains why the conclusion is so AnPo.

Consequently, valid demonstration depends on the known premises containing terms for the genus of which the species in the conclusion is a member AnPo. By the principle of excluded middle, necessarily, either there will be a sea-battle tomorrow or there will not be a sea-battle tomorrow. But since the sea-battle itself has yet neither come about nor failed to come about, it seems that one must say, paradoxically, that one alternative is necessary but that either alternative might come about Int.

For a discussion, see Malink Whenever a speaker reasons from premises, an auditor can ask for their demonstration. The speaker then needs to adduce additional premises for that demonstration.

But if this line of questioning went on interminably, no demonstration could be made, since every premise would require a further demonstration, ad infinitum. In order to stop an infinite regress of premises, Aristotle postulates that for an inference to count as demonstrative, one must know its indemonstrable premises AnPo.

Thus, demonstrative science depends on the view that all teaching and learning proceed from already present knowledge AnPo. In other words, the possibility of making a complete argument, whether inductive or deductive, depends on the reasoner possessing the concept in question.

The acquisition of concepts must in some way be perceptual, since Aristotle says that universals come to rest in the soul through experience, which comes about from many memories of the same thing, which in turn comes about by perception AnPo. As Cook Wilson , 45 puts it, perception is in a way already of a universal. The role of perception, and hence of memory and experience, is then not to supply the child with universal concepts but to fix the conditions under which they are correctly predicated of an individual or species.

While deduction proceeds by a form of syllogistic reasoning in which the major and minor premise both predicate what is necessarily true of a subject, inductive reasoning moves from particulars to universals, so it is impossible to gain knowledge of universals except by induction AnPo. This movement, from the observation of the same occurrence, to an experience that emerges from many memories, to a universal judgment, is a cognitive process by which human beings understand reality see AnPo.

But what makes such an inference a good one? Aristotle seems to say an inductive inference is sound when what is true in each case is also true of the class under which the cases fall AnPr. For example, it is inferred from the observation that each kind of bileless animal men, horses, mules, and so on is long-lived just when the following syllogism is sound: 1 All men, horses, mules, and so on are long-lived; 2 All long-lived animals are bileless; therefore 3 all men, horses, mules, and so on are bileless see Groarke sections 10 and However, Aristotle does not think that knowledge of universals is pieced together from knowledge of particulars but rather he thinks that induction is what allows one to actualize knowledge by grasping how the particular case falls under the universal AnPr.

A true definition reveals the essential nature of something, what it is to be that thing AnPo. A sound demonstration shows what is necessary of an observed subject AnPo. It is essential, however, that the observation on which a definition is based be inductively true, that is, that it be based on causes rather than on chance. Regardless of whether one is asking what something is in a definition or why something is the way it is by giving its cause, it is only when the principles or starting points of a science are given that demonstration becomes possible.

Since experience is what gives the principles of each science AnPr. This is why logic, though it is employed in all branches of philosophy, is not a part of philosophy. Rather, in the Aristotelian tradition, logic is an instrument for the philosopher, just as a hammer and anvil are instruments for the blacksmith Ierodiakonou Just as dialectic searches for truth, Aristotelian rhetoric serves as its counterpart Rhet.

Thus, rhetorical demonstration, or enthymeme, is a kind of syllogism that strictly speaking belongs to dialectic Rhet. Because rhetoric uses the particularly human capacity of reason to formulate verbal arguments, it is the art that can cause the most harm when it is used wrongly. It is thus not a technique for persuasion at any cost, as some Sophists have taught, but a fundamentally second-personal way of using language that allows the auditor to reach a judgment Grimaldi , 3—5.

More fundamentally, rhetoric is defined as the detection of persuasive features of each subject matter Rhet. Proofs given in speech depend on three things: the character ethos of the speaker, the disposition pathos of the audience, and the meaning logos of the sounds and gestures used Rhet. Rhetorical proofs show that the speaker is worthy of credence, producing an emotional state pathos in the audience, or demonstrating a consequence using the words alone.

Aristotle holds that ethos is the most important of these elements, since trust in the speaker is required if one is to believe the speech.

