Aristotle

//**Name**: Aristotle// //**Born**: 384 B.C. in Thrace// //**Died**: 322 B.C.// //**Era**: Ancient Philosophy// //**Main Interests**: Physics, Ethics, Goverment, Politics, Poetry, Biology, ect.//

Aristotle was a greek philosopher born in Thrace in 384 B.C. He grew up with a scientific background with his father being a physicain. His father died when he was still a boy. He was first trained in medicine before his guardian sent him to Athens and joined Plato's school at the age of 17. Plato, another well known greek philosopher, was his teacher, but Aristotle often disagreed with him. Throughout his life, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great, the Prince of Macedon, founded his own way of thinking, and founded his own school, Lyceum. He taught and studied there for twelve years. In 323 B.C., Aristotle left Athens to avoid death after the king had died. He died one year later on the island of Euboea.

Aristotle believed that the world could be understood at a fundamental level through detailed observation and catalog of phenomenon. Meaning knowledge is provable through observation and experiments. He wrote about everything ranging from physics to dreams to embryology. Aristotle was the first person to really think of evidence to figure things out. He used inductive reasoning to observe as many examples as possible and then figuring out the principles of it.

Characteristics of Aristotle's thought: [|sources][|sources][|sources]
 * Schematization of knowledge (ways to express knowledge and put them into proper catagories)
 * catagorized knowledge based on objects and relative certainty in which you could indentify these objects
 * true knowledge- always true; 2+2=4
 * other objects- can't always give true meaning; human behavior and feelings
 * 4 causes- Aristotles way of finding evidence of why things are in existence
 * Material cause; the pattern of which a thing is made
 * Formal cause; the pattern model or structure upon which a thing is made
 * Efficient cause; means or agency by which a thing comes into existence
 * Final cause; goal or purpose of a thing, its function or potential
 * Ethical doctrine of the mean- mainly relating to ethics and human behavior
 * the mean is finding out a behavior trait that falls in between two other behavior traits; ex. courage falls in between cowardness and foolhardiness, therefore courage is the mean
 * what determines the mean varies upon the situation