The life and works of Aristotle

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Understanding the Life and Philosophy of Aristotle

Document Outline

This research discusses about the life and philosophy of Aristotle . This research has been broken down into five parts The first part is the Introduction which discusses about the particular philosophical problem which Aristotle was interested in . The second part is the Life and Works of Aristotle which briefly discusses about Aristotle 's family and his interest in the natural sciences . It is also mentioned that Aristotle was chosen to become the tutor of one

of the most important persons in history - Alexander the Great . The third part discusses the concept of epistemology and the two main schools of thought which differed in their ideas about the role reason and sense-experience play in obtaining knowledge . A short discussion is also made on Plato 's epistemology for purpose of comparison with that of Aristotle . The fourth part is a discussion of epistemology of Aristotle wherein he affirmed the role sense-experience plays in acquiring knowledge . The fifth part is the conclusion wherein I attempted to harmonize these two concepts of rationalism and empiricism and emphasized that both these concepts should not be in conflict with each other since they are in fact both needed in the acquisition of knowledge

I . Introduction

Philosophers have always sought to find a solution to a particular philosophical problem . For Socrates , the problem was whether there existed absolute moral norm or standard and whether the relativist philosophy of the Sophists is tenable . Plato , on the other hand , was concerned with the immutability of nature . Aristotle was no exception He inherited from his predecessors the difficult question of what is the nature of reality ' and what is the source of knowledge ' He thought that he needed to provide a solution to this question so that he could liberate the people from the erroneous metaphysical speculations of his predecessors

II . Life of Aristotle

Aristotle was the last of the famous Greek Triumvirate . The first two were Socrates and Plato . Aristotle was born in 384 B . C . in Macedonian town of Stagira . His interest in the natural sciences started when he was still at a very young age which can be attributed to the influence of his family . His father was a physician who was a member of the Asklepiad family , which claimed to be descendants of Asklepios , the Greek god-physician ( Philosophy of Aristotle : Philosophy is a Way of Life ' 1 ) It is said that his parents trained him and his siblings in medicine

He eventually entered the Academy where he became one of the best students of Plato . It must be stressed however that despite being one of the best students of Plato , Aristotle differed from his teacher 's philosophy in many aspects . Aristotle stayed in the Academy until the death of Plato . Several years after , King Philip of Macedon , chose Aristotle as the official tutor of his son Alexander who at that time was 13 years old . The latter will eventually be known...