Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek Philosopher. A disciple of Plato, Aristotle is famous for his writings on a plethora of subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology. He held the distinction of being the creator of Western philosophy, in collaboration with Plato and Socrates. He is regarded as the epitome of humanity. His teachings have influenced the life of the common man, in some way or the other. The great personality, who died in 322 BCe, is remembered by every teacher and student on earth, on the wonderful occasion of Teacher's Day. Given below is a brief biography of Aristotle.

early Life
Aristotle was born in 384 BCe at Stagirus, a Greek colony. His father Nichomachus was court physician to King Amyntas of Macedonia. Aristotle went to Athens, the intellectual center of the world, where he finished his education education. He was enrolled into the Academy. Aristotle was a disciple of Plato. Plato's lectures were attended by him, for a period of twenty years. At the invitation of his friend Hermeas, ruler of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, Aristotle left for his court. He stayed three years and, where he tied the wedding knot with Pythias, the niece of the King.

Later Life
In later life, Aristotle was married a second time to a woman named Herpyllis. The couple had a son named Nichomachus. At the end of three years of their marriage, the Persians overtook Hermeas, and Aristotle went to Mytilene. At the invitation of Philip of Macedonia, he became the tutor of his 13-year-old son - Alexander. There, he also established his own school, at a place called the Lyceum.

Popular Works
The works of Aristotle were classified into three categories - dialogues and other works of a popular character; collections of facts and material from scientific treatment; and systematic works. Among his writings of a popular nature, the only one, which is still kept as a record of the popular works of Aristotle, is the interesting tract On the Polity of the Athenians. The works on the second category include 200 titles, most in fragments, which were collected by Aristotle's school and used as research material. The systematic treatises of the third group are marked by a directness of style, with none of the golden flow of language, which the ancients praised in Aristotle.

Interpretation Of Soul
Aristotle proposed that there was a close connection between psychological states and physiological processes. According to him, soul is the perfect expression or realization of a natural body. Body and soul are unified in the same ways that wax and an impression, stamped on it, is unified. Aristotle regarded soul or mind not as the product of the physiological conditions of the body, but as the truth of the body - the substance in which only the bodily conditions gain their real meaning.

Definition Of Universe
Aristotle saw the universe as 'a scale lying between the two extremes'. According to him, form without matter is on one end, while matter without form is on the other end. The passage of matter into form must be shown in its various stages in the world of nature. To do this was the object of Aristotle's physics, or philosophy of nature. Aristotle rejected the definition of space as the void. empty space was an impossibility for him. Hence, he disagreed with the view of Plato and the Pythagoreans that the elements are composed of geometrical figures. He defined space as the limit of the surrounding body towards what is surrounded.

Philosophy Of Life
Aristotle viewed ethics as an attempt to find out our chief end or highest good, an end, which he maintained, is final. Although many ends of life are only means to further ends, our aspirations and desires must have some final object or pursuit. Such a chief end is universally called happiness. Aristotle didn't regarded politics as a separate science from ethics, but as the completion, and almost a verification of it. The moral ideal in political administration is only a different aspect of that, which also applies to individual happiness. Humans are by nature social beings, and the possession of rational speech (logos) in itself leads us to social union. The state is a development from the family through the village community, an offshoot of the family.