Introduction

Aristotle is remember for many reasons. You might know of his do to his contributions to the field of rhetoric, or his work on philosophy, or his contributions to the sciences, or the many other scholarly contributions he made within his lifetime. These contributions range many different disciplines of education, all of which serve to lay the foundations for many everyday fields of knowledge, leading him to influence world events thousands of years after his death.

History

Aristotle was born in 384 BC, in the Kingdom of Macedonia. His father was the court physician to the King of Macedonia at the time, King Amyntus III. When Aristotle turned 17 he left Macedonia to go to Athens to study under the most famous philosopher of the time, Plato. He remained at Plato’s Academy for the next 20 years. After 20 years, he ended up leaving the Academy in 347 BC when Plato died leaving his nephew as headmaster of the Academy. The specific reason for leaving were many disagreement upon the direction that Plato’s nephew attempted to take the Academy. However, it has been speculated that the actual reason that Aristotle left the academy was that around 347 BC, there was a great increase in anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens, as a result of Macedonian expansionist policy. Aristotle spent the next few years dedicating his time to study biology (primarily animals and plants) on the islands of Lesbos and Assos. He continued these biological and other scholarly pursuits for five years, until the Macedonian King Philip II, requested he tutor his son Alexander (the Great). After educating Alexander for 10 years, he returned to Athens to open his own school, which would become known as the Lyceum. Aristotle taught at the Lyceum for the 12 years, until he was once more forced to flee from Athens due to anti-Macedonian sentiment, which was aimed at him by rival scholars. He died of natural causes a little north of Athens the following year. His work was surprisingly forgotten for nearly two hundred years, until it was rediscovered in the first century BC. After rediscovery it immediately became popular once more, leading it to greatly influence the Romans, the Byzantines, the Islamic world, and all of Europe, from their rediscovery until modern day.

Significance

Aristotle’s works have accomplished a goal that few others have, he managed to influence the development nearly every Mediterranean and European society, and by extension every modern society. Aristotle’s greatest impacts can be seen in his creation of a logic system, established many fields of sciences, and creation of a philosophy system which serves as one of the foundation works of philosophy even to this day.

Aristotle was the first person to create and widely disseminate a system of logical thought. He did this by proposing a system of logical that is much like a prototype of deductive reasoning, in which one examines characteristics of known things and then compares them to the characteristics of unknown things. If the characteristics are the same, then the knowledge of thing one can be extrapolated onto the second thing because they are probably the same, or at very least are similar enough that the data will work for both. This idea was so revolutionary, because it allowed for deduction and reason to solve problems in a systematic way. This logic system would go on to aid scientific research and other intellectually inquiry so much that it would remain in place until it was replaced with a more scientific approach in the late 1800s.

In terms of Science, Aristotle contributed much to the foundations of many fields. Aristotle began the sciences of botony and zoology when he observed plant and animal life on Lesbos and Assos and wrote detailed information about characteristics and perceived properties of many of the things that he observed. He also began physics when he speculated and lectured on the nature of movement. In addition to physics he also influenced astronomy, his most famous contribution being the creation of a model of the solar system which placed the earth at the center of the solar system. He played a great role in the foundation of psychology through his speculation on the human mind in the form of his philosophical writings. Even though many of his beliefs and finding would be proven incorrect, it was his original research that encouraged later generations to inquiry into the various fields that he researched. 

Finally, Aristotle created a highly influential philosophical morality, that was and to a certain extent, is still widely followed. Aristotle believed that nature had bestowed certain behaviors on human being for survival, to this end he grounded his philosophy deeply within the confines of human nature. He thought that a society should be created to strive for contentment and happiness of it’s citizens. He thought that this happiness, or flourishing as he called it, could only be achieved long term by individuals being virtuous, in particular by balancing various different traits around a moderate point. This concept of balancing traits through moderation, very arguable influenced the foundations of Christianity and Islam.

In conclusion, Aristotle is significant because he created the first system of widely circulated logical reasoning, he created many fields of science and encouraged inquiry into these fields, and he created a moral system which still influences the world to this day.

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