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121-568: Saint Sava College was one of the earliest academic institutions in Wallachia , Romania . It was the predecessor to both Saint Sava National College and the University of Bucharest . It was the continuator of the Princely Academy from Bucharest , and was initially located in the buildings of Saint Sava Monastery, nowadays the site of the University of Bucharest . Its origines are connected to

242-570: 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

363-541: 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

484-519: 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 the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance , and

605-552: 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

726-438: 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

847-497: 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

968-499: A great influence on Renaissance Neo-Platonism . In Rome, after unity was restored following the Western Schism , humanist circles, cultivating philosophy and searching out and sharing ancient texts tended to gather where there was access to a library. The Vatican Library was not coordinated until 1475 and was never catalogued or widely accessible: not all popes looked with satisfaction at gatherings of unsupervised intellectuals. At

1089-455: 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

1210-597: 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

1331-480: 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

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1452-435: 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

1573-498: 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

1694-418: 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

1815-402: A rule these academies, all very much alike, were merely circles of friends or clients gathered around a learned man or wealthy patron, and were dedicated to literary pastimes rather than methodical study. They fitted in, nevertheless, with the general situation and were in their own way one element of the historical development. Despite their empirical and fugitive character, they helped to keep up

1936-602: 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

2057-549: 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

2178-536: A teaching establishment, public or private, of a professional, artistic, technical or simply practical nature. The word comes from the Academy in ancient Greece , which derives from the Athenian hero , Akademos . Outside the city walls of Athens , the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning. The sacred space, dedicated to the goddess of wisdom, Athena , had formerly been an olive grove , hence

2299-549: 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

2420-544: 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

2541-425: 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,

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2662-454: 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,

2783-419: 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

2904-468: 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 the age of thirty seven ( c.  347 BC ). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at

3025-541: 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

3146-686: Is said to have been composed in Takshashila itself. Chanakya (or Kautilya), the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta and the Ayurvedic healer Charaka studied at Taxila. Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen. The Vedas and the Eighteen Arts , which included skills such as archery , hunting , and elephant lore, were taught, in addition to its law school , medical school , and school of military science . Nalanda

3267-413: 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

3388-585: The Accademia Pontaniana , after Giovanni Pontano . The 16th century saw at Rome a great increase of literary and aesthetic academies, more or less inspired by the Renaissance, all of which assumed, as was the fashion, odd and fantastic names. We learn from various sources the names of many such institutes; as a rule, they soon perished and left no trace. In the 1520s came the Accademia degli Intronati , for

3509-691: The Accademia di Santa Cecilia for music from 1585; Paris had the Académie Royale de Musique from 1669 and the Académie Royale d'Architecture from 1671. The Accademia degli Infiammati of Padova and the Accademia degli Umidi, soon renamed the Accademia Fiorentina , of Florence were both founded in 1540, and were both initially concerned with the proper basis for literary use of the volgare , or vernacular language of Italy, which would later become

3630-634: 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

3751-515: 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

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3872-569: The Guild of Saint Luke , as the bodies responsible for training and often regulating artists, a change with great implications for the development of art, leading to the styles known as Academic art . The private Accademia degli Incamminati set up later in the century in Bologna by the Carracci brothers was also extremely influential, and with the Accademia di San Luca of Rome (founded 1593) helped to confirm

3993-940: The Göttingen Academy of Sciences , in 1754 in Erfurt , in 1759 the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities , in 1763 the Academia Theodoro-Palatina in Heidelberg , in 1779 the Sciences Academy of Lisbon , in 1783 the Royal Society of Edinburgh , in 1782 the Accademia dei Quaranta in Rome, in 1784 in Turin . Aristotle Aristotle ( Attic Greek : Ἀριστοτέλης , romanized:  Aristotélēs ; 384–322 BC)

4114-471: 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

4235-661: The Italian language . In 1582 five Florentine literati gathered and founded the Accademia della Crusca to demonstrate and conserve the beauty of the Florentine vernacular tongue, modelled upon the authors of the Trecento. The main instrument to do so was the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca . The Crusca long remained a private institution, criticizing and opposing the official Accademia Fiorentina. The first institution inspired by

4356-538: 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

4477-451: 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

4598-596: The New Academy . In 335 BC, Aristotle refined the method with his own theories and established the Lyceum in another gymnasium. The Musaeum , Serapeum and library of Alexandria Egypt was frequented by intellectuals from Africa, Europe and Asia studying various aspects of philosophy, language and mathematics. The University of Timbuktu was a medieval university in Timbuktu , present-day Mali, which comprised three schools:

