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78-530: The Coimbra Commentaries, also known as the Conimbricenses or Cursus Conimbricenses, are a group of 11 books on Aristotle (only eight can be called commentaries). They were produced as part of King John III of Portugal 's efforts to make the University of Coimbra rival the University of Paris. The names of 200 Jesuits, including those of professors and students, appeared repeatedly on the college registries. From

156-570: A gymnasium and a colonnade ( peripatos ), from which the school acquired the name Peripatetic . Aristotle conducted courses and research at the school for the next twelve years. He often lectured small groups of distinguished students and, along with some of them, such as Theophrastus , Eudemus , and Aristoxenus , Aristotle built a large library which included manuscripts, maps, and museum objects. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died and Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stagira. They had

234-541: A "survival of the fittest" origin of living things and their organs, and ridiculed the idea that accidents could lead to orderly results. To put his views into modern terms, he nowhere says that different species can have a common ancestor , or that one kind can change into another , or that kinds can become extinct . Aristotle did not do experiments in the modern sense. He used the ancient Greek term pepeiramenoi to mean observations, or at most investigative procedures like dissection. In Generation of Animals , he finds

312-552: A daughter whom they also named Pythias. In 343/42 BC, Aristotle was invited to Pella by Philip II of Macedon in order to become the tutor to his thirteen-year-old son Alexander ; a choice perhaps influenced by the relationship of Aristotle's family with the Macedonian dynasty. Aristotle taught Alexander at the private school of Mieza , in the gardens of the Nymphs , the royal estate near Pella. Alexander's education probably included

390-438: A fertilized hen's egg of a suitable stage and opens it to see the embryo's heart beating inside. Instead, he practiced a different style of science: systematically gathering data, discovering patterns common to whole groups of animals, and inferring possible causal explanations from these. This style is common in modern biology when large amounts of data become available in a new field, such as genomics . It does not result in

468-497: A fluid such as air. In this system, heavy bodies in steady fall indeed travel faster than light ones (whether friction is ignored, or not ), and they do fall more slowly in a denser medium. Newton's "forced" motion corresponds to Aristotle's "violent" motion with its external agent, but Aristotle's assumption that the agent's effect stops immediately it stops acting (e.g., the ball leaves the thrower's hand) has awkward consequences: he has to suppose that surrounding fluid helps to push

546-455: A house is the bricks, stones, timbers, etc., or whatever constitutes the potential house, while the form of the substance is the actual house, namely 'covering for bodies and chattels' or any other differentia that let us define something as a house. The formula that gives the components is the account of the matter, and the formula that gives the differentia is the account of the form. Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle's philosophy aims at

624-597: A linear scale, and noted various exceptions, such as that sharks had a placenta like the tetrapods. To a modern biologist, the explanation, not available to Aristotle, is convergent evolution . Philosophers of science have generally concluded that Aristotle was not interested in taxonomy, but zoologists who studied this question in the early 21st century think otherwise. He believed that purposive final causes guided all natural processes; this teleological view justified his observed data as an expression of formal design. Aristotle's psychology , given in his treatise On

702-480: A number of subjects, such as ethics and politics , as well as standard literary texts, like Euripides and Homer . It is likely that during Aristotle's time in the Macedonian court, other prominent nobles, like Ptolemy and Cassander , would have occasionally attended his lectures. Aristotle encouraged Alexander toward eastern conquest, and his own attitude towards Persia was strongly ethnocentric . In one famous example, he counsels Alexander to be "a leader to

780-435: A part of particular things. For example, it is possible that there is no particular good in existence, but "good" is still a proper universal form. Aristotle disagreed with Plato on this point, arguing that all universals are instantiated at some period of time, and that there are no universals that are unattached to existing things. In addition, Aristotle disagreed with Plato about the location of universals. Where Plato spoke of

