Overview

y Introduction y The Greek Philosopher y Aristotle Early Life y Aristotle Schooling y Aristotle s Highlighted y Third Greatest Greek

Philosopher
y Aristotle s Hierarchy of Souls y Modern Western Civilization y Aristotle s Quotes y References

Subjects
y Study the Natural World

The Greek Philosophers

y The Greek philosophers, primarily

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, are commonly considered the intellectual foundation of Western Civilization (450-300 b.c.)
y Among them Aristotle is the third

greatest Greek philosopher.

Aristotle s Early Life

y born in 384 BCE. at Stagirus, a Greek colony and

seaport on the coast of Thrace.

y father Nichomachus, court physician to King Amyntas

of Macedonia
y Mother Phaestis, from a family of doctors y father died when Aristotle was 17

Aristotle s Schooling
y In 367, when Aristotle was seventeen, his uncle,

Proxenus, sent him to Athens to study at Plato s Academy.

y There he remained, first as a pupil, later as an associate,

for the next twenty years.

y In the 350s, returned to Athens and founded the school

Lyceum, it s ruins can still be seen today

Study the Natural World

y Reason
y Cleared and ordered thinking y Use reason to learn about world y Observe carefully, think rationally about what one has seen

y Logic
y Process of making a guess y Example : birds have feathers, lay eggs; owls have feathers, lay eggs;

owl must be a type of bird

Third Greatest Greek Philosopher

y Pioneered the use of reason and logic to study the

natural world.
y Believed that the greatest good people could perform

was the practice of rational thought.

y He contributed to the development of science,

especially biology.

Aristotle s Hierarchy of Souls

y Vegetative Soul - possessed by plants;
y Allows only growth, y Assimilation of food, and y Reproduction.

y Sensitive Soul - possessed by animals

y Sense and respond to the environment, y Experience pleasure and pain, and have a memory.

Aristotle s Hierarchy of Souls

y Rational Soul - possessed only by humans;
y Adds thinking and rational thought to the functions of the

other two souls.

Aristotle's major existing works

y Logic (The Organon)
y Posterior Analytics y Prior Analytics

y Psychology
y On the Soul y On Dreams

y Metaphysics
y The Metaphysics (in 14 books)

y Biology and Natural History

y The History of Animals y On Generation and Corruption

y Physics
y Posterior Analytics

y Politics
y The Politics Posterior Analytics

y Ethics
y Virtues and Vices

Modern Western Civilization

y Socrates y Aristotle
taught taught

Plato

taught

Aristotle.

Alexander the Great.

builds

y Alexander the Great

Greek Empire

This is the origin of modern philosophy, modern science, and the modern military, all in the years 400-300 B.C.

Aristotle s Death
 Died in 322 BCE  Two rumors about his death :
y Complained of a stomach illness and died y Drowned investigating marine life

No one knows what really happened

Some of the Aristotle s Quotes

y A true friend is one soul in two bodies. y A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one. y All men by nature desire knowledge. y A friend to all is a friend to none. y He who hath many friends hath none. y Change in all things is sweet.

References
y Book Reference y Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Translated, with An introduction and notes, by Martin Ostwald, Englewood Cliffs
y Websites References
y http://www.gradesaver.com/author/aristotle/ y http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Aristotle.html y http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/aristplatoguide/Plato_Aristotle_Study

_Guides.htm

Thank You