4719-508: 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

4840-556: The Quadrivium ( Arithmetic , Geometry , Music , and Astronomy )—had been codified in late antiquity . This was the basis of the curriculum in Europe until newly available Arabic texts and the works of Aristotle became more available in Europe in the 12th century. It remained in place even after the new scholasticism of the School of Chartres and the encyclopedic work of Thomas Aquinas , until

4961-784: The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid (founded 1744), the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg (1757), the Royal Academy in London (1768) and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan (1776) still run art schools and hold large exhibitions, although their influence on taste greatly declined from the late 19th century. A fundamental feature of academic discipline in

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5082-596: The Sabians ). The Grand School was the main center of learning in the Persian capital Ctesiphon , but little is known about it. Perhaps the most famous center of learning in Persia was the Academy of Gundishapur , teaching medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and logic. The academy was later instrumental in founding the Muslim city of Baghdad as a center of learning, and serving as the model for

5203-412: 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

5324-507: The " Animosi " (1576), and the " Illuminati " (1598); this last, founded by the Marchesa Isabella Aldobrandini Pallavicino . Towards the middle of the 16th century there were also the academy of the " Notti Vaticane ", or " Vatican Nights ", founded by St . Charles Borromeo ; an "Accademia di Diritto civile e canonico", and another of the university scholars and students of philosophy ( Accademia Eustachiana ). As

5445-513: 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

5566-453: The 17th century, British, Italian and French scholars used the term to describe types of institutions of higher learning. Before Akademia was a school, and even before Cimon enclosed its precincts with a wall, it contained a sacred grove of olive trees dedicated to Athena , the goddess of wisdom , outside the city walls of ancient Athens . The archaic name for the site was Hekademia , which by classical times evolved into Akademia and

5687-628: The Academy"). Other notable members of Akademia include Aristotle , Heraclides Ponticus , Eudoxus of Cnidus , Philip of Opus , Crantor , and Antiochus of Ascalon . After a lapse during the early Roman occupation, Akademia was refounded as a new institution of some outstanding Platonists of late antiquity who called themselves "successors" ( diadochoi , but of Plato) and presented themselves as an uninterrupted tradition reaching back to Plato. However, there cannot have actually been any geographical, institutional, economic or personal continuity with

5808-618: The Byzantine empire in 532 guaranteed their personal security (an early document in the history of freedom of religion ), some members found sanctuary in the pagan stronghold of Harran , near Edessa . One of the last leading figures of this group was Simplicius, a pupil of Damascius, the last head of the Athenian school. It has been speculated that Akademia did not altogether disappear. After his exile, Simplicius (and perhaps some others), may have travelled to Harran , near Edessa . From there,

5929-829: The Caliph. The collection was said to have grown to 400,000 volumes. In Europe, the academy dates to the ancient Greeks and Romans in the pre-Christian era. Newer universities were founded in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the European institution of academia took shape. Monks and priests moved out of monasteries to cathedral cities and other towns where they opened the first schools dedicated to advanced study. The most notable of these new schools were in Bologna and Salerno , Naples , Salamanca , Paris , Oxford and Cambridge , while others were opened throughout Europe. The seven liberal arts —the Trivium ( Grammar , Rhetoric , and Logic ), and

6050-470: 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

6171-619: The Crusca was the Fruitbearing Society for German language, which existed from 1617 to 1680. The Crusca inspired Richelieu to found in 1634 the analogous Académie française with the task of acting as an official authority on the French language , charged with publishing the official dictionary of that language. The following year the Académie received letters patent from the king Louis XIII as

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6292-602: 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

6413-502: The Mosque of Djinguereber, the Mosque of Sidi Yahya, and the Mosque of Sankore. During its zenith, the university had an average attendance of around 25,000 students within a city of around 100,000 people. In China a higher education institution Shang Xiang was founded by Shun in the Youyu era before the 21st century BC. The Imperial Central Academy at Nanjing , founded in 258, was a result of

6534-750: 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

6655-622: The Saint Sava Academy managed to hold the same academic level as the former Greek-language Princely Academy. The Academy was split in 1864 on orders from Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza , the purely academic branch being converted into the University of Bucharest, while the secondary education one was organized as the current Saint Sava National College . Academy The Royal Spanish Academy defines academy as scientific, literary or artistic society established with public authority and as