However, the best speech balances ethos, pathos, and logos. In rhetoric, enthymemes play a deductive role, while examples play an inductive role Rhet. The deductive form of rhetoric, enthymeme, is a dialectical syllogism in which the probable premise is suppressed so that one reasons directly from the necessary premise to the conclusion.

For example, one may reason that an animal has given birth because she has milk Rhet. The inductive form of rhetoric, reasoning from example, can be illustrated as follows. Peisistratus in Athens and Theagenes in Megara both petitioned for guards shortly before establishing themselves as tyrants. Thus, someone plotting a tyranny requests a guard Rhet.

This proof by example does not have the force of necessity or universality and does not count as a case of scientific induction, since it is possible someone could petition for a guard without plotting a tyranny. But when it is necessary to base some decision, for example, whether to grant a request for a bodyguard, on its likely outcome, one must look to prior examples.

It is the work of the rhetorician to know these examples and to formulate them in such a way as to suggest definite policies on the basis of that knowledge. Rhetoric is divided into deliberative, forensic, and display rhetoric. Deliberative rhetoric is concerned with the future, namely with what to do, and the deliberative rhetorician is to discuss the advantages and harms associated with a specific course of action.

Forensic rhetoric, typical of the courtroom, concerns the past, especially what was done and whether it was just or unjust. Display rhetoric concerns the present and is about what is noble or base, that is, what should be praised or denigrated Rhet.

In all these domains, the rhetorician practices a kind of reasoning that draws on similarities and differences to produce a likely prediction that is of value to the political community.

A common characteristic of insightful philosophers, rhetoricians, and poets is the capacity to observe similarities in things that are unlike, as Archytas did when he said that a judge and an alter are kindred, since someone who has been wronged has recourse to both Rhet.

This noticing of similarities and differences is part of what separates those who are living the good life from those who are merely living Sens. Likewise, the highest achievement of poetry is to use good metaphors, since to make metaphors well is to contemplate what is like Poet.

Poetry is thus closely related to both philosophy and rhetoric, though it differs from them in being fundamentally mimetic, imitating reality through an artistic form. Imitation in poetry is achieved by means of rhythm, language, and harmony Poet. While other arts share some or all these elements—painting imitates visually by the same means, while dance imitates only through rhythm—poetry is a kind of vocalized music, in which voice and discursive meaning are combined.

Aristotle is interested primarily in the kinds of poetry that imitate human actions, which fall into the broad categories of comedy and tragedy. Comedy is an imitation of worse types of people and actions, which reflect our lower natures. These imitations are not despicable or painful, but simply ridiculous or distorted, and observing them gives us pleasure Poet.

Aristotle wrote a book of his Poetics on comedy, but the book did not survive. Hence, through a historical accident, the traditions of aesthetics and criticism that proceed from Aristotle are concerned almost completely with tragedy.

Tragedy imitates actions that are excellent and complete. As opposed to comedy, which is episodic, tragedy should have a single plot that ends in a presentation of pity and fear and thus a catharsis—a cleansing or purgation—of the passions Poet.

The most important aspect of a tragedy is how it uses a story or myth to lead the psyches of its audience to this catharsis Poet. Since the beauty or fineness of a thing—say, of an animal—consists in the orderly arrangement of parts of a definite magnitude Poet. This moment produces pity and fear in the audience, fulfilling the purpose of tragic imitation Poet. The pity and fear produced by imitative poetry are the source of a peculiar form of pleasure Poet. Though the imitation itself is a kind of technique or art, this pleasure is natural to human beings.

Because of this potential to produce emotions and lead the psyche, poetics borders both on what is well natured and on madness Poet. Why do people write plays, read stories, and watch movies? Aristotle thinks that because a series of sounds with minute differences can be strung together to form conventional symbols that name particular things, hearing has the accidental property of supporting meaningful speech, which is the cause of learning Sens. Poetry picks up on this natural capacity, artfully imitating reality in language without requiring that things are actually the way they are presented as being Poet.

Should the poet imitate things as they are, or as they should be? Though it is clear that the standard of correctness in poetry and politics is not the same Poet. Within theoretical philosophy, first philosophy studies objects that are motionless and separate from material things, mathematics studies objects that are motionless but not separate, and natural philosophy studies objects that are in motion and not separate Met.

