Aristotle’s Life and Philosophy

Aristotle was one of the greatest and oldest philosophers of all-time. In fact, he was born way back in 384 B.C! Aristotle was born in Stagira which is in North Greece, and he was the son of Nichomachus. Aristotle was trained in many things including medicine, and then later on was sent to Athens in 367 to study philosophy. Aristotle’s search for success began there. Athens was where Plato would teach Aristotle.  He lived his life through his teachings on things that he thought was important to the world, and we still study him today.  He and “Plato” discussed their theories and differences, and many more other ideas.  Aristotle’s views on all his topics made philosophers think differently in many ways, but also let them add things and subtract things to their own thoughts, writings, ideas, and views. Aristotle was an influence to many philosophers today and so many people all over the world look to his ideas for information, to elaborate on his ideas.

First, Aristotle was also known for being in a group called “The Big Three”. Socrates and Plato were also involved in part of the big three. The Big Three was a group based on these three Greek philosophers sharing their thoughts, teachings and movements to help others all over the world to better understand life. Aristotle would travel around in search of knowledge in studies such as biology. However, in 338 B.C Aristotle returned to Macedonia to teach Alexander the Great. Alexander the great had acquired knowledge from Aristotle’s teachings. Also, Aristotle returned to Athens to set up his own school to help out other scholars. [1]Alexander died therefore, Athens rebelled against Macedonia. (1) Waggoner, Ben. “Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.).” ucmp.berkeley.edu. ucmp.berkeley.edu, University of California, 14 June 1994. Web. 1 April 2013. <www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html>.  Over his life time, Aristotle had changed philosophy, and how people gain information from situations that may occur in their own lives. According to, Ben Waggoner with the department of Biology of University of Central Arkansas says; “Aristotle has written 150 treaties and only 30 of them has survived with different situations involving philosophy.” (2) Waggoner, Ben. “Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.).” ucmp.berkeley.edu. ucmp.berkeley.edu, University of California, 14 June 1994. Web. 1 April 2013. <www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html>. [2]Aristotle has written things on slavery, living beings, Happiness, science and many more subjects. Aristotle’s teacher Plato located and gathered ultimate reality in ideas or eternal forms, and only you could see it through reflection and reason. Aristotle on the other hand saw ultimate reality in physical objects, learning through experience. (1) Shields, Christopher, “Aristotle” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) 25 September 2008. Web. 1 April 2012 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/>, (3) Waggoner, Ben. “Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.).” ucmp.berkeley.edu. ucmp.berkeley.edu, University of California, 14 June 1994. Web. 1 April 2013. <www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html>. Aristotle’s view on animals was he used a word called “Genera”. Meaning, the animals would be grouped into different groups with ones that had blood and also ohers that did not have blood. Aristotle would do his research on these types of animals or insects figuring out similarities and differences of the two. Aristotle has a word known as [3]“Telos”. He believed a seed would not be a “telos” of a tree at first. However, he found that a seed would grow into a large tree that would be the telos. Therefore, the “telos” is the outcome of something, purpose of something, or goal. Next, (1) Cohen, Marc. “Introduction to Aristotle.” Hackett, 3 January 2008. Web. 1 April 2013. <http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/433/arintro.htm.>. Aristotle, and his view on the universe was the universe is a stationary earth surrounded by concentric spheres that carry the sun, moon, planets, and many stars. He also believed everything below the moon was made of fundamental elements such as earth, water, air, and fire. He also believed the elements would interact with one another and transform. Each of these has its own properties of hot, cold, wet, and dry. The earth would be cold and dry, water would be cold and wet, air was hot and wet, and fire was hot and dry. Each element has a place and movements to it as well. The four [4]sublunary elements tend to move in a straight line which involves earth, fire, air, and water. The earth would move down toward the center of the universe, fire toward an extreme, and air and water towards neutral places. Now when all of these are in their natural places they remain settle unless something occurs to make these elements move and this is called [5]“unmoved mover”. Therefore, Aristotle explained that a unmoved mover is the cause of change by itself uncaused and outside of the universe. (2) Cohen, Marc. “Introduction to Aristotle.” Hackett, 3 January 2008. Web. 1 April 2013. <http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/433/arintro.htm.>, (1) Tigue, Joseph. The God Concept: Aristotle and the Philosophical Tradition. Foundations of Science. (pg. 218-219)Pittsburgh Pennsylvania: Duquesne University. 2008. Aristotle proposed a word called [6]psuchê to figure out the difference between living and nonliving. He says that all living things have souls he does not focus mainly on mind, thought or personality. He then says there were different degrees or levels of soul. At the top level; or fundamental level, there is nutritive soul which is common to all living things around the world.  Then there was higher levels of soul such as rational soul that are appetitive, locomotive, and perceptive and these go with humans. He writes about soul in [7]“De Anima II” and says that it is not activity or behavior but it could be capacity or ability to act or to behave. Therefore, it’s how humans to basically go about their business while they live. (3) Cohen, Marc. “Introduction to Aristotle.” Hackett, 3 January 2008. Web. 1 April 2013. <http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/433/arintro.htm.>, (1) Mari, Giuseppe.Aristotle and Pedagogy. Estudios Sobre Educacion. Italy: Catholic University of Milan, 2004. (pg. 88-90) Aristotle talks about Politics and  slaves and tools. He calls slaves “artificial slaves” plus relates it to tools of labor such as humans, horses, and tools itself. He also says slaves are [8]animate, and the master uses them to get what he wants while being able to pay/ treat them anyway he wants. Aristotle says that slaves are network of tools that allow the owner to live well throughout his journey and the network of tools are chained to other tools. Lagrandeur, Kevin. “How Aristotle’s Politics Exhibits Ambivalence Toward Slavery.” Hackett.  1995. Web. 1 April 2013. <http://myweb.brooklyn.liu.edu/mcuonzo/AristotleSlavery.htm>.Aristotle believed that there was knowledge to gain that every student needed to know at one point in their lives. He also believed that creative or constructive functions of reason could operate once they are complete while basic bodies of knowledge was mastered, therefore the individuals had acquired some real life experience to help them move on. (1) Rivera, John. Finding Aristotle’s Golden Mean: Social Justice and Academic Excellence. Boston Massachusetts: Boston University. 2005. (pg. 80). In Addition, Aristotle talks on about development of moral virtue of Nicomachean ethics. He says that young adults progress from childish wanting to reasoning and eventually reach [9]virtuous desires. A person must arrive at a state of character in which things are appropriate, such as feelings and actions in nature and to achieve a purpose in life. He says in order to become virtuous you must be able to do virtuous activity. Therefore, he says that people are in virtuous state or have been can act righteously; this is to show how that people could become virtuous in life, but  not necessarily in how they conduct their life. (1) Cain, Amanda. Books and becoming good: demonstrating Aristotle’s theory of moral development in the act of reading.  Journal of Moral Education. Pennsylvania: Francis Harvey Green Library, 2005. (pg. 172- 173). All this can be viewed in the passages of the [10]Nicomachean ethic, and explains various examples on virtuous definition. Aristotle and his view on virtues was kind of broad in some ways, however he began thinking with a range of things that people normally do in desire. These skills include; health, knowledge, wealth, and power, among others. Goods such as wealth and power are kind of different from the others, and are used in various ways. Health, friendship, and knowledge  are meaning to some other end. He says there is only one good and that is [11]eudaimonia. The other goods are well being; well being is the ultimate feul for human kind to help a person in life and help them grow. Eudaimonia is pretty much the overall well-being of a person. It has been said by him that choices shape a persons life, and how our decisions impact our lives. He also states;[12]virtue is the habit of making good choices throughout are lives. Rice, Suzanne. TOWARD AN ARISTOTELIAN CONCEPTION OF GOOD LISTENING. Educational Theory Chicago:  University of Illinois, 2011. (pg. 142-143).

