Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath whose writings shaped Western thought in logic, science, ethics, politics, and metaphysics. Born in 384 BCE in Stagira, Macedon, he studied under Plato in Athens for about two decades and later founded his own school, the Lyceum.

His work spans numerous disciplines. In logic, he systematized reasoning and developed the syllogism; in metaphysics, he examined being, form, and causes; in natural philosophy, he pursued empirical observation and classification, introducing the four causes (material, formal, efficient, final) to explain change. His biological writings emphasized observation and classification, some of which were revised later but remained influential.

In ethics, Aristotle argued that virtue is a mean and that eudaimonia, or human flourishing, is the highest good. In political theory, he analyzed constitutions and argued for a polity that blends elements of rule by many and by the few. His Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, and Politics are central to his moral and political thought. In rhetoric and literature, he wrote on persuasive discourse and tragedy in the Poetics and Rhetoric. His works on logic, rhetoric, poetry, and science collectively formed a framework later adopted by medieval scholars.

Aristotle’s philosophy influenced Islamic and Christian thinkers and shaped scholastic philosophy for centuries. He died around 322 BCE in the island of Euboea after leaving Athens.