858-498: A priori principles. Aristotle's "natural philosophy" spans a wide range of natural phenomena including those now covered by physics, biology and other natural sciences. In Aristotle's terminology, "natural philosophy" is a branch of philosophy examining the phenomena of the natural world, and includes fields that would be regarded today as physics, biology and other natural sciences. Aristotle's work encompassed virtually all facets of intellectual inquiry. Aristotle makes philosophy in

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936-418: A property or a relation to other things. When one looks at an apple, for example, one sees an apple, and one can also analyse a form of an apple. In this distinction, there is a particular apple and a universal form of an apple. Moreover, one can place an apple next to a book, so that one can speak of both the book and apple as being next to each other. Plato argued that there are some universal forms that are not

1014-602: A set of six books called the Organon around 40 BC by Andronicus of Rhodes or others among his followers. The books are: The order of the books (or the teachings from which they are composed) is not certain, but this list was derived from analysis of Aristotle's writings. It goes from the basics, the analysis of simple terms in the Categories, the analysis of propositions and their elementary relations in On Interpretation , to

1092-549: A son whom Aristotle named after his father, Nicomachus . This period in Athens, between 335 and 323 BC, is when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his philosophical works. He wrote many dialogues, of which only fragments have survived. Those works that have survived are in treatise form and were not, for the most part, intended for widespread publication; they are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include Physics , Metaphysics , Nicomachean Ethics , Politics , On

1170-457: A third of his original output has survived , none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion. Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship . The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and

1248-549: A thrown stone, in the Physics (254b10), and "natural motion", such as of a falling object, in On the Heavens (300a20). In violent motion, as soon as the agent stops causing it, the motion stops also: in other words, the natural state of an object is to be at rest, since Aristotle does not address friction . With this understanding, it can be observed that, as Aristotle stated, heavy objects (on

1326-544: A woman with origins from Chalcis , Euboea . Nicomachus was said to have belonged to the medical guild of Asclepiadae and was likely responsible for Aristotle's early interest in biology and medicine. Ancient tradition held that Aristotle's family descended from the legendary physician Asclepius and his son Machaon . Both of Aristotle's parents died when he was still at a young age and Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. Although little information about Aristotle's childhood has survived, he probably spent some time in

1404-425: Is a change where the substrate of the thing that has undergone the change has itself changed. In that particular change he introduces the concept of potentiality ( dynamis ) and actuality ( entelecheia ) in association with the matter and the form. Referring to potentiality, this is what a thing is capable of doing or being acted upon if the conditions are right and it is not prevented by something else. For example,

1482-454: Is a historical accident: his works on botany have been lost, but two books on plants by his pupil Theophrastus have survived. Aristotle reports on the sea-life visible from observation on Lesbos and the catches of fishermen. He describes the catfish , electric ray , and frogfish in detail, as well as cephalopods such as the octopus and paper nautilus . His description of the hectocotyl arm of cephalopods, used in sexual reproduction,

1560-419: Is also a final cause or end. Then Aristotle proceeds and concludes that the actuality is prior to potentiality in formula, in time and in substantiality. With this definition of the particular substance (i.e., matter and form), Aristotle tries to solve the problem of the unity of the beings, for example, "what is it that makes a man one"? Since, according to Plato there are two Ideas: animal and biped, how then

1638-541: Is man a unity? However, according to Aristotle, the potential being (matter) and the actual one (form) are one and the same. Aristotle's immanent realism means his epistemology is based on the study of things that exist or happen in the world, and rises to knowledge of the universal, whereas for Plato epistemology begins with knowledge of universal Forms (or ideas) and descends to knowledge of particular imitations of these. Aristotle uses induction from examples alongside deduction , whereas Plato relies on deduction from

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1716-413: Is the fulfilment of the end of the potentiality. Because the end ( telos ) is the principle of every change, and potentiality exists for the sake of the end, actuality, accordingly, is the end. Referring then to the previous example, it can be said that an actuality is when a plant does one of the activities that plants do. For that for the sake of which ( to hou heneka ) a thing is, is its principle, and

