Aristotle
-384 — -322
Biography
Aristotle was one of the most influential philosophers in history. He founded his own school — the Lyceum, where he taught while walking with his students (hence 'Peripatetics').
Aristotle systematized virtually all areas of knowledge of his time: logic, physics, biology, ethics, politics, poetics. His logic (syllogistics) remained the foundation of Western logic for over 2000 years.
In ethics, he developed the concept of the 'golden mean' — virtue as the middle ground between extremes.
Key Ideas
- The Golden Mean
- Logic and syllogisms
- Eudaimonia — happiness as the goal
- Form and matter
- Man is a political animal
Works
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Nicomachean Ethics
Main ethical treatise on virtue and happiness
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Politics
On state organization
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Metaphysics
On the first principles of being
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Organon
Collection of logical treatises