Aristotle - the great philosopher

Aristotle is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of all time, especially in Greek philosophy. Aristotle was born in 384 B.C.E. in Stagira, northern Greece, and made multiple contributions to almost every field of reason in the various spheres of human life (Smith). Aristotle’s works influenced the philosophies that are still studied today by the time he died in 322 B.C.E. He is said to have lived in Late Antiquity, when ancient Greece was witnessing the rise of numerous cities to democracy (Smith). Athens, as the most powerful city-state at the time, relied on women’s enslavement and forced labor to survive. However, the male citizens are hailed for their efforts in developing the basis on which mathematics, drama, political institutions, art, philosophy among other disciplines were to spring two hundred years later. Therefore, the availability of surplus labor from the slaves created a precursor for the male citizens to have enough time to inquire into the natural world, where teachers like Aristotle came into existence.

As a researcher, Aristotle influenced a wider range of disciplines including metaphysics, empirical biology, logic, rhetoric among others. To help the people understand the logic of his work, Aristotle developed theories that illuminated on the observation of what happened in the natural world, besides stimulating readership (Shields). Many theorists, including Kant, find Aristotelian perspective on ethics to have been the basis for most of the theories of ethics. For instance, Aristotle contributed to the field of ethics as revealed in the translation of the various texts from ancient Greece. According to Aristotle, ethics were to focus on the role played by habit in the conduct exhibited by an individual. As a matter of fact, Aristotle indicated that virtue has to manifest itself through action, and therefore, examining ethics has to revolve around moral virtue of the people. What Aristotle implied by the proposition is that the people have to hold themselves in a stable state, what he considered as the soul equilibrium, so that the action chosen by the person is done so knowingly. As such, the equilibrium of the soul constitutes a person’s character (Shields).

Furthermore, Aristotle influenced the field of ethics by creating a working explanation of a good character. According to him, it is noted that a person has an inherent natural capacity to exhibit good character, which is then shaped through practice (Sachs). Thus, his perspective was that the habits, acts, and state of mind predetermine the character of the individual, and thus the moral virtue.

Presently, Aristotle is studied because of his influence on education through the habit and reason perspectives. In his Nicomachean Ethics lecture, it is noted that education is a habit, and therefore, people tend to learn by actually doing what they intend to learn (Sachs). Also, the reasoned approach to education proposes that learning has to allow the individual understand how something causes the other to happen.

Interestingly, in his lifetime, Aristotle wrote many treatises, about two hundred of them. Of these treaties, only thirty-one of them still exist to date. Since the works were in lecture notes format that fails to demonstrate Aristotle’s reputable style that influenced followers like Cicero. Besides, he is to be remembered for being the first to classify human knowledge into various distinct disciplines like ethics, mathematics, and biology, which are still used at present.

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Works Cited

Sachs, Joe. “Aristotle: Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy”. Iep.Utm.Edu, 2017, http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-eth/.

Shields, Christopher. ”Aristotle”. Plato.Stanford.Edu, 2017, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/.

Smith, Mark. ”Aristotle And Education”. Infed.Org, 2017, http://infed.org/mobi/aristotle-and-education/.