6776-487: 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

6897-512: The academic circle, like Publio Fausto Andrelini of Bologna who took the New Learning to the University of Paris , to the discomfiture of his friend Erasmus . In their self-confidence, these first intellectual neopagans compromised themselves politically, at a time when Rome was full of conspiracies fomented by the Roman barons and the neighbouring princes: Paul II (1464–71) caused Pomponio and

7018-623: The academy of Oscuri became the Royal Academy of Lucca . The Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, established by the monarchy in 1648 (later renamed) was the most significant of the artistic academies, running the famous Salon exhibitions from 1725. Artistic academies were established all over Europe by the end of the 18th century, and many, like the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (founded 1696),

7139-460: The academy's existence were relatively informal, since no statutes had as yet been laid down for the institution. In contrast to Royal Society , the academy was founded as an organ of government. In 1699, Louis XIV gave the academy its first rules and named it Académie royale des sciences . Although Prussia was a member of Holy Roman Empire, in 1700 Prince-elector Frederick III of Brandenburg founded its own Prussian Academy of Sciences upon

7260-442: The advice of Gottfried Leibniz , who was appointed president. During the 18th century many European kings followed and founded their own academy of sciences: in 1714 the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna , in 1724 the Russian Academy of Sciences , in 1731 the Royal Dublin Society , in 1735 in Tuscany , in 1739 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , in 1742 the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , in 1751

7381-684: The art of war. The center had eight separate compounds, 10 temples, meditation halls, classrooms, lakes and parks. It had a nine-story library where monks meticulously copied books and documents so that individual scholars could have their own collections. It had dormitories for students, perhaps a first for an educational institution, housing 10,000 students in the university's heyday and providing accommodation for 2,000 professors. Nalanda University attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey. The geographical position of Persia allowed it to absorb cultural influences and ideas from both west and east. This include

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7502-498: The artistic academies was regular practice in making accurate drawings from antiquities, or from casts of antiquities, on the one hand, and on the other, in deriving inspiration from the other fount, the human form. Students assembled in sessions drawing the draped and undraped human form , and such drawings, which survive in the tens of thousands from the 17th through the 19th century, are termed académies in French. Similar institutions were often established for other arts: Rome had

7623-438: 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

7744-399: 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

7865-574: 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

7986-433: 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

8107-404: The classic philosophy. The next generation of humanists were bolder admirers of pagan culture, especially in the highly personal academy of Pomponius Leto , the natural son of a nobleman of the Sanseverino family, born in Calabria but known by his academic name, who devoted his energies to the enthusiastic study of classical antiquity, and attracted a great number of disciples and admirers. He

8228-410: 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

8349-406: 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

8470-399: 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

8591-401: 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,

8712-486: 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

8833-408: The encouragement of theatrical representations. There were also the academy of the " Vignaiuoli ", or " Vinegrowers " (1530), and the Accademia della Virtù  [ it ] (1542), founded by Claudio Tolomei under the patronage of Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici . These were followed by a new academy in the " Orti " or Farnese gardens. There were also the academies of the " Intrepidi " (1560),

8954-663: The evolution of Shang Xiang and it became the first comprehensive institution combining education and research and was divided into five faculties in 470, which later became Nanjing University . In the 8th century another kind of institution of learning emerged, named Shuyuan , which were generally privately owned. There were thousands of Shuyuan recorded in ancient times. The degrees from them varied from one to another and those advanced Shuyuan such as Bailudong Shuyuan and Yuelu Shuyuan (later become Hunan University ) can be classified as higher institutions of learning. Taxila or Takshashila , in ancient India , modern-day Pakistan,

9075-473: The expression "the groves of Academe". In these gardens, the philosopher Plato conversed with followers. Plato developed his sessions into a method of teaching philosophy and in 387 BC, established what is known today as the Old Academy . By extension, academia has come to mean the accumulation, development and transmission of knowledge across generations as well as its practitioners and transmitters. In

9196-671: The first Muslim hospital ( bimaristan ) at Damascus. Founded in Fes, University of Al-Karaouine in the 9th century and in Cairo, Al-Azhar University in the 10th century, and in Mali, the University of Timbuktu in about 1100. Mustansiriya Madrasah in Baghdad , Iraq was established in 1227 as a madrasah by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir . Its library had an initial collection of 80,000 volumes, given by