1794-930: The Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance , and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology , especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church . Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while

1872-634: The Early Modern period. John Philoponus (in Late antiquity ) and Galileo (in Early modern period ) are said to have shown by experiment that Aristotle's claim that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter object is incorrect. A contrary opinion is given by Carlo Rovelli , who argues that Aristotle's physics of motion is correct within its domain of validity, that of objects in the Earth 's gravitational field immersed in

1950-515: The Great Comet of 371 BC . Aristotle was one of the first people to record any geological observations. He stated that geological change was too slow to be observed in one person's lifetime. The geologist Charles Lyell noted that Aristotle described such change, including "lakes that had dried up" and "deserts that had become watered by rivers", giving as examples the growth of the Nile delta since

2028-471: The History of Animals in a graded scale of perfection, a nonreligious version of the scala naturae , with man at the top. His system had eleven grades of animal, from highest potential to lowest, expressed in their form at birth: the highest gave live birth to hot and wet creatures, the lowest laid cold, dry mineral-like eggs. Animals came above plants , and these in turn were above minerals. He grouped what

2106-764: The John Deely , Poinsot and Peirce owe their attention to "Thirdness" to the influence of the Conimbricenses. In the Introduction to the English translation of The Conimbricenses. Some Questions on Signs , Doyle writes that These commentaries had broad influence throughout the seventeenth century in Europe, North and South America, Africa, India, and the Far East, including both Japan and China. Doyle goes on to write that Descartes , Leibniz , and possibly Spinoza were influenced by

2184-619: The Lyceum in Athens , he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science . Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period . His father, Nicomachus , died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At around eighteen years old, he joined Plato 's Academy in Athens and remained there until

2262-538: The Macedonian capital, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy . At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Plato's Academy . He became distinguished as a researcher and lecturer, earning for himself the nickname "mind of the school" by his tutor Plato . In Athens, he probably experienced the Eleusinian Mysteries as he wrote when describing

2340-451: The Milky Way was made up of "those stars which are shaded by the earth from the sun's rays," pointing out partly correctly that if "the size of the sun is greater than that of the earth and the distance of the stars from the earth many times greater than that of the sun, then... the sun shines on all the stars and the earth screens none of them." He also wrote descriptions of comets, including

2418-508: The Physics (215a25), Aristotle effectively states a quantitative law, that the speed, v, of a falling body is proportional (say, with constant c) to its weight, W, and inversely proportional to the density, ρ, of the fluid in which it is falling:; Aristotle implies that in a vacuum the speed of fall would become infinite, and concludes from this apparent absurdity that a vacuum is not possible. Opinions have varied on whether Aristotle intended to state quantitative laws. Henri Carteron held

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2496-412: The universal . Aristotle's ontology places the universal ( katholou ) in particulars ( kath' hekaston ), things in the world, whereas for Plato the universal is a separately existing form which actual things imitate. For Aristotle, "form" is still what phenomena are based on, but is "instantiated" in a particular substance. Plato argued that all things have a universal form , which could be either

2574-494: The "Commentarii Conimbricenses". It reads in part, "Before we could finish the task entrusted to us of editing our Logic, to which we were bound by many promises, certain German publishers fraudulently brought out a work professing to be from us, abounding in errors and inaccuracies which were really their own. They also substituted for our commentaries certain glosses gotten furtively. It is true these writings thirty years previously were

2652-513: The "extreme view" that Aristotle's concept of force was basically qualitative, but other authors reject this. Archimedes corrected Aristotle's theory that bodies move towards their natural resting places; metal boats can float if they displace enough water ; floating depends in Archimedes' scheme on the mass and volume of the object, not, as Aristotle thought, its elementary composition. Aristotle's writings on motion remained influential until