This threefold distinction among the beings that can be contemplated corresponds to the level of precision that can be attained by each branch of theoretical philosophy. First philosophy can be perfectly exact because there is no variation among its objects and thus it has the potential to give one knowledge in the most profound sense.

To grasp the nature of a thing is to be able to explain why it was generated essentially: the nature of a thing does not merely contribute to a change but is the primary determinant of the change as such Waterlow , p.

Substantial change occurs when a substance is generated Phys. Ripening occurs when heat burns up the air in the part of the plant near the ground, causing convection that alters the originally light color of the fruit to its dark contrary de Plantis b19— In substantial change, a new primary substance is generated; in non-substantial change, some property of preexisting substance changes to a contrary state.

A process of change is completely described when its four causes are given. The 1 material cause of the change is given when the underlying matter of the thing has been described, such as the bronze matter of which a statue is composed.

The 3 efficient cause is given when one says what brought the change about, for example, when one names the sculptor. The 4 final cause is given when one says the purpose of the change, for example, when one says why the sculptor chose to make the bronze sphere Phys.

In natural change the principle of change is internal, so the formal, efficient, and final causes typically coincide.

But Cook has shown that the underlying thing normally means matter that already has some form. Indeed, Aristotle claims that the matter of perceptible things has no separate existence but is always already informed by a contrary Gen et Corr.

Thus, even in the most basic cases, matter is always actually informed, even though the form is potentially subject to change. For example, throwing water on a fire cools and moistens it, and bringing about a new quality in the underlying material.

In general, Aristotle will describe changes that occur in time as arising from a potential, which is actualized when the change is complete.

However, what is actual is logically prior to what is potential, since a potentiality aims at its own actualization and thus must be defined in terms of what is actual. Indeed, generically the actual is also temporally prior to potentiality, since there must invariably be a preexisting actuality that brings the potentiality to its own actualization Met. Perhaps because of the priority of the actual to the potential, whenever Aristotle speaks of natural change, he is concerned with a field of naturalistic inquiry that is continuous rather than atomistic and purposeful or teleological rather than mechanical.

In his more specific naturalistic works, Aristotle lays out a program of specialized studies about the heavens and Earth, living things, and the psyche. Since all sublunary bodies move in a rectilinear pattern, the heavenly bodies must be composed of a different body that naturally moves in a circle DC a2—10, Meteor.

This body cannot have an opposite, because there is no opposite to circular motion DC a20, compare a19— Aristotle defines time as the number of motion, since motion is necessarily measured by time Phys. Thus, the motion of the eternal bodies is what makes time, so the life and being of sublunary things depends on them.

Noticing that water naturally forms spherical droplets and that it flows towards the lowest point on a plane, Aristotle concludes that both the heavens and the earth are spherical DC b1— This is further confirmed by observations of eclipses DC b23—31 and that different stars are visible at different latitudes DC b14—a Just as in his biology, where Aristotle draws on animal anatomy observed at sacrifices HA b25 and records reports from India HA a25 , so in his astronomy he cites Egyptian and Babylonian observations of the planets DC a4—9.

By gathering evidence from many sources, Aristotle is able to conclude that the stars and the Moon are spherical DC b11—20 and that the Milky Way is an appearance produced by the sight of many stars moving in the outermost sphere Meteor. Assuming the hypothesis that the Earth does not move DC b6—7 , Aristotle argues that there are in the heavens both stars, which are large and distant from earth, and planets, which are smaller and closer.

The two can be distinguished since stars appear to twinkle while planets do not Aristotle somewhat mysteriously attributes the twinkling stars to their distance from the eye of the observer DC b14— Unlike earthly creatures, which move because of their distinct organs or parts, both the moving stars and the unmoving heaven that contains them are spherical DC a30—b As opposed to superlunary eternal substances, sublunary beings, like clouds and human beings, participate in the eternal through coming to be and passing away.

Aristotle holds that the Earth is composed of four spheres, each of which is dominated by one of the four elements. The innermost and heaviest sphere is predominantly earth, on which rests upper spheres of water, air, and fire. The sun acts to burn up or vaporize the water, which rises to the upper spheres when heated, but when cooled later condenses into rain Meteor.

If unqualified necessity is restricted to the superlunary sphere, teleology—the seeking of ends that may or may not be brought about—seems to be limited to the sublunary sphere.

