Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

Greek philosopher and scientist. For more than two millennia Aristotle was the greatest influence on the conceptual foundations of science and natural philosophy. From the fourth century BCE through to the seventeenth century and the Galileo controversy over the correct theory of planetary motion, Aristotelianism emerged as the filter through which the world was viewed, particularly in the areas of physics and cosmology, but also in medicine and theology.

Aristotle’s works also formed the basis of the Western European university curriculum and were a dominant intellectual force over late antiquity and three great empires: Byzantium, the civilisation of Islam and Latin Christendom. His corpus of writings included texts on subjects as diverse as metaphysics and economics, poetics and logic, biology and politics and was a positive affirmation of the human effort to investigate the operations of the world. This helped to lay the foundations of what was to follow in the seventeenth century.

Related Topics:

Philosophy

Contributed by: Richard P Whaite