9317-442: 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

9438-530: The first half of the 19th century some of these became the national academies of pre-unitarian states: the academy of Accesi became the Panomitan Academy of Buon Gusto ( Trento ); the academy of Timidi became the Royal Academy of Mantua ; the Accademia dei Ricovrati became the Galileiana Academy of Arts and Science ( Padova ); the academy of Dissonanti became the Royal Academy of Modena and

9559-533: 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

9680-555: The formation of a "College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning", which would meet weekly to discuss science and run experiments. In 1662 Charles II of England signed a Royal Charter which created the "Royal Society of London", then "Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge". In 1666 Colbert gathered a small group of scholars to found a scientific society in Paris. The first 30 years of

9801-531: 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

9922-509: 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

10043-484: The general esteem for literary and other studies. Cardinals, prelates, and the clergy in general were most favourable to this movement, and assisted it by patronage and collaboration. In Florence, the Medici again took the lead in establishing the Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno in 1563, the first of the more formally organised art academies that gradually displaced the medieval artists' guilds , usually known as

10164-428: 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

10285-618: 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

10406-485: The head of this movement for renewal in Rome was Cardinal Bessarion , whose house from the mid-century was the centre of a flourishing academy of Neoplatonic philosophy and a varied intellectual culture. His valuable Greek as well as Latin library (eventually bequeathed to the city of Venice after he withdrew from Rome) was at the disposal of the academicians. Bessarion, in the latter years of his life, retired from Rome to Ravenna , but he left behind him ardent adherents of

10527-535: The humanism of the 15th and 16th centuries opened new studies of arts and sciences. With the Neoplatonist revival that accompanied the revival of humanist studies , academia took on newly vivid connotations. During the Florentine Renaissance , Cosimo de' Medici took a personal interest in the new Platonic Academy that he determined to re-establish in 1439, centered on the marvellous promise shown by

10648-440: 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

10769-582: The leaders of the academy to be arrested on charges of irreligion, immorality, and conspiracy against the Pope . The prisoners begged so earnestly for mercy, and with such protestations of repentance, that they were pardoned. The Letonian academy, however, collapsed. In Naples, the Quattrocento academy founded by Alfonso of Aragon and guided by Antonio Beccadelli was the Porticus Antoniana , later known as

10890-720: The lectures delivered in Romanian by Gheorghe Lazăr in the Princely Academy, beginning with 1818. After the Filiki Eteria movement from 1821, the Ottoman Sultan forbade the existence of Greek schools, but he allowed the existence of Romanian schools. Thus, by the efforts of Lazăr and of other professors that associated with him, like Eufrosin Poteca , Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Vasile Ardelean, a.k.a. Laszlo Erdely, or Petrache Poenaru ,

11011-468: 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

11132-404: 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

11253-659: The only recognized academy for French language. In its turn the state established Académie was the model for the Real Academia Española (founded in 1713) and the Swedish Academy (1786), which are the ruling bodies of their respective languages and editors of major dictionaries. It also was the model for the Russian Academy , founded in 1783, which afterwards merged into the Russian Academy of Sciences. After

11374-619: The original Academy in the new organizational entity. The last "Greek" philosophers of the revived Akademia in the 6th century were drawn from various parts of the Hellenistic cultural world and suggest the broad syncretism of the common culture (see koine ): Five of the seven Akademia philosophers mentioned by Agathias were Syriac in their cultural origin: Hermias and Diogenes (both from Phoenicia), Isidorus of Gaza, Damascius of Syria, Iamblichus of Coele-Syria and perhaps even Simplicius of Cilicia . The emperor Justinian ceased

11495-407: 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,

11616-585: The religious instruction was most likely still provided on an individualistic basis. Takshashila is described in some detail in later Jātaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the 5th century AD. It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BC, and continued to attract students until the destruction of the city in the 5th century AD. Takshashila is perhaps best known because of its association with Chanakya. The famous treatise Arthashastra ( Sanskrit for The knowledge of Economics ) by Chanakya,

11737-453: 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 a third of his original output has survived , none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided

11858-433: 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

11979-454: The school's funding in AD 529, a date that is often cited as the end of Antiquity . According to the sole witness, the historian Agathias , its remaining members looked for protection under the rule of Sassanid king Khosrau I in his capital at Ctesiphon , carrying with them precious scrolls of literature and philosophy, and to a lesser degree of science. After a peace treaty between the Persian and

