Aristotle Biography Essay Example for Free

Aristotle Biography Essay Aristotle Aristotle was a prominent figure in history that created many philosophies during his time. He is ranked among the greatest philosophers to ever live. He moved around to many different interesting places during much of his lifetime and loved to teach. In my opinion, the most well-known philosophy is his concept of logic. Because Aristotle’s philosophies and concepts of logic and reasoning have affected much of the past, his legacy will endure for many years to come. Aristotle was born in 384 B. C in Stagira, the small city in the Macedonian region of northeastern Greece. At the age of 17, he moved to Athens to attend Plato’s Academy where he remained there for almost 40 years. He journeyed around the world then for a little while continuing his philosophical activities. When in Lesbos, he married his first wife, Pythias, with whom they had a child also named Pythias. In 343, Aristotle was appointed to be the tutor of King Philip of Macedon’s son, Alexander. This thirteen year old boy eager to learn later became known as Alexander the Great. After two years of teaching, Aristotle’s works were no longer needed because Alexander was already serving as a military commander for his father. After teaching, Aristotle returned to Athens where he built his own school that taught botany, biology, logic, music, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, cosmology, physics, the history of philosophy, metaphysics, psychology, ethics, theology, rhetoric, political history, government and political theory, rhetoric, and the arts. While teaching at his school, Aristotle’s wife had died and they say he had married another woman, Heroyllis with whom they had children. In the year 323, Aristotle had retired his works in Athens and moved to Chalcis, where he died the following year of natural causes. Philosophy was in fact very important to Aristotle and he studied it for many years. Among the great achievements, the concept of logic was in my opinion the most important and well known. Aristotle’s objective of â€Å"the first logic† was to come up with a process of reasoning that would allow man to learn every conceivable thing about reality. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy clarifies this by using the example of As, Bs and Cs. They explain that first, all As are Bs. Secondly, they claim that all Bs are Cs. Therefore, all As are Cs. They also say that anything else taken from this form will be a deduction in Aristotle’s sense. A deduction is â€Å"an argument in which certain things are laid down something else follows of necessity in virtue of their being so†. But it has been proven that some of his concepts of logic are deductions and some are not. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy used the example of university students and the As, Bs and Cs to explain this. They say that all As are Bs; some Bs are Cs; so, all As are Cs. â€Å"They use the university students example by explaining that all university students are literate; some literate people read poetry; so, all university students read poetry†. This is not true so it clarifies the fact that some of his concepts are deductions while others are not. In his philosophical articles, Aristotle also discussed how man might obtain information about objects through deduction and inference. As you can see, Aristotle’s philosophy provided us with a system of logic that to this day is still used by philosophers. Aristotle’s legacy will live on for years to follow because of everything he had accomplished throughout his lifetime. After his death in 322 B. C, his works and philosophies were forgotten and revived about a century after. His works had influenced over seven centuries of philosophy. As it says on the biography. com website, â€Å"Aristotle’s work influenced ideas from late antiquity all the way through the Renaissance. Aristotle’s influence on Western thought in the humanities and social sciences is largely considered unparalleled, with the exception of his teacher Plato’s contributions, and Plato’s teacher, Socrates before him. The two-millennia-strong academic practice of interpreting and debating Aristotle’s philosophical works continues to endure. † Even today, philosophers still look to Aristotle’s work for guidance and inspiration when creating their own philosophies and simply studying philosophers of the past. As you can see, Aristotle’s legacy is still apart of us and will remain influencing others for many years to come. In conclusion, you can see that Aristotle did affect many lives through his philosophies and teachings. Many have studied his works, and added on from the philosophies and concepts he had developed. His legacy will endure on because of all he did and he will be remembered. I had great time learning about Aristotle and his philosophies for this research project. Works Cited: http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/aristotle/ Shields, Christopher. Aristotle. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 25 Sept. 2008. http://www. biography. com/people/aristotle-9188415? page=1 Aristotle Biography. Bio. com. AE Networks Television, n. d http://www. ucmp. berkeley. edu/history/aristotle. html Waggoner, Ben M. Aristotle (384-322 B. C. E.). Aristotle. UCMP, 9 June 1996.