The ancient Greece was the birthplace of the most prominent philosophers of history, one being Aristotle. Not only did he excel in this field, he is also considered one of the most important scientists in our culture, greatly influencing a huge variety of fields. When was Aristotle born?

Who was Aristotle?

He was a great philosopher, scientist, and thinker of ancient Greece . He was a disciple of the famous philosopher Plato . He came to share and interpret in a personal way the theories of his teacher. He became one of the greatest intellectual figures in history. He was the creator of a scientific and philosophical system, which became the channel for Christian scholasticism and Islamic philosophy.

He is considered the most decisive philosopher in all of history, a model of the wise man, a pioneer of logic and he was the one who laid the foundation of the scientific method. In addition, he was the forerunner in the study of zoology .

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Aristotle’s biography

Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Estagira, Greece . From a very young age he showed interest in experimentation and natural sciences. It is likely that it was due to the profession of his father Nicomacheus , who was a physician to Amyntas III, King of Macedonia . At the age of 17, after the death of his father, his tutor Proxeno de Atarneo sent him to study in Athens at Plato’s Academy. He became one of the most brilliant students of Plato and spent 20 years in the academy.

When Plato died in 347 BC, he decided to travel to Atarneo invited by his protector and friend Hermidas, who was the governor of that city. There he lived for approximately three years, until the murder of Hermias. He traveled to Mytilene a city of Greece in the islands of Lebos and continues his research, focused on zoology and marine biology, together with his disciple Theophrastus.

He marries Phythias and a daughter is born to them whom they named after her mother (Phythias). After the death of his wife, he had a relationship with Herpyllis from which a son was born, whom he named after his father Nicomacheus. In 343 BC the Macedonian king Philip II asked Aristotle to be the tutor of his son Alexander III , who would become Alexander the Great . For this reason he traveled to the Macedonian empire and settled there until Alexander the Great began his military career. When was Aristotle born?

He returned to Athens in 335 BC where he founded his own school, the Lyceum . During his last years he managed to gather a great and extensive library as well as a large number of followers. These were known as the Peripatetics, so named because Aristotle used to discuss and teach ideas with his disciples while walking. In 323 BC, after the death of Alexander the Great, he left Athens and traveled to Chalcis.

Aristotle’s Philosophy

Aristotle’s philosophy stands out for its realism and a world that is composed of inseparable objects of form (soul) and matter (body) . Through metaphysics the reality of this compound is studied, which establishes the categories that make up the being: The quantity, the substance, the time, the relationship, the place, the possession, the situation, the passion and the action.

Aristotle thinks that these beings enclose in their nature the principle of movement and rest, with movement being their main engine of change. On the other hand, Aristotle’s ethics is based on eudaemonism , which justifies everything that serves to achieve happiness.

Being completely happy is the goal of people, a destiny that can be achieved only through the search for reason and knowledge. While for Aristotle, politics is the most important practical science of all . This is because it does not seek individual satisfaction, but collective satisfaction.

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Aristotle’s contributions

• He formed a system of reasoning, which is why he came to be considered the father of logic.
• He pushed the importance of the premises.
• He made great contributions in fields such as anatomy, philosophy, biology, zoology, physics, astronomy, etc. When was Aristotle born?
• He developed a classification design on animals.
• He studied animal anatomy .
• In politics he made great contributions, as in the structure, objective and operation that the state and the city have.
• It affirmed the importance of a constitution and a ruler to shape the lives of citizens.  
• His writings in political theory, ethics, philosophy, and metaphysics are still being studied, and his work continues to be a powerful current in modern philosophical debate.
• He left us the learning process by association.

Works of Aristotle

There were many works that the famous philosopher Aristotle wrote, around 200. Most of them in the form of notes and drafts on rhetoric, reasoning, politics, science, ethics and psychology. Of all these works, only 31 have been recovered. Among some of Aristotle’s different works are: When was Aristotle born?

• Logic : Organon, Categories, Analytical firsts, Interpretation, Topics, Analytical seconds, Refutation of Sophisms.
• Biology and Physics : History of animals, Of the parts of animals, Small treatises on nature, Of the sky, Physics, Of generation and Corruption .
• Ethics : Ethics to Nicómaco, Ethics to Eudemo, Great morals.
• Politics : Politics and Constitution of Athens.

Aristotle phrases

• The ignorant assures, the wise doubts and reflects.
• The wise man does not express everything he thinks, but he always thinks everything he expresses.
• It is not enough just to tell the truth, it is better to reveal the cause of the falsehood .
• Friendship is a soul that resides in two bodies; a heart that resides in two souls.
• There is only happiness where there is honesty and serious effort, since life is not a game.     
• Hope is the dream of the waking man. When was Aristotle born?

Influence of Aristotle

Throughout his life, Aristotle worked in various fields in which he left his influence such as: philosophy, politics, logic, ethics, metaphysics, mathematics, biology, among others. For this, he is considered one of the most brilliant minds in the history of classical humanity.

His reasoning was of great importance in the progress of communities since the Middle Ages . Different theologians applied Aristotle’s reasoning to Christianity, directing them to seek the truth and the union of the physical being and its absence.

Death of Aristotle

After the death of Alexander the Great , fearing for his life, Aristotle left Athens and took up residence on the island of Euboea, Chalcis. After one year he died in 322 BC at the age of 62 of stomach problems . Before dying he left a will in which he left his family under the protection of Antipater and the direction of the Lyceum to Teofrasto. When was Aristotle born?