Due to his belief that the Earth is eternal, being neither created nor destroyed, Aristotle holds that the epochs move cyclically in patterns of increase and decrease Meteor. Indeed, parts of the world that are ocean periodically become land, while those that are land are covered over by ocean Meteor.

Because of periodic catastrophes, all human wisdom that is now sought concerning both the arts and divine things was previously possessed by forgotten ancestors. However, some of this wisdom is preserved in myths, which pass on knowledge of the divine by allegorically portraying the gods in human or animal form so that the masses can be persuaded to follow laws Met.

His theory of the rainbow suggests that drops of water suspended in the air form mirrors which reflect the multiply-colored visual ray that proceeds from the eye without its proper magnitude Meteor.

Though the explanations given by Aristotle of these phenomena contradict those of modern physics, his careful observations often give interest to his account. The phenomenon of life, as opposed to inanimate nature, involves distinctive types of change Phys.

Biological explanations should give all four causes of an organism or species—the material of which it is composed, the processes that bring it about, the particular form it has, and its purpose. For Aristotle, the investigation of individual organisms gives one causal knowledge since the individuals belong to a natural kind.

Biology should explain both why homologous forms exist in different species and the ways in which they differ, and therefore the causes for the persistence of each natural kind of living thing. Although all four causes are relevant in biology, Aristotle tends to group final causes with formal causes in teleological explanations, and material causes with efficient causes in mechanical explanations.

Teleological explanations are necessary conditionally; that is, they depend on the assumption that the biologist has correctly identified the end for the sake of which the organism behaves as it does. Mechanical explanations, in distinction, have absolute necessity in the sense that they require no assumptions about the purpose of the organism or behavior. The final cause of each kind corresponds to the reason that it continues to persist.

They are activated, whether consciously or not, for the good of the species, namely for its continuation, in which it imitates the eternal things Gen et Corr. In this way, life can be considered to be directed toward and imitative of the divine DC b18— Perhaps foremost among these is reproduction, which establishes the continuity of a species through a generation. It was not a society where people visited a doctor but rather it was the doctors who travelled round the country tending to the sick.

Although we know nothing of Aristotle's early years it is highly likely that he would have accompanied his father in his travels. We do know that Nicomachus found the conditions in Chalcidice less satisfactory than in the neighbouring state of Macedonia and he began to work there with so much success that he was soon appointed as the personal physician to Amyntas III, king of Macedonia. There is no record to indicate whether Aristotle lived with his father in Pella, the capital of Macedonia, while Nicomachus attended to king Amyntas at the court there.

However, Aristotle was certainly friendly with Philip, king Amyntas's son, some years later and it seems reasonable to assume that the two, who were almost exactly the same age, had become friendly in Pella as young children. When Aristotle was about ten years old his father died. This certainly meant that Aristotle could not now follow in his father's profession of doctor and, since his mother seems also to have died young, Aristotle was brought up by a guardian, Proxenus of Atarneus, who was his uncle or possibly a family friend as is suggested by some authors.

Proxenus taught Aristotle Greek, rhetoric , and poetry which complemented the biological teachings that Nicomachus had given Aristotle as part of training his son in medicine. Since in latter life Aristotle wrote fine Greek prose, this too must have been part of his early education. At the time that Aristotle joined the Academy it had been operating for twenty years. Plato was not in Athens, but rather he was on his first visit to Syracuse. We should not think of Plato's Academy as a non-political organisation only interested in abstract ideas.

The Academy was highly involved in the politics of the time, in fact Plato 's visit to Sicily was for political reasons, and the politics of the Academy and of the whole region would play a major role in influencing the course of Aristotle's life.

Speusippus , Plato's nephew, was also teaching at the Academy as was Xenocrates of Chalcedon. After being a student, Aristotle soon became a teacher at the Academy and he was to remain there for twenty years.

We know little regarding what Aristotle taught at the Academy. In [ 10 ] Diogenes Laertius , writing in the second century AD, says that Aristotle taught rhetoric and dialectic. Certainly Aristotle wrote on rhetoric at this time, issuing Gryllus which attacked the views on rhetoric of Isocrates, who ran another major educational establishment in Athens.

