Most of us have heard the name Aristotle before and we associated it with intellect, philosophy, and math. We also know that he was a really cool Greek guy, but there are plenty of really cool Greek guys, so at was his life like? What did he do that made him stand out? Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to tell you.
Aristotle’s Life
Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Greece under the Macedonian rule of Amyntas III whose private physician was Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus. After living in Stagira for 17 years and coming to terms with his father’s death, Aristotle went off to the Academy in Athens to study as a student of Plato. He lived there for 20 years sharpening his skills and delving into the world of philosophy. Plato’s tutelage had a major influence on Aristotle’s early works which conveyed strong platonic ideas, but his own understanding and conceptualizacion about the universe changed over time. Early works like Eudemus convey a strong platonic influence with how Aristotle explains the connections between the soul and the body. But as Aristotle began to distinguish himself further, his ideas would eventually begin drifting away from platonism.
Aristotle chose to leave the Academy to travel to Anatolia (currently Turkey) after Plato’s death in 348 BC. Just let him to the city of Assus where he became close friends with Hermias, a fellow graduate of the Academy. Aristotle’s friendship eventually led him to marry Hermias’s ward, Pythias, who was Aristotle’s only wife. Shortly after his marriage, Aristotle was summoned by the Macedonian king to tutor his 13 year old son, Alexander. Yes, the same Alexander who would go on to become “The Great” and the grandson of Amyntas III. In their 20 year relationship Aristotle became a good mentor to Alexander and taught him a wide range of concepts including logic, morals, and religion.
While Alexander was on his conquest, the 50-year-old Aristotle returned to Athens and established his Lyceum in a local gymnasium, which was meant to be completely free and open to the public. Aristotle spent the final years of his life teaching at the lyceum and compiling his works on various subjects, branching out to zoology, metaphysics, and ethics. Over his time there Aristotle gathered bright minded people called “peripatetics” (their name came from the open halls of the Lyceum) and passed down his vast wealth of knowledge. Since the discussions and teachings of the lyceum were free, many people came to hear Aristotle’s eye-opening lectures about philosophy and nature. It was where a restart on nurtured the next generation of Greek philosophers like Theophrastus, the originator of botany.
But after Alexander’s death, the political state of Athens grew uncertain and Aristotle left the lyceum to go live in Chalcis in order to avoid the same fate as Socrates, who was put to death in a politically intense time due to his teachings. He passed away in 322 BC in Chalcis and in his will, Aristotle gave Theophrastus the Lyceum and all of his recorded information.
Aristotle’s Work & Legacy
In total, Aristotle’s work is roughly 1,000,000 words with recorded information on nearly any topic. But Aristotle‘s main focuses throughout his life were philosophy (including metaphysics) and logic. I will discuss a few of these things and how they are still important today.
Eudaimonia: Eudaimonia is the highest level of happiness, or as Aristotle put it, human good that is the end goal of people which can justify itself. This means that eudaimonia is the highest good or performance of a certain thing based on its characteristics. For example, a knife's distinct feature is that it’s sharp and its purpose is to cut, thus its eudaimonia would be for the knife to become the best knife that can cut anything. Aristotle apply this idea to humans and decided that are distinct characteristic is our ability to think rationally, but this ability is not an innate talent and instead is a result of life. Based on this reasoning, the eudaimonia for a person is to live the best life or a “complete life” as defined by their own rationality.
Syllogisms: Aristotle is widely considered to be the father of modern logic, and invented the systematic way of considering issues. One of the most important parts of Aristotle’s logic is the syllogism, which is a centerpoint of all logic, as it is a way to obtain a conclusion from some kind of information. It is structured so that there are 3 logical propositions that end up reaching a conclusion. For example, all humans are mortal. Jeff is a human. Therefore Jeff is mortal. This is a simplistic example of a syllogism, but they can get more complicated. When do you begin supplying them with evidence, and critiquing them for logical fallacies.
Conclusion
Aristotle’s work is still remembered and used to date because he discovered the building blocks of logic and philosophy which philosophers after him built upon. Aristotle pioneered the scientific method which itself has become the reason for the most incredible scientific discoveries. Think of Aristotle as the creator of the wheel, in his lifetime all he did was make a wheel, but the generations after him used the wheel to make wagons, then they made trains, and eventually they created modern technology like cars only because Aristotle was able to take the first leap and invent the wheel. That is the scope of Aristotle’s legacy and impact on humanity. Also, did you know that Aristotle figured out the Earth was round? I’ll let you enjoy the rabbit hole yourself. Anyways, my point is that Aristotle is probably the coolest Greek guy.
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