Bio--Aristotle

 

 ARISTOTLE

   (384–322 B.C.) 

 

 Greek philosopher 

Born in Stagita, Greece, Aristotle attended the Academy of Plato in Athens for twenty years until Plato’s death. 

 

After teaching and tutoring for a few years, he established a school in Athens known as the Lyceum.

 His aim was to establish a program of investigation and teaching in almost every branch of knowledge. His philosophy consisted in his contributions to the sciences and his reflections on their interrelations.

 With the exception of Plato, his teacher, he is considered to be the most influential philosopher in the history of western thought.

 Though a disciple of Plato, Aristotle’s philosophical position was very different. In fact, by the end of his life Aristotle rejected most of Plato’s metaphysical philosophy, replacing it with empirical science.

 Aristotle believed that philosophic wisdom must be intuitive reason combined with scientific knowledge and that practical wisdom is concerned with things “human.”
Aristotle believed that the relations between man and God are so different because man has imperfections and hindrances that do not exist in the perfect God. God, according to Aristotle, goes through no processes as man does. He is pure mind, which can contemplate in a single instant. He is the one full and perfect being.

 According to Aristotle, “God is the Unmoved Mover.” The “dunamis,” or urge of nature, propels man to grow to maturity and seek to be like the excellent, virtuous God. Aristotle believed that virtue in man is a “state of character.” A man is virtuous both in word and life because his character is such. Virtue is in our own power, also vice. For where it is in our power to act, it is also our power not to act. Men make themselves responsible for being unjust or self-indulgent, therefore creating a character that reflects God.

 Aristotle supervised the education of Alexander, son of Philip II of Macedon, later know as Alexander the Great. 

After several years in Athens, Aristotle was charged by the Athenians with “impiety”—a lack of reverence for the gods. He fled to Chalcis, since he had not forgotten the fate of Socrates, condemned to death on a similar charge. He died in Chalcis one year later.

 In the early centuries of the Christian church, Aristotle’s philosophy was regarded with suspicion because many people thought that his teachings led to a materialistic view of the world. However, after first-hand acquaintance with Aristotle had disappeared for some centuries, knowledge of his teachings was recovered from Arabic translations made by Jews and Muslims. His writings were translated into Latin and after some suspicion, were actually incorporated into use by Christian philosophers such as St. Thomas Aquinas. 

To these leading scholars, his writings seemed to contain the sum total of human knowledge, and his thoughts were comparable to those of the Christian philosophers. The systems of these philosophers were built on an avowedly Aristotelian basis. This basis has been accepted by philosophical theology in the West ever since.