Aristotle - Biography, Inventions and Achievements

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics.

Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the zoological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish traditions in the Middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.

All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatise, it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.

Inventions, Achievements and Brief Introduction of Aristotle

• Aristotle was born into an aristocratic family in 384 BC. His father was the personal physician to the King of Macedon.
• In 367 BC, Aristotle went to Plato’s academy as a student, but he later became a teacher there. After Plato’s death in 347 BC, Aristotle renewed his connections to the Macedonian court and became a tutor to the king’s son, the future Alexander the Great.
• Unfortunately for modern scholars, only a small portion (approximately one-third) of Aristotle’s writing has survived. He composed two types of works, one designed for the general public and another designed specifically for students and teachers of philosophy. 
• It is believed that it is the latter collection that remains today, which would explain the extremely dense nature of the material.
• It was at the Lyceum that Aristotle probably composed most of his approximately 200 works, of which only 31 survive. In style, his known works are dense and almost jumbled, suggesting that they were lecture notes for internal use at his school. 
• The surviving works of Aristotle are grouped into four categories. The "Organon" is a set of writings that provide a logical toolkit for use in any philosophical or scientific investigation. Next come Aristotle's theoretical works, most famously his treatises on animals, cosmology, the "Physics”
• Third are Aristotle's so-called practical works, notably the "Nicomachean Ethics" and "Politics," both deep investigations into the nature of human flourishing on the individual, familial and societal levels. Finally, his "Rhetoric" and "Poetics" examine the finished products of human productivity, including what makes for a convincing argument and how a well-wrought tragedy can instill cathartic fear and pity.
• Aristotle’s extant works can be divided into five categories: logic, physical works, psychological works, philosophical works, and natural history. Some of his most studied volumes today include Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric, and Poetics.
• There is a wonderful fresco, School of Athens, by the Renaissance painter Raphael that captures the difference between Aristotle and Plato, his teacher. 
• Plato is pictured as old and wise. In one hand he is holding a copy of his book Timaeus; with the other he is pointing toward the heavens in a gesture symbolic of his search for eternal forms. Next to Plato stands Aristotle, a younger yet mature man who is well dressed and earthbound. 
• He is holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in one hand, and with the other he is reaching out, a gesture symbolic of his study, observation, and experience of the natural world.
• Aristotle’s technical works have survived; his popular dialogues have disappeared.
• The order and extent of his works are difficult to determine.
• The interpretation of his writings hinges on a key question regarding his relationship to Plato. Did Aristotle start off as a Platonist and then gradually move away in the direction of his scientific, naturalistic interests? Or did he begin as the faithful naturalist son of a medical doctor, in criticism of Plato, and thereafter struggle to return to Plato’s thought in his own?
• In any event, Aristotle’s works show a clear mixture of critique of, and influence by, Plato.
• He claims, apparently with the facts in steady gaze, and in mind, nothing changes in the knife, wrong, this I claim is a fact, i.e, his wrongness,(that might be looked upon as a value, but I hold the fact value distinction is primordially fixed in a kind of wonderful factual ground, so, principally it is not a value judgment, but a fact), our evaluation of the knife (factually) and its possibilities changed, now we speak of new properties (now facts about the knife), after all, we are the ones who invented the demarcation (I mean, of course, that we factually, as a fact, invented it), 'property' in the first damn place.

Superb Quotes by Aristotle

• Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
• What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
• It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
• Hope is a waking dream.
• Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
• The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion since wealth is not the good we are seeking and is merely useful for the sake of something else.
• Our duty as philosophers requires us to honour truth above our friends.
• Even if there be one good which is universally predictable or is capable of independent existence, it could not be attained by man.
• If there is an end for all we do, it will be the good achievable by action.
• Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.
• Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.
• No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.
• Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.
• A friend to all is a friend to none.
• To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing
• He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.