All Aristotle's writings of this time strongly support Plato 's views and those of the Academy. Towards the end of Aristotle's twenty years at the Academy his position became difficult due to the political events of the time. Amyntas, the king of Macedonia, died around BC, a couple of years before Aristotle went to Athens to join the Academy.

Philip used skilful tactics, both military and political, to allow Macedonia a period of internal peace in which they expanded by victories over the surrounding areas. Philip captured Olynthus and annexed Chalcidice in BC. Stagirus, the town of Aristotle's birth, held out for a while but was also defeated by Philip. Athens worried about the powerful threatening forces of Macedonia, and yet Aristotle had been brought up at the Court of Macedonia and had probably retained his friendship with Philip.

The actual order of events is now a little uncertain. Plato died in BC and Speusippus assumed the leadership of the Academy. Aristotle was certainly opposed to the views of Speusippus and he may have left the Academy following Plato 's death for academic reasons or because he failed to be named head of the Academy himself. Some sources, however, suggest that he may have left for political reasons before Plato died because of his unpopularity due to his Macedonian links.

Aristotle travelled from Athens to Assos which faces the island of Lesbos. He was not alone in leaving the Academy for Xenocrates of Chalcedon left with him. In Assos Aristotle was received by the ruler Hermias of Atarneus with much acclaim. It is likely that Aristotle was acting as an ambassador for Philip and he certainly was treated as such by Hermias.

Aristotle married Pythias, the niece and adopted daughter of Hermias, and they had one child, a daughter also called Pythias. However, Aristotle's wife died about 10 years after their marriage. It is thought that she was much younger than Aristotle, being probably of age of about 18 when they married. On Assos, Aristotle became the leader of the group of philosophers which Hermias had gathered there.

It is possible that Xenocrates was also a member of the group for a time. Aristotle had a strong interest in anatomy and the structure of living things in general, an interest which his father had fostered in him in his early years, that helped him to develop a remarkable talent for observation.

Aristotle and the members of his group began to collect observations while in Assos, in particular in zoology and biology. Barnes writes in [ 6 ] that Aristotle's The enquiries upon which those great works were based were probably carried out largely in Assos and Lesbos. Aristotle probably begun his work Politics on Assos as well as On Kingship which is now lost. He began to develop a philosophy distinct from that of Plato who had said the kings should be philosophers and philosophers kings.

In On Kingship Aristotle wrote that it is Rather a king should take the advice of true philosophers. Then he would fill his reign with good deeds, not with good words. However, Aristotle's time in Assos was ended by political events. The Persians attacked the town and Hermias was captured and executed.

Aristotle escaped and stopped on the island of Lesbos on his way to Macedonia. It was more than a passing visit for he remained there for about a year and must have had the group of scientists from Assos with him for they continued their biological researches there.

In these works, Aristotle discusses his system for reasoning and for developing sound arguments. Aristotle composed works on astronomy, including On the Heavens , and earth sciences, including Meteorology. Although many of his views on the Earth were controversial at the time, they were re-adopted and popularized during the late Middle Ages.

In On the So ul , Aristotle examines human psychology. The initial process involved describing objects based on their characteristics, states of being and actions. In his philosophical treatises, Aristotle also discussed how man might next obtain information about objects through deduction and inference.

Aristotle believed that knowledge could be obtained through interacting with physical objects. He also recognized that human interpretation and personal associations played a role in our understanding of those objects. He attempted, with some error, to classify animals into genera based on their similar characteristics.

He further classified animals into species based on those that had red blood and those that did not. Marine biology was also an area of fascination for Aristotle. Through dissection, he closely examined the anatomy of marine creatures. In contrast to his biological classifications, his observations of marine life, as expressed in his books, are considerably more accurate.

Aristotle in The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael, Photo: Raphael [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Together, the couple had a daughter, Pythias, named after her mother. In B. Soon after, Aristotle embarked on a romance with a woman named Herpyllis, who hailed from his hometown of Stagira. They presume that he eventually freed and married her. Phillip and Alexander both held Aristotle in high esteem and ensured that the Macedonia court generously compensated him for his work.

On and off, Aristotle spent most of the remainder of his life working as a teacher, researcher and writer at the Lyceum in Athens until the death of his former student Alexander the Great. Art was also a popular area of interest. Members of the Lyceum wrote up their findings in manuscripts.