2730-470: The Colonies , were composed by the philosopher for the young prince. After Philip II's assassination in 336 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens for the second and final time a year later. As a metic , Aristotle could not own property in Athens and thus rented a building known as the Lyceum (named after the sacred grove of Apollo Lykeios ), in which he established his own school. The building included

2808-470: The Conimbricenses. Aristotle Aristotle ( Attic Greek : Ἀριστοτέλης , romanized:  Aristotélēs ; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath . His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences , philosophy , linguistics , economics , politics , psychology , and the arts . As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in

2886-602: The Greeks and a despot to the barbarians". Alexander's education under the guardianship of Aristotle likely lasted for only a few years, as at around the age of sixteen he returned to Pella and was appointed regent of Macedon by his father Philip. During this time, Aristotle is said to have gifted Alexander an annotated copy of the Iliad , which reportedly became one of Alexander's most prized possessions. Scholars speculate that two of Aristotle's now lost works, On kingship and On behalf of

2964-750: The Persians, and philosophical questions, like the definition of braveness. A widespread speculation in antiquity suggested that Aristotle played a role in Alexander's death, but the only evidence of this is an unlikely claim made some six years after the death. Following Alexander's death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens was rekindled. In 322 BC, Demophilus and Eurymedon the Hierophant reportedly denounced Aristotle for impiety, prompting him to flee to his mother's family estate in Chalcis, Euboea , at which occasion he

3042-662: The Soul ( peri psychēs ), posits three kinds of soul ("psyches"): the vegetative soul, the sensitive soul, and the rational soul. Humans have all three. The vegetative soul is concerned with growth and nourishment. The sensitive soul experiences sensations and movement. The unique part of the human, rational soul is its ability to receive forms of other things and to compare them using the nous (intellect) and logos (reason). Stagira (ancient city) Stagira ( / s t ə ˈ dʒ aɪ r ə / ), Stagirus ( /- r ə s / ), or Stageira ( Greek : Στάγειρα or Στάγειρος )

3120-440: The Soul and Poetics . Aristotle studied and made significant contributions to "logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance, and theatre." While Alexander deeply admired Aristotle, near the end of his life, the two men became estranged having diverging opinions over issues, like the optimal administration of city-states, the treatment of conquered populations, such as

3198-504: The age of thirty seven ( c.  347 BC ). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon , tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls . Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around

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3276-513: The ancient Greek comedy writer Aristophanes satirised him in the play The Knights . Cleon died in the same year, in the battle of Amphipolis . Later, during the Peloponnesian War , Stagira sided with Sparta against the Athenians . In 348 BC, Philip II of Macedon occupied and destroyed the city. In return for Aristotle's tutoring of his son Alexander , Philip later rebuilt

3354-489: The ball along to make it continue to rise even though the hand is no longer acting on it, resulting in the Medieval theory of impetus . Aristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about can be attributed to four different types of simultaneously active factors. His term aitia is traditionally translated as "cause", but it does not always refer to temporal sequence; it might be better translated as "explanation", but

3432-399: The becoming is for the sake of the end; and the actuality is the end, and it is for the sake of this that the potentiality is acquired. For animals do not see in order that they may have sight, but they have sight that they may see. In summary, the matter used to make a house has potentiality to be a house and both the activity of building and the form of the final house are actualities, which

3510-574: The broad sense coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as "science". However, his use of the term science carries a different meaning than that covered by the term "scientific method". For Aristotle, "all science ( dianoia ) is either practical, poetical or theoretical" ( Metaphysics 1025b25). His practical science includes ethics and politics; his poetical science means the study of fine arts including poetry; his theoretical science covers physics, mathematics and metaphysics. In his On Generation and Corruption , Aristotle related each of

3588-433: The cause of earthquakes was a gas or vapor ( anathymiaseis ) that was trapped inside the earth and trying to escape, following other Greek authors Anaxagoras , Empedocles and Democritus . Aristotle also made many observations about the hydrologic cycle. For example, he made some of the earliest observations about desalination: he observed early – and correctly – that when seawater is heated, freshwater evaporates and that

