![]() He also broke rhetoric into types of speeches: epideictic (ceremonial), forensic (judicial) and deliberative (where the audience is required to reach a verdict). To Aristotle, rhetoric is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” He identified three main methods of rhetoric: ethos (ethics), pathos (emotional) and logos (logic). In “Metaphysics,” Aristotle also muses on causation, form, matter and even a logic-based argument for the existence of God. ![]() He called metaphysics the “first philosophy,” or “wisdom.” His primary area of focus was “being qua being,” which examined what can be said about being based on what it is, not because of any particular qualities it may have. MetaphysicsĪristotle’s “Metaphysics,” written quite literally after his “Physics,” studies the nature of existence. For example, all men are mortal, all Greeks are men, therefore all Greeks are mortal. The set of six books includes “Categories,” “On Interpretation,” “Prior Analytics,” “Posterior Analytics,” “Topics,” and “On Sophistical Refutations.” The Organon contains Aristotle’s worth on syllogisms (from the Greek syllogismos, or “conclusions”), a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two assumed premises. by Andronicus of Rhodes and his followers. “The Organon” (Latin for “instrument”) is a series of Aristotle’s works on logic (what he himself would call analytics) put together around 40 B.C. 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. 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. Next come Aristotle’s theoretical works, most famously his treatises on animals (“Parts of Animals,” “Movement of Animals,” etc.), cosmology, the “Physics” (a basic inquiry about the nature of matter and change) and the “Metaphysics” (a quasi-theological investigation of existence itself). The “Organon” is a set of writings that provide a logical toolkit for use in any philosophical or scientific investigation. The surviving works of Aristotle are grouped into four categories. In style, his known works are dense and almost jumbled, suggesting that they were lecture notes for internal use at his school. It was at the Lyceum that Aristotle probably composed most of his approximately 200 works, of which only 31 survive. In accordance with Aristotle’s principle of surveying the writings of others as part of the philosophical process, the Lyceum assembled a collection of manuscripts that comprised one of the world’s first great libraries. Like Plato’s Academy, the Lyceum attracted students from throughout the Greek world and developed a curriculum centered on its founder’s teachings. As an alien, he couldn’t own property, so he rented space in the Lyceum, a former wrestling school outside the city. ![]() In 342 Aristotle was summoned to Macedonia by King Philip II to tutor his son, the future Alexander the Great-a meeting of great historical figures that, in the words of one modern commentator, “made remarkably little impact on either of them.”Īristotle returned to Athens in 335 B.C. It was here that he undertook his pioneering research into marine biology and married his wife Pythias, with whom he had his only daughter, also named Pythias. He spent five years on the coast of Asia Minor as a guest of former students at Assos and Lesbos. Aristotle left Athens soon after, though it is not clear whether frustrations at the Academy or political difficulties due to his family’s Macedonian connections hastened his exit. When Plato died in 347, control of the Academy passed to his nephew Speusippus. The Roman philosopher Cicero said that "If Plato's prose was silver, Aristotle's was a flowing river of gold." Plato’s own later writings, in which he softened some earlier positions, likely bear the mark of repeated discussions with his most gifted student.ĭid you know? Aristotle's surviving works were likely meant as lecture notes rather than literature, and his now-lost writings were apparently of much better quality. He spent 20 years as a student and teacher at the school, emerging with both a great respect and a good deal of criticism for his teacher’s theories. ![]() At age 17 he was sent to Athens to enroll in Plato's Academy. His parents died while he was young, and he was likely raised at his family’s home in Stagira. ![]() Both of his parents were members of traditional medical families, and his father, Nicomachus, served as court physician to King Amyntus III of Macedonia. ![]()
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