In Conclusion, Aristotle’s views on all his topics made philosophers think differently in many ways, but also let them add things and subtract things to their own thoughts, writings, ideas, and views. His teachings were very complex and kind of hard for some philosophers or people to interpret, but many of his ideas were understandable in ways that we are able to see them and relate them to our lives in many ways. Aristotle again taught Alexander and his ideals had rubbed off to Alexander the Great. Aristotle covered most sciences and a lot of information in his lifetime making him one of the earliest philosophers of all time.. He also worked a wide range of chemistry, biology, botany, zoology, and many more other things that help us to this day. As said before his ideas on ethical virtues and human prosper or “happiness” still goes on throughout the philosophical world.

Curren, Randell. Aristotle’s educational politics and the Aristotelian renaissance in philosophy of education. Oxford Review of Education. New York: University of Rochester, 2010.

Rice, Suzanne. TOWARD AN ARISTOTELIAN CONCEPTION OF GOOD LISTENING. Educational Theory  Chicago:  University of Illinois, 2011.

Mari, Giuseppe. Aristotle and Pedagogy. Estudios Sobre Educacion. Italy: Catholic University of Milan, 2004.

Cain, Amanda. Books and becoming good: demonstrating Aristotle’s theory of moral development in the act of reading.  Journal of Moral Education. Pennsylvania: Francis Harvey Green Library, 2005.

Rivera, John. Finding Aristotle’s Golden Mean: Social Justice and Academic Excellence. Boston Massachusetts: Boston University. 2005

Tigue, Joseph. The God Concept: Aristotle and the Philosophical Tradition. Foundations of Science. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania: Duquesne University. 2008

Waggoner, Ben. “Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.).” ucmp.berkeley.edu. ucmp.berkeley.edu, University of California, 14 June 1994. Web. 1 April 2013. <www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/aristotle.html>.

Shields, Christopher, “Aristotle” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) 25 September 2008. Web. 1 April 2012 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/>

Cohen, Marc. “Introduction to Aristotle.” Hackett, 3 January 2008. Web. 1 April 2013. <http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/433/arintro.htm.>

Lagrandeur, Kevin. “How Aristotle’s Politics Exhibits Ambivalence Toward Slavery.” Hackett.  1995. Web. 1 April 2013. <http://myweb.brooklyn.liu.edu/mcuonzo/AristotleSlavery.htm>.

Cierny, Tessa. “Aristotle - Life and Works.”  www.unc.edu. www.unc.edu , 22 October 2009. Web. 1 April 2013. < http://www.unc.edu/~tlcierny/index.html>.www.unc.edu. www.unc.edu , 22 October 2009. Web. 1 April 2013. < http://www.unc.edu/~tlcierny/index.html>.