3666-523: The city and resettled the old city's inhabitants. Many new structures were built at this time, including an aqueduct , two shrines to Demeter , and many houses. Tradition has it that the natives of Stageira transferred Aristotle's relics to the city, buried it there, and founded a festival in his honour which was called "Aristoteleia". Much later, the Danish archaeologist Karl Frederik Kinch made several explorations of Chalkidiki in 1886, and he identified

3744-410: The composite natural ones, the study of nature would be the primary kind of knowledge; but if there is some motionless independent thing, the knowledge of this precedes it and is first philosophy, and it is universal in just this way , because it is first. And it belongs to this sort of philosophy to study being as being, both what it is and what belongs to it just by virtue of being. Aristotle examines

3822-406: The concepts of substance ( ousia ) and essence ( to ti ên einai , "the what it was to be") in his Metaphysics (Book VII), and he concludes that a particular substance is a combination of both matter and form, a philosophical theory called hylomorphism . In Book VIII, he distinguishes the matter of the substance as the substratum , or the stuff of which it is composed. For example, the matter of

3900-399: The data to come to the theory of evolution . Aristotle's writings can seem to modern readers close to implying evolution, but while Aristotle was aware that new mutations or hybridizations could occur, he saw these as rare accidents. For Aristotle, accidents, like heat waves in winter, must be considered distinct from natural causes. He was thus critical of Empedocles's materialist theory of

3978-450: The details of Aristotle's life are not well-established. The biographies written in ancient times are often speculative and historians only agree on a few salient points. Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stagira , Chalcidice , about 55 km (34 miles) east of modern-day Thessaloniki . He was the son of Nicomachus , the personal physician of King Amyntas of Macedon , and Phaestis,

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4056-486: The earliest study of formal logic, and his conception of it was the dominant form of Western logic until 19th-century advances in mathematical logic . Kant stated in the Critique of Pure Reason that with Aristotle, logic reached its completion. Most of Aristotle's work is probably not in its original form, because it was most likely edited by students and later lecturers. The logical works of Aristotle were compiled into

4134-442: The first century AD editor who assembled various small selections of Aristotle's works to create the treatise we know by the name Metaphysics . Aristotle called it "first philosophy", and distinguished it from mathematics and natural science (physics) as the contemplative ( theoretikē ) philosophy which is "theological" and studies the divine. He wrote in his Metaphysics (1026a16): If there were no other independent things besides

4212-533: The following. Brood size decreases with (adult) body mass, so that an elephant has fewer young (usually just one) per brood than a mouse. Lifespan increases with gestation period , and also with body mass, so that elephants live longer than mice, have a longer period of gestation, and are heavier. As a final example, fecundity decreases with lifespan, so long-lived kinds like elephants have fewer young in total than short-lived kinds like mice. Aristotle distinguished about 500 species of animals , arranging these in

4290-531: The forms as existing separately from the things that participate in them, Aristotle maintained that universals exist within each thing on which each universal is predicated. So, according to Aristotle, the form of apple exists within each apple, rather than in the world of the forms. Concerning the nature of change ( kinesis ) and its causes, as he outlines in his Physics and On Generation and Corruption ( 319b–320a), he distinguishes coming-to-be ( genesis , also translated as 'generation') from: Coming-to-be

4368-509: The four elements proposed earlier by Empedocles , earth , water , air , and fire , to two of the four sensible qualities, hot, cold, wet, and dry. In the Empedoclean scheme, all matter was made of the four elements, in differing proportions. Aristotle's scheme added the heavenly aether , the divine substance of the heavenly spheres , stars and planets. Aristotle describes two kinds of motion: "violent" or "unnatural motion", such as that of

4446-428: The ground, say) require more force to make them move; and objects pushed with greater force move faster. This would imply the equation incorrect in modern physics. Natural motion depends on the element concerned: the aether naturally moves in a circle around the heavens, while the 4 Empedoclean elements move vertically up (like fire, as is observed) or down (like earth) towards their natural resting places. In

