Aristotle: Aristotle and Man Aristotle Essay

Submitted By syler4205
Words: 1549
Pages: 7
Open Document
Aristotle:
The Renaissance Man

Aristotle Aristotle is one of the most famous and remembered of the Greek philosophers. Aristotle was not just a philosopher, but a man of many talents, passions, and above all, thoughts and ideas. Aristotle was very active in biology, botany, logic, history, ethics, chemistry, metaphysics, rhetoric, philosophy of mind, zoology, psychology, poetics, political theory, philosophy of science, and physics, yet he is predominately remembered mainly due to his work in philosophy. Aristotle was an ancient day renaissance man, skilled in multiple subjects, and his work shaped western ideals even though the reformations and revolutions throughout the world. Aristotle was born in Macedonia, Greece in 384 BCE. In 367 BCE, Aristotle moved to Athens (after his father's death) to enroll in the Academy of Plato, where he spent over 20 years learning from Plato. Much of Aristotle's early works (though few fragments have survived) show heavy Platonian influence. After Aristotle had learned from Plato, he was invited by Philip II of Macedon to teach his son, Alexander. Aristotle was one of the "advisors" to Alexander, pushing Alexander to conquer the east. In a quote from Aristotle, he advises Alexander to "[be]a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants". Aristotle later returned to Athens and led the Lyceum, a school for higher thinking. It is during his time at the Lyceum that Aristotle created many of his works and ideas, while at the same time, refined his existing ideas and works. Though he was absorbed in his work, Alexander actually believed that Aristotle was plotting against him. Aristotle was a likely suspect due to his speaking against the divinity of Alexander, and Alexander had Aristotle's grandnephews executed and branded as a traitor. After Alexander's death, Aristotle moved to Chalcis, on his mother's estate. There he lived the rest of his life until his death in 322 BCE. Aristotle was fond of using syllogisms. His train of thought went something like this:
"All stars are distant objects. All distant objects twinkle. Therefore, all stars twinkle."
This logic is what helped Aristotle create hard beliefs that he held to in his philosophical ponderings. This simple logic was instrumental in his philosophical ideas, and also stretched into his views on the natural world as well.
Aristotle was also huge believer in mental exploration. To learn is mans highest calling, and Aristotle embraced it. "ALL men by nature desire to know." This was Aristotle's belief, and he stuck to it by learning virtually all he was able to. Aristotle was very good at theorizing. He sums it up nicely in this quote:
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
This alone shows that Aristotle had an ability that I consider very rare in the world today. He could listen to ideas and incorporate them into his own, disregard them, or even accept them for truth. This allowed Aristotle to be incredibly flexible with his ideals and the philosophical paths he explored, without being closed minded in his ideas. Aristotle created many works while he was at the Lyceum. His work "On The Soul" and "On the Motions of Animals" are some of his more remembered works, though there were numerous more that he created. "Metaphysics" is also another work of Aristotle, and is widely known as an incredibly diverse work on the ideas and ruminations of mankind. Aristotle's works on nature are simply genius for his time, though there were errors of course. Aristotle seemed to be obsessed with balance, both in the natural world as well as in regards to the body/spirit of man.
Aristotle suggested that Nature, giving no animal both horns and tusks, was staving off vanity, and giving creatures faculties only to such a degree as they are necessary. Noting
Show More

Related Documents: Aristotle: Aristotle and Man Aristotle Essay

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

appear that Aristotle is inconsistent when he says that the highest happiness for a human being is the contemplative life, which aims at something divine. He then also says that human beings are social, not solitary, which aims at the human good. However, these statements that focus on Aristotle’s belief that a human should strive for both the human good vs. the divine good do not conflict. Aristotle is consistent throughout his philosophy of the Nicomachean Ethics. According to Aristotle, the happiness…