12100-439: 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

12221-550: The short-lived Academia Secretorum Naturae of Naples, the first academy exclusively devoted to sciences was the Accademia dei Lincei founded in 1603 in Rome, particularly focused on natural sciences. In 1657 some students of Galileo founded the Accademia del Cimento (Academy of Experiment) in Florence , focused on physics and astronomy. The foundation of academy was funded by Prince Leopoldo and Grand Duke Ferdinando II de' Medici . This academy lasted after few decades. In 1652

12342-640: 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

12463-627: The spread of the Greek form of schools in the new Hellenistic cities built in Persia after the invasion of Alexander the Great . Under the Sasanians , Syriac became an important language of the administration and intellectuals, rivaling Greek. Several cities developed centers of higher learning in the Sasanian Empire, including Mosul , al-Hira , and Harran (famous for the Pythagorean School of

12584-590: The students of an academy-in-exile could have survived into the 9th century, long enough to facilitate the Arabic revival of the Neoplatonist commentary tradition in Baghdad . In ancient Greece, after the establishment of the original Academy, Plato 's colleagues and pupils developed spin-offs of his method. Arcesilaus , a Greek student of Plato established the Middle Academy . Carneades , another student, established

12705-747: 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

12826-549: 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

12947-470: 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

13068-473: 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

13189-431: The use of the term for these institutions. Gradually academies began to specialize on particular topics (arts, language, sciences) and began to be founded and funded by the kings and other sovereigns (few republics had an academy). And, mainly, since 17th century academies spread throughout Europe. In the 17th century the tradition of literary-philosophical academies, as circles of friends gathering around learned patrons,

13310-419: The young Marsilio Ficino . Cosimo had been inspired by the arrival at the otherwise ineffective Council of Florence of Gemistos Plethon , who seemed a dazzling figure to the Florentine intellectuals. In 1462 Cosimo gave Ficino a villa at Careggi for the academy's use, situated where Cosimo could see it from his own villa, and drop by for visits. The academy remained a wholly informal group, but one which had

13431-513: Was a worshipper not merely of the literary and artistic form, but also of the ideas and spirit of classic paganism, which made him appear a condemner of Christianity and an enemy of the Church. In his academy every member assumed a classical name. Its principal members were humanists, like Bessarion's protégé Giovanni Antonio Campani (Campanus), Bartolomeo Platina , the papal librarian, and Filippo Buonaccorsi , and young visitors who received polish in

13552-533: 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 the Lyceum in Athens , he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science . Little

13673-445: Was an early centre of learning, near present-day Islamabad in the city of Taxila . It is considered one of the ancient universities of the world. According to scattered references which were only fixed a millennium later it may have dated back to at least the 5th century BC. Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the 6th century BC. The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where

13794-471: Was continued in Italy; the " Umoristi " (1611), the " Fantastici (1625), and the " Ordinati ", founded by Cardinal Dati and Giulio Strozzi . About 1700 were founded the academies of the " Infecondi ", the " Occulti ", the " Deboli ", the " Aborigini ", the " Immobili ", the " Accademia Esquilina ", and others. During the 18th century many Italian cities established similar philosophical and scientific academies. In

13915-582: Was established in the 5th century AD in Bihar , India. It was founded in 427 in northeastern India, not far from what is today the southern border of Nepal. It survived until 1197 when it was set upon, destroyed and burnt by the marauding forces of Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji . It was devoted to Buddhist studies, but it also trained students in fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, politics and

14036-556: Was explained, at least as early as the beginning of the 6th century BC, by linking it to an Athenian hero , a legendary " Akademos ". The site of Akademia was sacred to Athena and other immortals. Plato's immediate successors as "scholarch" of Akademia were Speusippus (347–339 BC), Xenocrates (339–314 BC), Polemon (314–269 BC), Crates ( c.  269 –266 BC), and Arcesilaus ( c.  266 –240 BC). Later scholarchs include Lacydes of Cyrene , Carneades , Clitomachus , and Philo of Larissa ("the last undisputed head of

14157-662: Was founded the Academia Naturae Curiosorum by four physicians. In 1677, Leopold I , emperor of the Holy Roman Empire , recognised the society and in 1687 he gave it the epithet Leopoldina , with which is internationally famous. So, it became the academy of sciences for the whole Holy Roman Empire . On 28 November 1660, a group of scientists from and influenced by the Invisible College (gathering approximately since 1645) met at Gresham College and announced

14278-413: 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

14399-766: 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

14520-513: 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

14641-588: 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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