4524-569: The head of the Lyceum, who in turn passed them down to Neleus of Scepsis in Asia Minor. There, the papers remained hidden for protection until they were purchased by the collector Apellicon . In the meantime, many copies of Aristotle's major works had already begun to circulate and be used in the Lyceum of Athens, Alexandria , and later in Rome . With the Prior Analytics , Aristotle is credited with

4602-440: The image. According to Aristotle, spontaneity and chance are causes of some things, distinguishable from other types of cause such as simple necessity. Chance as an incidental cause lies in the realm of accidental things , "from what is spontaneous". There is also more a specific kind of chance, which Aristotle names "luck", that only applies to people's moral choices. In astronomy , Aristotle refuted Democritus 's claim that

4680-528: The late 16th to the early 17th centuries, the university produced voluminous commentaries on Aristotle's philosophical writings. The commentaries were, in fact, dictated to the students by the professors and so were not intended for publication. After they were published anyway, to interpret and disown incorrect and unauthorized editions, Claudio Acquaviva , the General of the Society of Jesus, assigned Pedro da Fonseca ,

4758-468: The modern zoologist would call vertebrates as the hotter "animals with blood", and below them the colder invertebrates as "animals without blood". Those with blood were divided into the live-bearing ( mammals ), and the egg-laying ( birds , reptiles , fish ). Those without blood were insects, crustacea (non-shelled – cephalopods, and shelled ) and the hard-shelled molluscs ( bivalves and gastropods ). He recognised that animals did not exactly fit into

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4836-404: The oceans are then replenished by the cycle of rainfall and river runoff ("I have proved by experiment that salt water evaporated forms fresh and the vapor does not when it condenses condense into sea water again.") Aristotle was the first person to study biology systematically, and biology forms a large part of his writings. He spent two years observing and describing the zoology of Lesbos and

4914-407: The poet Dante called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and Jean Buridan . Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics , although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics . In general,

4992-525: The provincial of the Portuguese province, the task of supervising the revision of the commentaries for authorized publication. Fonseca was called "the Aristotle of Portugal" by Charles George Herbermann in his Catholic Encyclopedia . The treatises appeared in the following order: A foreword prefixed the last treatise and disowned any connection with the work published at Frankfurt in 1604 and claiming to be

5070-433: The same certainty as experimental science, but it sets out testable hypotheses and constructs a narrative explanation of what is observed. In this sense, Aristotle's biology is scientific. From the data he collected and documented, Aristotle inferred quite a number of rules relating the life-history features of the live-bearing tetrapods (terrestrial placental mammals) that he studied. Among these correct predictions are

5148-439: The seed of a plant in the soil is potentially ( dynamei ) a plant, and if it is not prevented by something, it will become a plant. Potentially, beings can either 'act' ( poiein ) or 'be acted upon' ( paschein ), which can be either innate or learned. For example, the eyes possess the potentiality of sight (innate – being acted upon), while the capability of playing the flute can be possessed by learning (exercise – acting). Actuality

5226-690: The sights one viewed at the Mysteries, "to experience is to learn" ( παθεĩν μαθεĩν ). Aristotle remained in Athens for nearly twenty years before leaving in 348/47 BC after Plato's death. The traditional story about his departure records that he was disappointed with the Academy's direction after control passed to Plato's nephew Speusippus , although it is possible that the anti-Macedonian sentiments in Athens could have also influenced his decision. Aristotle left with Xenocrates to Assos in Asia Minor , where he

5304-747: The study of more complex forms, namely, syllogisms (in the Analytics ) and dialectics (in the Topics and Sophistical Refutations ). The first three treatises form the core of the logical theory stricto sensu : the grammar of the language of logic and the correct rules of reasoning. The Rhetoric is not conventionally included, but it states that it relies on the Topics . What is today called Aristotelian logic with its types of syllogism (methods of logical argument), Aristotle himself would have labelled "analytics". The term "logic" he reserved to mean dialectics . The word "metaphysics" appears to have been coined by

