Who was Aristotle ????

Greek philosopher. A pupil of Plato, the tutor of Alexander the Great, and the author of works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, natural sciences, politics, and poetics, he profoundly influenced Western thought. In his philosophical system, which led him to criticize what he saw as Plato's metaphysical excesses, theory follows empirical observation and logic, based on the syllogism, is the essential method of rational inquiry.Influenced by his father, the physician Nicomachus, Aristotle developed an early interest in science. As a student of Plato he formed a love of philosophy and logic. He then became the tutor to Alexander of Macedon (later Alexander the Great). After Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens, where he founded his own school, known formally as the Lyceum and less formally as the Peripatetic ("walking around") school, because students followed their teacher as he walked in the garden. Aristotle is considered the father of biology. Alexander the Great became his patron, funding his work and arranging for Aristotle to receive samples of plants and animals from all corners of the Alexandrian empire. Ancient scholars attributed as many as 400 treatises to Aristotle, encompassing all knowledge in Antiquity about the universe. About 30 have survived and these are thought to have been compiled by his students.Greek philosopher and scientist whose thought determined the course of Western intellectual history for two millenia. He was the son of the court physician to Amyntas III, grandfather of Alexander the Great. In 367 he became a student at the Academy of Plato in Athens; he remained there for 20 years. After Plato's death in 348/347, he returned to Macedonia, where he became tutor to the young Alexander. In 335 he founded his own school in Athens, the Lyceum. His intellectual range was vast, covering most of the sciences and many of the arts. He worked in physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, and botany; in psychology, political theory, and ethics; in logic and metaphysics; and in history, literary theory, and rhetoric. He invented the study of formal logic, devising for it a finished system, known as syllogistic, that was considered the sum of the discipline until the 19th century; his work in zoology, both observational and theoretical, also was not surpassed until the 19th century. His ethical and political theory, especially his conception of the ethical virtues and of human flourishing (“happiness”), continue to exert great influence in philosophical debate. He wrote prolifically; his major surviving works include the Organon, De Anima (“On the Soul”), Physics,

Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, Magna Moralia, Politics,

Rhetoric, and Poetics, as well as other works on natural history and science.

Life 

Aristotle's father, Nicomachus, was a noted physician. Aristotle studied (367–347 B.C.) under Plato at the Academy and there wrote many dialogues that were praised for their eloquence. Only fragments of these dialogues are extant. He tutored (342–c.339

B.C.) Alexander the Great at the Macedonian court, left to live in Stagira, and then returned to Athens. In 335 B.C. he opened a school in the Lyceum; some distinguished members of the Academy followed him. His practice of lecturing in the Lyceum's portico, or covered walking place (peripatos), gave his school the name Peripatetic. During the anti-Macedonian agitation after Alexander's death, Aristotle fled in 323

B.C. to Chalcis, where he died.

Works 

Aristotle's extant writings consist largely of his written versions of his lectures; some passages appear to be interpolations of notes made by his students; the texts were edited and given their present form by Andronicus of Rhodes in the 1st cent. B.C. Chief among them are the Organum, consisting of six treatises on logic; Physics;

Metaphysics; De Anima [on the soul]; Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics; De

Poetica [poetics]; Rhetoric; and a series of works on biology and physics. In the late 19th cent. his Constitution of Athens, an account of Athenian government, was found.

Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BCE – March 7, 322 BCE) was an

ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on diverse subjects, including physics, poetry, biology and zoology, logic,

rhetoric, politics and government, and ethics. Along with Socrates and Plato, Aristotle was one of the most influential of ancient Greek philosophers. They transformed

Presocratic Greek philosophy into the foundations of Western philosophy as we know it. Some consider Plato and Aristotle to have founded two of the most important schools of Ancient philosophy; others consider Aristotelianism as a development and concretization of Plato's insights. Although Aristotle wrote dialogues, only fragments of these have survived. The works that have survived are in treatise form and were, for the most part, unpublished texts. These are generally thought to be lecture notes or texts used by his students. Among the most important are Physics, Metaphysics (or Ontology), Nicomachean

Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics. These works, although connected in many fundamental ways, differ significantly in both style and substance. Aristotle was a polymath. He not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but made significant contributions to most of them. In science, Aristotle studied

anatomy, astronomy, economics, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology,

physics, and zoology. In philosophy, Aristotle wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government,

metaphysics, politics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also dealt with education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works practically constitute an

encyclopedia of Greek knowledge.