Words 776 - Pages 4

Aristotle and Friendship Essay

ARISTOTLE'S CONCEPTION OF FRIENDSHIP In Book IX of the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle continues his discussion of the attributes of friendship. Where he discussed the kinds and nature of friendship in the earlier book; however, in this book he deals with the moral and social obligations of friendship, in keeping with the ethical concerns of the book. Instead of dealing with the attractions and qualities that make the association with another person “good, pleasant or useful,” he discusses the…

Words 1540 - Pages 7

Aristotle's Distinction Between Barbarians And Greek Citizens

In his writings, Aristotle was very clear about the distinction between barbarians, and Greek citizens. For greek citizens, to whom he referred to as men, Aristotle outlined the guidelines by which men should live their lives. Aristotle spoke of an end goal of happiness, and defined what happiness is. Aristotle said that, in order to reach the end goal of happiness, man should conform their soul with excellence and virtue. So, in conclusion, the end goal of man is to be the best and most virtuous…

Words 353 - Pages 2

Whose Way Of Thinking Is Better Plato Or Aristotle Essay

Whose Way of Thinking is Better: Plato or Aristotle? Brett Pluth Philosophy 101D Mr. Harms 3.6.2015 Plato’s philosophy revolves around the idea of forms. He argues that the form of an object is the most real being in existence. Then, he goes on to talk about how the particular participates with the form. After that, Plato proclaims that the least real of the three is the ontology, or being. For example, Plato considers the idea of a dog to be the most real. The actual dog is ontologically…

Words 1034 - Pages 5

Aristotle: Aristotle and Plato unlike Plato Essay

Unlike Plato, Aristotle believed that sensory perceptions in the human soul are reflections of objects, and thoughts in consciousness are based on what we have already seen. He believed that humans have the innate power of reason, and the innate faculty of organizing things into categories and classes, but no innate ideas. No Innate Ideas Plato believed that the idea “chicken” came before the sensory world’s chicken, but Aristotle refused this…

Words 451 - Pages 2

Aristotle Moral Virtue

habit through laws. The success or failure of the legislators identifies a good government from a bad one. Therefore, one gains good dispositions by doing good things. Similarly, the way one deals with people defines the person as just or unjust. Aristotle continues his argument by explaining the ethics of how one should act. Ethics is important because it ascertains the nature of goodness and how…

Words 961 - Pages 4

Aristotle Research Paper

Aristotle – Nature A Big Idea is something which revolves around a specific topic of controversy and has no exact known answer. When thinking about big ideas, philosophers such as Aristotle come to mind. As we know, Aristotle came up with and discussed some big ideas such as Happiness, Telos and Nature. Aristotle has made significant impact on the views of nature, why it is important as an idea and many other concepts which he has discussed in the past. Nature is not something that is just seen,…

Words 1525 - Pages 7

Happiness Research Paper

mostly influential work is the Nichomachean Ethics, where he presents a theory of happiness. Aristotle viewed happiness as a means to the end; however in today’s time, happiness is viewed all throughout a person’s life and in daily life activities. Happiness, as defined by Aristotle as: The function of man to live a certain kind of life, and this activity implies a rational principle, and the function of a good man is the good and noble performance if these, and if any action is well performed it is performed…

Words 458 - Pages 2

Essay on Aristotle: Sovereign State and Aristotle

“It is not Fortune’s power to make a city good; that is a matter of scientific planning and deliberative policy.” Aristotle, along with most of the prominent thinkers of his time, theorized upon what the Ideal Political State would be and through what means it could be obtained. Aristotle wrote on this discussion of the Ideal State in books VII and VIII of The Politics. What Aristotle observed around him were the prevalent city-states of ancient Greece. It is commonly believed that he did not have…

Words 2323 - Pages 10

Machiavelli's Argument Analysis

Aristotle was also an ancient Greek philosopher, was born in 384 B.C. He was a student in Plato’s Academy and was a tutor for Alexander the Great. He eventually moved on to create his own school in Athens, where he wrote about many different topics including politics, ethics and poetry, etc. Aristotle wrote Politics as a tool to explain political communities of the time, where they fell short and what to improve on. Aristotle wanted to explain in his book, Politics, that there were six forms of government…

Words 1101 - Pages 5