ARISTOTELES (384–322 BC)

Aristotle (384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scientist, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He is considered one of the most influential thinkers in Western philosophy.

He founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, and wrote on a variety of subjects, including logic, ethics, politics, biology, physics, and metaphysics. Aristotle was concerned with observing the world as it is, and developed a systematic and empirical method that laid the foundation for many scientific disciplines.

Unlike Plato, who sought truth in the world of ideas, Aristotle believed that knowledge must be based on experience and observation.

In short:
Aristotle was a versatile thinker who sought to understand reality through reason, experience, and systematic analysis—a bridge between philosophy and science.

QUOTES

On Knowledge and Learning

📚
• “All learning has its root in wonder.”
(All men by nature desire to know.)
• “Education is the best preparation for old age.”
• “It is a sign of education to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

⚖️ On Ethics and Action

• “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not an act, but a habit.”
(Excellence is not an act, but a habit.)
• “The purpose of life is not just to live, but to live well.”
• “The golden mean”
– a central idea: virtue lies between two extremes (e.g., courage between cowardice and foolishness).

👥 On Society and Politics

• “Man is by nature a political animal.”
• “Law is reason, free from passion.”

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Some of Aristotle's works

Aristotle wrote a number of works that have had a huge impact on philosophy, science, and Western thought. Many of his writings were lecture notes and have been preserved as collections rather than completed books. Here is an overview of his most important works, sorted by subject:

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🔍 Logic – “Organon”

A collection of six works that laid the foundation for formal logic for over 2,000 years:
• “Categories” – classification of what exists
• “On Interpretation” – language, statements, and truth
• “Analysts” (First and Second) – deductive and inductive logic
• “Topics” and “Sophistic Refutations” – argumentation and false logic

👉 These texts form the basis of syllogisms and classical logical thinking.

⸻

🌍 Natural Philosophy and Science
• “Physics” – about motion, time and the principles of nature
• “On the Heavens” – cosmology and the structure of the universe
• “On the Origin and Disappearance” – elementalism
• “Meteorology” – weather and natural phenomena
• “The History of Animals”, “On the Parts of Animals”, “On the Movement of Animals” – biology and zoology

👉 Aristotle is considered the first systematic biologist in the West.

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👤 Ethics
• “Nicomachean Ethics” – the most famous work, named after his son Nicomachus
• “Eudemian Ethics”
• “On Virtue and Vice” (shorter works)

👉 Explores the goal of man (happiness/eudaimonia), virtue ethics and the golden mean.

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🏛️ Politics
• “Politics” – about the city-state, forms of government, civic life and education
• “Rhetoric” – the principles of oratory
• “Poetics” – about poetry and tragedy, with particular emphasis on the structure of drama

👉 “Poetics” contains the first known analysis of tragedy and literary theory.

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🧠 Metaphysics
• “Metaphysics” – one of his most philosophical works, about what is “after physics”
– about being, essence, substance and causes (form, matter, purpose, movement)

👉 This is the basis for metaphysical and ontological thinking in Western philosophy.

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