Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and scientist, who along with Plato and Socrates, has the distinction of being one of the most celebrated of ancient philosophers. Between 367 and 347 B.C., he studied under Plato, and from 342 to 339 B.C. he tutored Alexander the Great at the Macedonian court. In 335 B.C. he opened a school in the Athenian Lyceum. During the anti-Macedonian disturbance after Alexander's death, Aristotle fled (323 B.C.) to Chalcis, where he died. His surviving writings remain mainly in the form of lecture notes put together by his students. Aristotle's important works were nowhere to be found in the West after the decline of Rome. In the 9th century A.D., Arab intellectuals introduced Aristotle to the Islamic world. The 12th-century Spanish-Arab philosopher Averroës is the best known of the Arabic scholars who studied Aristotle and his writings. In the 13th century, the Latin West rekindled its interest in Aristotle's work, and Saint Thomas Aquinas discovered in it a philosophical basis for Christian thought. Church officials originally distrusted Aquinas's use of Aristotle; in the early stages of its renewal, Aristotle's philosophy was regarded with some suspicion, largely because his teachings were believed to lead to a materialistic view of the world. Nonetheless, the work of Aquinas was acknowledged, and the later philosophy of scholasticism continued the philosophical custom based on Aquinas's adaptation of Aristotelian thinking.
The impact of Aristotle's philosophy has been predominant; it has even helped to influence modern language and common sense. In the 20th century a new appreciation developed of Aristotle's method and its importance to education, literary criticism, analysis of human action, political analysis, zoology, and the world of learning as a whole.
The impact of Aristotle's philosophy has been predominant; it has even helped to influence modern language and common sense. In the 20th century a new appreciation developed of Aristotle's method and its importance to education, literary criticism, analysis of human action, political analysis, zoology, and the world of learning as a whole.
