The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Philosopher

Aristotle

384–322 BCE

Plato's student, who systematised logic and wrote on nearly every field of knowledge, from biology and physics to ethics, politics and metaphysics.

Marble bust of a bearded man wearing a draped mantle
Roman marble copy after a Greek bronze by Lysippos of about 330 BCE; the alabaster mantle is a modern addition. Palazzo Altemps, Rome.Photo: Jastrow · Public domain · See the original

Born in Stagira in northern Greece, Aristotle studied at Plato’s Academy and later founded his own school, the Lyceum. Unlike Plato, he located the forms of things within the things themselves, and he placed great weight on careful observation. His logic remained the standard for two thousand years, and his ethics — centred on virtue and human flourishing (eudaimonia) — is still widely studied.

His work was transmitted to the medieval world largely through Arabic philosophers, who called him simply “the First Teacher”.

Tradition
Western
Region
Athens
Influenced by
Plato

Key works

  • Nicomachean Ethics
  • Metaphysics
  • Politics

Sources

  1. Christopher Shields, Aristotle, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy