By Randee Baty, our AP Lit., Shakespeare, College Comp, and College Research instructor at The Lukeion Project
Just to make sure everyone is familiar with the vital statistics, Aristotle was born in northern Greece in 384 BC and died in 322 BC. His father, the physician to the king of Macedonia, died when he was young, and he was raised by a guardian. He joined Plato’s school when he was 17 or 18 and stayed there for approximately 20 years.
After leaving Plato’s school, Aristotle traveled to Assos in present-day Turkey and became a friend of the ruler there, eventually marrying the ruler’s ward, Pythias. She and Aristotle had one daughter together, also named Pythias. After Pythias died, he had a son named Nichomacus with Herpyllis who became his second wife. In 343, he began tutoring Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon. That student would one day be known as Alexander the Great. He also taught two other future leaders, Ptolemy and Cassander.
There have been many great thinkers throughout the centuries such as Socrates and Plato, huge influences on Aristotle himself. But Aristotle is the one that students will keep running into time after time. Why does he show up in academic studies seemingly more than any other man in history? Because he wrote about everything.
Are you interested in the theater? Until the last several hundred years, much of western drama was controlled by the idea of Aristotle’s unities. He taught in On the Art of Poetry that dramatic works should have unity of place, unity of time and unity of action. Therefore, dramas should only have one location, they should take place over the passage of no more than one day, and everything in the play should directly link to the main plot with no digressions. Even after English theater had begun to move away from practicing the unities, French theater held onto them. Obviously, modern plays have moved far from this ideal, but any study of the history of the theater will include Aristotle.
Are you interested in literature? The plot of the tragedy was analyzed and studied by Aristotle, using famous Greek tragedians such as Sophocles, for example. Aristotle wrote that the tragic character must be nobly born, must be a mix of both bad and good, and must fall from prosperity to suffering. The great tragic characters of Shakespeare follow the principles Aristotle laid out. Hamlet, King Lear, and Coriolanus all spring to mind. All three are Shakespearean characters who take that fall Aristotle describes and most readers would consider them stronger characters than Shakespeare’s comic heroes. One of my favorite literary characters, Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, also meets Aristotle’s guidelines for a great tragic character.
Are you interested in rhetoric? Even though Aristotle was not the first person to write about rhetoric, The Art of Rhetoric is still one of the most read texts on the matter. Many modern textbooks use The Art of Rhetoric as their basis and then just use modern examples to illustrate ancient principles.
Are you interested in philosophy? Needless to say, you will study Aristotle.
Are you interested in ethics? Aristotle was what we call today a virtue ethicist. In a very simplified form, virtue ethics says that people become more virtuous over time because they practice being virtuous and nurture virtuous qualities. Once they are virtuous, they should be able to judge others who have not yet attained the judge’s level of virtue. People who are not virtuous will not be happy, according to him. Happiness depends on leading a virtuous life. He covers this in two writings, Eudemian Ethics and Nicomachean Ethics, the second written to his son, Nichomachus.
Are you interested in science? Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, geography, geology, physics, biology, and zoology. He believed that nature should be studied by reason and observation. He believed knowledge could be examined. He didn’t believe in chance or spontaneity as causes in scientific experiments. His methods resembled scientific method practices today. Discoveries of Aristotle were used by both Newton and Einstein. He understood that the earth was round almost 2000 before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Are you interested in logic? Aristotle believed it was the first step in learning. With his creation of the syllogism, he created the field of formal logic study that is still done today.
Are you interested in politics? Aristotle believed that men are social animals and that the state exists for the good of the citizens. He wrote about different systems of government and also about what makes a good citizen. He believed it was natural for men to form themselves into communities and that there should be diversity in those communities if it was to be healthy. His Politics is still widely read and, interestingly enough, his ethical works mention that a study of ethics will lead to a study of politics. Politics and ethics went together in his mind, something we can’t always say today.
Math, metaphysics, poetry, psychology, aesthetics, music, linguistics, economics, history, you name it, he studied it and wrote about it. Along with being a primary influence on Alexander the Great, his influence on millions of lesser-known students can’t be overestimated.
If you are going into any field of academic endeavor, you will meet and get to know Aristotle. He’s a smart guy, so you might as well learn to love him.
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