5382-549: The surrounding seas, including in particular the Pyrrha lagoon in the centre of Lesbos. His data in History of Animals , Generation of Animals , Movement of Animals , and Parts of Animals are assembled from his own observations, statements given by people with specialized knowledge, such as beekeepers and fishermen, and less accurate accounts provided by travellers from overseas. His apparent emphasis on animals rather than plants

5460-564: The text and an exhaustive discussion of the Aristotelian system. In the Introduction to his translation work, John Doyle writes that three methods were utilized in the Conimbricenses. The first, summary, reflects the work of Avicenna. The second method, explanation, reflects the work of Averroes. The third method, exposition by way of question, reflects the work of Duns Scotus. The Conimbricenses relied heavily on exposition by way of question while still employing summary and explanation. According

5538-470: The time of Homer , and "the upheaving of one of the Aeolian islands , previous to a volcanic eruption ."' Meteorologica lends its name to the modern study of meteorology, but its modern usage diverges from the content of Aristotle's ancient treatise on meteors . The ancient Greeks did use the term for a range of atmospheric phenomena, but also for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Aristotle proposed that

5616-523: The town of Olympiada . Stagira was founded in 655 BC by Ionian settlers from Andros . Xerxes I of Persia occupied it in 480 BC. The city later joined the Delian League , led by Athens , but left in 424 BC: as a result, the Athenian demagogue Cleon laid siege to it in 422 BC. However, Cleon was a poor strategist and his conduct of the siege was very inefficient: so much so that

5694-473: The traditional rendering will be employed here. Aristotle describes experiments in optics using a camera obscura in Problems , book 15. The apparatus consisted of a dark chamber with a small aperture that let light in. With it, he saw that whatever shape he made the hole, the sun's image always remained circular. He also noted that increasing the distance between the aperture and the image surface magnified

5772-508: The work of one of our professors not indeed intended for publication. They were the fruit of his zeal and he never dreamed they would appear in print". The last treatise was prepared for printing by Father Sebastian Couto. The eight parts formed five quarto volumes in wide circulation and appeared in many editions. The best known were those of Lyon , Lisbon and Cologne . The Commentaries are in Latin and are supplemented by reliable explanations of

5850-544: Was an ancient Greek city located near the eastern coast of the peninsula of Chalkidice , which is now part of the Greek province of Central Macedonia . It is chiefly known for being the birthplace of Aristotle , the Greek philosopher and polymath, student of Plato , and teacher of Alexander the Great . The ruins of the city lie approximately 18 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of the present-day village of Stagira , and adjacent to

5928-413: Was invited by his former fellow student Hermias of Atarneus ; he stayed there for a few years and left around the time of Hermias' death. While at Assos, Aristotle and his colleague Theophrastus did extensive research in botany and marine biology , which they later continued at the near-by island of Lesbos . During this time, Aristotle married Pythias , Hermias's adoptive daughter and niece, and had

6006-513: Was said to have stated "I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy" – a reference to Athens's trial and execution of Socrates . He died in Chalcis, Euboea of natural causes later that same year, having named his student Antipater as his chief executor and leaving a will in which he asked to be buried next to his wife. Aristotle left his works to Theophrastus, his successor as

6084-588: Was widely disbelieved until the 19th century. He gives accurate descriptions of the four-chambered fore-stomachs of ruminants , and of the ovoviviparous embryological development of the hound shark . He notes that an animal's structure is well matched to function so birds like the heron (which live in marshes with soft mud and live by catching fish) have a long neck, long legs, and a sharp spear-like beak, whereas ducks that swim have short legs and webbed feet. Darwin , too, noted these sorts of differences between similar kinds of animal, but unlike Aristotle used

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